Swordquest Talismans
The literal and metaphorical “holy grail” of video game collections everywhere, the Swordquest Talismans are some of the most legendary and expensive gaming memorabilia known to mankind.
In the 80s, Atari held a competition called Swordquest with a $150,000 prize. In cash, you ask? No. Of course not. It was in jewel-encrusted treasures. All you needed to do to enter to win was buy one of four games, and find hidden clues in the game’s comic book counterpart. Send the secret message to Atari, and you are entered to win one of the treasures.
However, only three of the four games (and subsequently, three treasures) in the Swordquest competition were ever released, as Atari was struck by the beast that was the video game crash of 1983. So what happened to them?
Well, the first treasure, the Talisman of Light, was reportedly melted down in 1984. The second, the Chalice of Light, is the only treasure confirmed to exist in the world right now, and will inevitably one day sell for a stupid amount of money. The third, the Crown of Life, disappeared, and there is speculation that it was never given out in the first place.
The final two treasures, the Philosopher’s Stone and the Sword of Ultimate Sorcery, were never given out and disappeared entirely. No one knows where they are. No one knows if we’ll ever see them again. However, if you have a jewel-encrusted sword collecting dust in the attic, maybe you’re sitting on a game-collecting fortune.
