The Rarest Arcade Machine Isn't What You'd Expect

Rare video games tend to fetch a high price that are usually out of the financial wheelhouse for most gamers.

There are several examples of awesome (and not so awesome) titles costing an arm and a leg to procure. You might be surprised to hear that a gold version of a sought-after NES cartridge sold for $144,000. A standard edition of that same rare cartridge ended up getting traded to a retro game store by an owner who didn't realize what he had.

Basically, you might want to peruse through your collection, because you might even have a high-priced rarity sitting within it. In the case of arcade cabinets, they're already pricey on their own. But the price of a rare arcade machine can skyrocket to an unimaginable level.

One game that sits near the top of the list for rarest and most expensive arcade cabinets was originally released by Williams Electronics in the early 1980s. That game is the 2D multidirectional shooter known as Sinistar.

Williams Electronics once delved into an all new kind of arcade cabinet by producing Duramolds. These cylindrical machines differed from most cabinets since they were made out of plastic instead of wood. A few Williams Electronics arcade titles, such as Bubbles and Blaster, were given the Duramold treatment alongside Sinistar. As for the Sinistar Duramold arcade machine, it originally released in May 1983. According to fan research, these cabinets never quite caught on, mostly because the monitors would pop right out of the frames. Since they were discontinued after a very short amount of time, the chances of seeing such an elusive cabinet out in the wild these days are practically little to none.

Nabbing one of them means you'll need to be prepared to spend a couple thousand dollars. A single cabinet can run you from $5,000 to even $10,000. Video game blogger Tyler Schoenke noted that only three complete Sinistar Duramold arcade cabinets are known to exist.