I use affinity, though most of the same applies, buying art, software, and such w/o including my effort, I am still in the red for few hundred. I have had more expensive hobbies: cars, guns, horses; I am pretty happy overall however, my one wish is to be more productive, and to jump back into running games.
About 3:1 from 1982. Which is about when I started paying attention. Which helps me understand why a $2 beer and $3 Burger now cost $15...
My go to phrase is "Everyone needs a hobby and it's cheaper than golf." You seem to have picked all of the hobbies that are more expensive than golf. Did you ever consider flying lessons?
The Barrier for entry was low for all of them, they just then grow. It's like first you buy an old sporterized mauser in 30-06 with a monte carlo stock for deer hunting, the zeiss scope for $200 was four times the price of the rifle, which in itself was fine in every way it needed to be, then after the years go by its a Kimber Stainless II with tritium nightsites from the custom shop for too much. The horses were my wife's gig mostly.
I contend that if it is not in a Digest sized booklet can it be a real game?
Didn't realize this was a box set. Still, $99.00...
