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paperboy sega genesis psa pop report

Paperboy (Genesis): PSA Pop Report & Prices

Published 2026-10-22 · Updated 2026-10-26 · by Jason Trogdon
Retro Video Games 10 min read

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PSA has graded 8 Paperboy Sega Genesis copies on record — 8 sealed. PSA tracks 4 distinct production variants separately because they’re priced differently by collectors. Sealed copies trade in the $120 range. This page is the per-game pop + price + grading reference for Paperboy on Sega Genesis — updated weekly from PSA’s official population data and PriceCharting’s market catalog.

Loose
POP 0
Market: $13
CIB
POP 0
Market: $27
Sealed
POP 8
Market: $120

Quick Facts

Variant Comparison

PSA recognizes 4 distinct production variants of Paperboy, each tracked on its own population row because collectors value them differently.

Variant Loose Pop CIB Pop Sealed Pop Total
Assembled in Mexico, Tray Box — — 2 2
Made in Japan — — 1 1
Made in USA, Tray Box — — 3 3
Printed in USA/Assembled in Mexico, Tray Box — — 2 2

PSA Pop by Condition

PSA tracks Paperboy populations independently for loose carts, complete-in-box (CIB), and factory-sealed copies — collectors price each condition separately because rarity and demand diverge sharply. Tables below show the grade-tier breakdown per condition, aggregated across 4 variants PSA recognizes for this title.

Loose Cartridge

PSA hasn’t graded any loose copies of Paperboy for Sega Genesis yet.

Complete in Box (CIB)

PSA hasn’t graded any cib copies of Paperboy for Sega Genesis yet.

Factory Sealed

Total graded: 8

Sealed summary by variant:

Variant Total Pop Top Numeric Grade Best Seal Grade
Assembled in Mexico, Tray Box 2 9.2 A+
Made in Japan 1 9.8 B+
Made in USA, Tray Box 3 9.6 A++
Printed in USA/Assembled in Mexico, Tray Box 2 9.6 A+

Factory Sealed Grade × Seal Matrix

Rows show PSA numeric grades. Columns show seal grades. Cell values are PSA population counts. Aggregated across all variants. Top observed grade: 9.8 (PSA scale extends to 10).

Grade A++ A+ A B+ Total
9.8 — — — 1 1
9.6 — — 2 — 2
9.4 1 1 — — 2
9.2 — 2 — — 2
9.0 — 1 — — 1
Total 1 4 2 1 8

Per-variant grade × seal matrices

Click any variant to expand its full grade × seal breakdown.

Assembled in Mexico, Tray Box (2 sealed pop)

Top observed grade: 9.2 (PSA scale extends to 10).

Grade A+ Total
9.2 2 2
Total 2 2
Made in Japan (1 sealed pop)

Top observed grade: 9.8 (PSA scale extends to 10).

Grade B+ Total
9.8 1 1
Total 1 1
Made in USA, Tray Box (3 sealed pop)

Top observed grade: 9.6 (PSA scale extends to 10).

Grade A++ A+ A Total
9.6 — — 1 1
9.4 1 — — 1
9.0 — 1 — 1
Total 1 1 1 3
Printed in USA/Assembled in Mexico, Tray Box (2 sealed pop)

Top observed grade: 9.6 (PSA scale extends to 10).

Grade A+ A Total
9.6 — 1 1
9.4 1 — 1
Total 1 1 2

Current Market Prices

All prices below come from PriceCharting’s public catalog as of this page’s last update. PriceCharting calculates its values from completed sales on eBay and its own marketplace — independent of any data on this page. The Sealed column reflects PriceCharting’s “manual-only” / new tier — factory-sealed retail at average condition; specific graded-sealed prices vary sharply by numeric grade + seal letter (use the Sealed eBay browse link below for grade-specific comps).

All 4 PSA-tracked variants share the same PriceCharting prices because PriceCharting indexes at the title level, not the variant level. Variant-specific pricing surfaces on eBay sold-comp data — check the Sealed / CIB / Loose browse links below for variant-aware market signals.

Auction House Graded Sales

Heritage Auctions and Goldin sold results below are real auction transactions for Paperboy on Sega Genesis. They complement the PriceCharting loose / CIB / sealed benchmarks above; they are not estimates and they are not blended into PriceCharting’s ungraded market prices.

Summary rows are title-level auction sale signals, sorted by format, recency, and realized-price signal. PSA production variants can price differently, so the sale records keep each auction house’s own variant notes visible instead of pretending every auction lot maps cleanly to a PSA variant row.

High-grade games can trade years apart, so older auction records stay visible; treat the latest-sale date as part of the comp, not just the dollar amount.

