G.I. Joe is a line of action figures produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier (U.S. Army), Action Sailor (U.S. Navy), Action Pilot (USAF), Action Marine (USMC) and later on, the Action Nurse. The term G.I. stands for Government Issue and became a generic term for U.S. soldiers (predating the action figures), especially ground forces. The development of G.I. Joe led to the coining of the term “action figure”.

When Hasbro created G.I. Joe in the 1960s, they were hoping for success but they probably didn’t think that they were creating something that would become an icon in the toy industry for forty years. G.I. Joe has been redeveloped over the years, has been the basis for a Marvel Comic series of comics, and is a familiar name to just about everyone. It’s no wonder that it is this military toy that is ranked as the most expensive action figure.

As with anything else, no matter how many people try to improve upon it and expand it, there will be nothing as truly valuable as the first G.I. Joe action figure. This prototype stands at twelve inches tall and has a retail value of $200,000 USD. It is currently owned by collector Steve Geppi and Joe is being showcased at the Geppi Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.

You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em
Know when to fold ‘em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run

But if you’ve invested in British designer Geoffrey Parker’s world’s most expensive poker set you’ve also got to know not to lose them or you just might be out £4.4 million or about $7.5 million USD.

So what does £4.4 million get you?

Well, the set includes 4 platinum plated decks of cards,A large 18 karat white gold dealer button set with two rows diamonds on the edge, 384 18 karat solid white gold chips embedded with stingray skin.

The chips come in four colors, the blue chips are encrusted with sapphires, the red chips with rubies,the green with emeralds and the black with black diamonds. All in all the chips are home to some 22,364 stones amounting to 1,012 carats and made of 12.5 kilos of white gold. And if that’s not enough, then entire set comes in a fancy alligator skin case.

Every gambler knows
That the secret to survivin’
Is knowin’ what to throw away
And knowin’ what to keep
‘Cause every hand’s a winner
And every hand’s a loser
And the best that you can hope for
Is to have some of these chips

Although the Rubik’s Cube may be tough to solve, finding the world’s most expensive Rubik’s Cube wasn’t. The world’s most expensive Rubik’s cube is the Masterpiece Cube, produced by Diamond Cutters International in 1995.

The Masterpiece Cube is regular size, fully functional and boasts 22.5 karats of amethyst, 34 karats of rubies, and 34 karats of emeralds and the cube is made of 18 karat gold and if you would like to get your hands on one, it’ll cost you a puzzling $1,500,000.00 USD.

If that’s a little out of your price range, here are some free  Rubik’s cube fun facts:

• The Rubik’s cube was invented in the spring of 1974 by Erno Rubik.
• There are 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 (43 quintillion) combinations on the 3x3x3 Rubik’s cube.
• It took Erno Rubik one month to solve the cube for the first time.
• The original colors of the Rubik’s cube were white, orange, blue, red, yellow and green.
• On January 16 2006 Leyan Lo, a 20-year-old California Institute of Technology student, claimed the new world record by solving the cube in a mere 11.13 seconds.

When British designer Stuart Hughes and the Swiss luxury model car maker Robert Gulpen get together to make a 1:18 scale model car, you know it’s going to be expensive.

Their creation is called the Bugatti Veyron Diamond Ltd Edition and is made from 24 carat gold, platinum and diamonds, including a 7.2 carat single cut flawless diamond. The car comes with working doors, bonnet and steering and under the hood you will find a tiny version of the 16-cylinder “W” engine.

Now if you own a real Bugatti Veyron and thought that was expensive, the Bugatti Veyron Diamond Ltd Edition will set you back the cost of 2 of them.

Sticker price: £2 million, or just under $3 million USD.

Standard cheap chess set: $1.99

Gold and platinum chess set: $1,9999.99

If you trade in 100 gold and platinum chess sets you might just have enough to purchase the king from the world’s most expensive chess set, which alone is valued £100,000.00.

The world’s most expensive chess set is the Jewel Royale Chess Set and is made by Boodles (Boodle & Dunthorne), one of Britain’s Finest Jewellers since 1798.

 The set is made of gold and platinum with diamonds, emeralds, rubies, pearls and sapphires. The board itself is made of 16K white and 18K yellow gold with diamonds in the corners of each square. The King consists of  165.2 grams of yellow or white gold and is adorned with 748 diamonds, 73 rubies and146 sapphires.

If you want to play the game of kings like a king be prepared to part with a king’s ransom of £5 million.