My first game was an $800 F-14 over 3 years ago and I learned a lot from that game. Next was a broken sys80 game (spring break) that only needed the common ground mods done to get working. Since then I've learned so much and went through a couple more games. I eventually sold all my games and used that money to fund a virtual pin project. While building that I acquired a couple other pins; usually from trading MAME cabinets that I built. Then again a sold them all and used that money to get my first nib. Still waiting for my GoT Pre, but it's possible to buy and sell games fixing them as you go and tearing up along the way.