Monroe, MI
Who says that this hobby is cheap? Do you have any idea how much new houses and gamerooms cost? It’s still worth it, though.
(Topic ID: 291050)
I collect elongated or squished pennies. Usually 51 cents each. Currently looking for WA, UT, NM, AZ and OR sets. Let me know if you collect and want to trade. Can get most from San Diego.
See if there is a location near you :
http://209.221.138.252/AreaList.aspx
Pic is from Pinball Hall of Fame in Vegas!
As I prepare to buy my first machine, “cheap” isn’t exactly the word that comes to mind when I think of pinball ownership hahaha...
anyway, jumping rope is a super cheap hobby that your heart and your coordination will thank you for! You can easily find a good starter rope for less than $10. If you live near a Marshall’s/TJX, they often have jump ropes available for less than Amazon. Start with a small goal like 50 consecutive jumps, or 5 mins every day then build up from there. You’ll be amazed at how much you are capable of doing in two weeks time!
Music is also a great hobby. If you like 80s music like me, you can buy a starter midi keyboard for around $100-150 and use it with GarageBand, Ableton, Logic, or any other digital audio workspace to get some great synth sounds. There are also standalone pocket synthesizers like the Teenage Engineering PO’s or the KORG nts-1. If you like 8-bit gaming music you should definitely check those out! If you’re brave and into soldering/wiring, you could even make your own analog synthesizers.
Lastly, thrift shopping..cheap & fun. You never know what you’ll find!
2 weeks later
Quoted from alyssa:As I prepare to buy my first machine, “cheap” isn’t exactly the word that comes to mind when I think of pinball ownership hahaha...
anyway, jumping rope is a super cheap hobby that your heart and your coordination will thank you for! You can easily find a good starter rope for less than $10. If you live near a Marshall’s/TJX, they often have jump ropes available for less than Amazon. Start with a small goal like 50 consecutive jumps, or 5 mins every day then build up from there. You’ll be amazed at how much you are capable of doing in two weeks time!
Music is also a great hobby. If you like 80s music like me, you can buy a starter midi keyboard for around $100-150 and use it with GarageBand, Ableton, Logic, or any other digital audio workspace to get some great synth sounds. There are also standalone pocket synthesizers like the Teenage Engineering PO’s or the KORG nts-1. If you like 8-bit gaming music you should definitely check those out! If you’re brave and into soldering/wiring, you could even make your own analog synthesizers.
Lastly, thrift shopping..cheap & fun. You never know what you’ll find!
I love the Micro-korg
Just finished paying for my 1st annual since buying this 79 cherokee six. 9 grand... started flying 5 years ago and the cost to obtain my license was 30k in rental fees and instructor hourly costs during that 2 year period.
pinball is cheap comparatively! Flying is worth it though, worth every cent to me.
20200708_182436 (resized).jpg
Quoted from jake35:Just finished paying for my 1st annual since buying this 79 cherokee six. 9 grand... started flying 5 years ago and the cost to obtain my license was 30k in rental fees and instructor hourly costs during that 2 year period.
pinball is cheap comparatively! Flying is worth it though, worth every cent to me.
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Sounds like a win win, now you can fly to pick up pins. Distance, no object!! 
All of my other hobbies are cheaper than pinball. I like to fish, fly fish, and kayak. Buying a few kayaks was the most expensive part. I'm cheap, so I don't buy expensive fishing rods. I enjoy making my own fly fishing flies and that's pretty cheap too.
My previous money pit hobby was trying to keep my 1992 Volvo 240 station wagon running. It was my transportation for 15 years and stuff was always breaking on it. I also enjoyed maintaining it, so it became a hobby. No car payment for the thing, but I dumped plenty of money into it to keep it running and as reliable as I could. I sold it for a used 2008 Honda Fit and have enjoyed trouble free driving ever sense. haha
I really would like to get one or two modern pins. My Flight 2000 keeps having problems. It now has flaky sound. I need to take a look at the sound board to see if it is anything easy to repair/solder. Ugh. Hopefully I don't make it worse.
20k a year on vacations? I wish.
My only other hobby, a distant 2nd now, is playing guitar, which, like pinball, once you make the initial investment, really isn't that expensive.
I mean, basically you just have to buy new strings. Of course you need an amp, and you can buy a million different effects pedals and things, there's plenty of stuff to keep spending money on if you choose. But I bought a couple guitars, an amp, and a couple pedals 30 years ago and probably havent spent another $500 on music stuff since.
1 week later
My only hobby cheaper than pinball must be photography, since I got the camera sponsored. But for almost all my hobbies, I make sure to get sponsorships, collect free stuff, and buying old non-working equipment very cheap, then fixing it.
5 months later
What's as inexpensive as pinball?
A project EM costs between $300 - $500 around here, plus figure $100 for parts.
A good set of darts was around $100 - $150 last time I bought darts. Another $50 for a case and some flights etc. playing is free at home and only the cost of a beer out.
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