ALAMOGORDO, N.M. -- What some have called the worst video game ever made has fetched thousands of dollars for a New Mexico city.

An old "E.T. The Extraterrestrial" game cartridge drew the highest bid among 100 Atari games auctioned on eBay by Alamogordo officials.

The games were part of a cache of some 800 Atari video games buried more than 30 years ago in a landfill and dug up in April.

Joe Lewandowski, a consultant for the film companies that documented the dig, says the online auction, which ended Thursday, generated $37,000.

The "E.T." game, still in its original box, sold for $1,537.

Atari reportedly buried the 1982 game in after it was dubbed a flop.

Alamogordo owns the cartridges because they came from the city's landfill.