There’s nothing quite like owning physical goods, but they can be expensive, and shelf space can come at a premium. Every Wednesday Hardcore Gamer picks a premium collectible from our cavernous swag vaults and tells you whether it’s worth a spot in your Collector’s Cabinet.

Are you still upset over missing out on those incredibly rare 20th Anniversary PlayStation 4s? So am I. But hey, don’t despair over missing a nostalgic paint job for a console you already (or will soon) own. Why not focus your attention on even more obscure PlayStation goodness? Perhaps the oddest Sony collectible in my collection is not software or hardware, but dinnerware. Yes, at some point during the past twenty years Sony decided to create a 25 piece sushi set, and it’s both a rarity and wonderfully unique.

This set was given to employees working under the PlayStation section of Sony some years ago. Unfortunately, as I wasn't one of those employees, I can’t specify when exactly this occurred. As is evidenced by the outer box, the whole thing was manufactured by Forum Design. If you look  at the box you’ll notice there are no exterior markings to differentiate this from any other sushi sets. Although this is just hypothesis, it appears that Forum once produced kitchen-related products and were simply given a special order by Sony to create a handful of unique items. Because of this the outer packaging is exactly the same as their standard sushi set.

Inside the box the Sony affiliation is more apparent, since four of the 25 included pieces are laser engraved with a white PlayStation logo. The set contains one rectangular platter, four rectangular plates, four soup bowls, four soy sauce saucers, four soup spoons, four chopstick rests, and finally four chopstick sets. So this whole thing is basically designed to fit a group of four folks eating a Japanese meal together. The quality of each item seems quite nice, but then again this was made by a dinnerware company.

Almost every item included is made of porcelain and painted black. Only the chopsticks themselves are plastic - and white - which clashes with everything else. The chopsticks are made of plastic, so they feel rather cheap in comparison to the rest of the set. The Playstation branding on specific items is nicely understaed. If you’re not looking for it then it’s hardly even noticeable. For example, the bowl features its laser engraved logo on the outside. As bowls flare outward and upward, the logo is only really visible when the bowl is up on a shelf. Other items, in particular the large rectangular platter, make the Sony connection more obvious.

It’s impossible to say how limited this item is, but I've found very little information about it online. The one thing I do know is that this was not the only sushi set given to Sony employees. Along with the black version there exists a red set. Only Sony knows how many were made, and it seems most employees are happy to keep them in use or storage - or else they've already pawned the set off. My first and only time seeing them up for auction was back when I purchased a set myself in 2012.

In all, the PlayStation 25 piece sushi set is a collectible that only the most dedicated PlayStation collector can love. Moreover, they have to be someone who thrives on having truly distinctive pieces in their collection - ones you can’t simply snag on eBay any day of the week.

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