Format Grade Sale signal Latest sale Comps
Factory sealed (Printed in USA Assembled in Mexico Tray Box Later Production) WATA 9.6 A Last sale $275 Jul 15, 2025 1
Factory sealed (Made in Japan) WATA 9.8 B+ Last sale $171 Feb 26, 2026 1
Factory sealed (Cardboard Assembled in Mexico Later Production) WATA 9.6 A Last sale $408 May 16, 2023 1
Factory sealed (Cardboard Later Production) WATA 9.6 A Last sale $325 May 7, 2024 1
Factory sealed (Cardboard Later Production) WATA 9.4 A++ Last sale $264 Oct 12, 2023 1
Factory sealed (Clamshell Early Production) WATA 9.8 B+ Last sale $250 Aug 27, 2024 1
Factory sealed (Cardboard Later Production) CGC 9.0 A+ Last sale $150 Jul 2, 2024 1

Sale records:

View all 7 auction sale records
Date Sold For Grader / Grade Format Variant Notes Source
Feb 26, 2026 $171 WATA 9.8 B+ Factory sealed Made in Japan Goldin lot 202512-0115-3732-d7e6260f-81a0-48a0-845d-489634c37ef7
Jul 15, 2025 $275 WATA 9.6 A Factory sealed Printed in USA Assembled in Mexico Tray Box Later Production Lot 312528-68067
Aug 27, 2024 $250 WATA 9.8 B+ Factory sealed Clamshell Early Production Lot 312435-69034
Jul 2, 2024 $150 CGC 9.0 A+ Factory sealed Cardboard Later Production Lot 312427-66033
May 7, 2024 $325 WATA 9.6 A Factory sealed Cardboard Later Production Lot 312419-66048
Oct 12, 2023 $264 WATA 9.4 A++ Factory sealed Cardboard Later Production Lot 44216-80099
May 16, 2023 $408 WATA 9.6 A Factory sealed Cardboard Assembled in Mexico Later Production Lot 312320-68104

Listings

Each link below opens an eBay search filtered to that condition, scoped to Paperboy on Sega Genesis. “Sold” pulls completed/sold listings (use this for price research). “Listings” pulls current active listings (use this to find a copy to buy).

Why Paperboy Matters for Grading

PSA has graded only 8 copies of Paperboy for Sega Genesis across all conditions — a tiny graded population. Notable: every graded copy is in the sealed condition — collectors clearly favor that condition tier for this title, and the other conditions are either ungraded territory or grade-and-flip opportunities. Sealed copies trade at roughly 9× the loose price ($120 vs $13). Solid spread for grading speculation if you can source a clean sealed cart. Because PSA tracks 4 variants separately, production-code identification matters before submission. The pop-by-variant breakdown above tells you which variant is the rarer find.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Paperboy Sega Genesis worth grading?

Strong yes for clean copies. With only 8 graded copies on record, Paperboy is squarely in the rare-population tier for Sega Genesis — and PSA grading adds meaningful provenance on titles with this little supply. Grade-and-hold is the play; flipping mid-grade copies thins margins fast.

How rare is a graded sealed copy of Paperboy?

PSA tracks 8 graded sealed copies of Paperboy for Sega Genesis. The grade-tier breakdown above shows how those split across PSA’s numeric grades — top-grade copies (9.4+) are the scarcest and typically command the strongest premiums.

Should I buy a graded or raw copy of Paperboy?

Depends on your goal. Graded copies cost more upfront but come with PSA’s authenticity + condition guarantee — the right move for buy-and-hold collectors. Raw copies are cheaper but require condition assessment yourself, and the grading lottery means a $50 raw cart can come back as a $25 PSA 7 OR a $200 PSA 9.4. Use the per-condition pop and price data above to calculate expected value before you commit.

Why does PSA track multiple variants of Paperboy?

PSA recognizes 4 distinct production variants of Paperboy on Sega Genesis. Variants reflect real production differences — different factories (Made in Japan vs Made in Mexico), packaging die changes, ESRB-rating retrofits added partway through the console’s life, or Players Choice reissues from later runs. Collectors price them differently because rarity diverges, and PSA tracks each on its own population row so the data reflects the real market structure.

Sources

Pop counts pulled weekly from PSA Video Games population data. Prices from PriceCharting. PSA acquired WATA in July 2021 and completed the rebrand to PSA Video Games on October 20, 2025. PSA Video Games population data is the continuation of WATA’s population history. Heritage graded-sale comps come from Heritage Auctions sold archive lot pages linked in the sale-record table. Goldin graded-sale comps come from Goldin (goldin.co) sold lot pages linked in the sale-record table; Goldin prices are the lot’s final price as Goldin reports it. Rankings, medians and summaries are What The Slab analysis — How we get our numbers.

More Sega Genesis pop reports & prices:

J

About Jason

Jason has been collecting cards since 1999 and retro video games since 2008. Based in the Southeast US. What The Slab cites real eBay sold comps, PriceCharting data, and PSA pop reports — no guesswork. Read more → · How we get our numbers