NINTENDO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 1990 GREY COMPETITION CARTRIDGE #240 WATA 3.0

The Nintendo World Championships began March 8–11, 1990 and toured 29 cities across the United States. Players from three separate age groups (11 and below, 12–17, and 18 and above) competed across three days, with the winner proceeding to the World Finals in Los Angeles, California. There, contestants played a special Nintendo World Championships 1990 cartridge for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The cartridge contains three customized minigames based upon the popular games Super Mario Bros. (1985), Rad Racer (1987), and Tetris (1989). The objective is to achieve a high score according to a custom cumulative scoring formula across all games, within a total time limit of 6 minutes and 21 seconds.

The competition was based on the NES cartridge titled Nintendo World Championships 1990. It is unknown how many gray cartridges were made, but copies were given to the ninety finalists after the championships concluded. Another twenty-six gold copies are known to exist which were given as prizes in a separate contest by Nintendo Power magazine. Both versions have an exposed bank of DIP switches to set the amount of time the player has to complete the three games, shorter and longer than the 6 minutes 21 seconds used in the actual competition.

The Nintendo World Championships 1990 Game Pak is considered to be the most valuable NES cartridge ever released, and one of the rarest.