I got into the hobby almost 40 years ago, just bought what was available about 5 machines (most games only cost me $400-$500)
then life got in the way and bought nothing
then I got back in, looked down my nose as those new fangled DMD games, only the classics for me, but found none were available. so I did a little research and attended a bumper auction. took a pocket full of cash but that was not enough to even get me in the bidding
did some more research and realized that it was going to be DMD or nothing, so saved up some more and bought a used but still serviceable CFTBL
and fell in love with DMDs
Moving on I then decided as a 'Real' collector, 'A' list game was were I should be, games were good, but not twice the fun for twice the price, so I took the next step up...
NIB
when I first look into NIB the ASU$ was bad compared to the US$
two years later and we were at parity, NIB was affordable so sight unseen I paid a deposit on a Batman TDK. a moth later I bought it home, pluged it in and..... :( machine was a dud out of the box. updated the software and it improved but it would take three years before Stern finished the software for this game
bought another 2 NIB but found the rush of opening a fresh game was fleeting

then I found a LOTR and despite its great reputation, I just could not get into the game
4 months later a read a rule guide and found out how to play and felt that if I needed to read a rule book before I play a game then that is not fun, so my attention now is games that I enjoy playing, not games that others enjoy playing

I know I am a heretic for saying this, but I have too many games (41), I don't have the space to set them up or to do maintenance
if I could sell 10 I would be in a better position

love my games and always will, but my collection will be more a reflection of games I enjoyed as a teenager