A rare Christian-themed Atari 2600 game that surfaced at a garage sale in 2007 has sold at auction for $6,562.50. Red Sea Crossing, released through mail order in 1983, was offered by Heritage Auctions with an accompanying audiocassette. The sale marked the first time the cassette itself had been presented at auction, according to the auction house. Steve Schustack created the game and takes its inspiration from the biblical story of Moses parting the Red Sea. Players guide Moses between walls of water while avoiding obstacles and the pursuing Egyptian army. The cartridge was sold at Heritage Auctions’ June 12–13, 2026 Video Games Signature Auction, where it was listed as lot 28003.
The Atari game placed players in the story of Moses
Red Sea Crossing was released for the Atari 2600 in 1983 by Inspirational Video Concepts. Unlike many commercial console games of the period, it was not distributed through ordinary retail channels. Heritage describes it as a mail-order release with a Christian theme. The gameplay centres on Moses crossing the Red Sea. The player must guide him between the parted waters while avoiding hazards including seaweed, giant clams and the Egyptian army. The game also includes a fish that acts as a time limit, requiring players to reach the end of the screen before it catches up with Moses. The package was unusual in another respect. Instead of being accompanied only by a conventional instruction manual, the game was originally sold with a colouring book and an explanatory audiocassette connected to the story of the Exodus. Heritage identifies the cassette as being narrated by Dale Evans Rogers.
Its only known advertisement appeared in Christianity Today
The game’s limited distribution has contributed to its rarity. Heritage states that its only marketing was an advertisement in the October 7, 1983 issue of Christianity Today. The advertisement offered the game by mail order and helped establish that the obscure cartridge had genuinely been released. The game’s existence was not widely documented for many years. A copy discovered at a Cincinnati rummage sale in 2007 became the subject of discussion among Atari collectors, who worked to identify its developer and establish whether it was an authentic commercial release. A surviving advertisement found in Christianity Today in 2011 provided important evidence that the game had been marketed in 1983. Heritage describes the title as one of the rarest commercially released console games ever produced. However, estimates of how many cartridges were made vary among historical accounts, so the precise size of the original production run remains difficult to establish.
A garage-sale discovery brought the game back into view
The 2007 discovery was significant because Red Sea Crossing had largely disappeared from public knowledge. The game was not part of Atari’s mainstream catalogue, and its mail-order distribution meant that comparatively few examples were documented by collectors. After the cartridge was found, members of the Atari community investigated its origins and connected it to Steve Schustack. Historical accounts identify Schustack as the programmer and describe the game as an independent project released through Inspirational Video Concepts. The discovery eventually led to renewed interest in the game and to the appearance of additional examples. One copy sold at auction in 2012 for $10,400, while another copy that surfaced in Philadelphia was also sold that year. The earlier sales helped establish Red Sea Crossing as a sought-after rarity among Atari collectors.
The cassette made the 2026 auction unusual
The Heritage lot consisted of the Atari 2600 cartridge and an accompanying cassette. The auction house described the cassette as particularly notable because it was the first time the tape itself had been presented at auction. That distinction matters because the cassette was part of the game’s original package but has been much less frequently documented than the cartridge. The game’s historical descriptions consistently mention the colouring book and audio recording, but surviving examples of the complete package are considerably harder to trace than reproductions and loose cartridges. Heritage described both items in the lot as being in excellent condition. The cartridge and cassette were nevertheless sold untested and as-is, with no returns.
Red Sea Crossing sold for $6,562.50
Heritage Auctions listed the item as lot 28003 in its 2026 Video Games Signature Auction. The auction took place on June 12 and 13, with the Red Sea Crossing lot recorded as sold on June 12 for $6,562.50. Heritage’s listing records 36 bids and registered phone bidders, with a 25% buyer’s premium applying to the lot. The result adds a new chapter to the history of a game that was originally sold through a single religious-magazine advertisement, rediscovered at a garage sale and later recognised as one of the most elusive Atari 2600 releases. The 2026 sale was especially notable not simply because of the cartridge’s rarity, but because it brought an original accompanying cassette into the auction record for the first time.
