I no longer have any interest in discussing this topic but it has been requested that the below discussion be moved from the jokes thread and if it ever made any sense it doesn’t without this link.
EUR 353,653.68. OK.
+EUR 88.41 Shipping. Damn’, that’s too much for shipping.
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Ugh, I can’t stand flavored tea.
Once I wanted to give a try to strawberry black lotus infusion, and my Magic-playing friend threw me out. Not a very welcoming community!
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https://www.lisaeldridge.com/shop/jewellery/
Free shipping for all orders worldwide. And it’s actual valuables. Just sayin’.
What exactly makes a diamond ring more valuable than a mint black lotus?
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Anybody would recognise that a diamond ring is probably a valuable thing, while only a very small group of magic players will recognise the value of a rare trading card.
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I’m more valuable to my mom than a diamond ring, but it’s generally accepted that a diamond ring is really valuable. Since they use common currency (Euros), I’d think common acceptable notions about value apply. 
Also, I have no idea what a mint black lotus is, but I like rings.
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The core difference is that you can buy a complete set of Go equipment of the lowest grade for, what, $30 plus $5 shipping. You could then use that set to play against any other Go player in the world and, as long as you had a 19x19 grid and enough stones, you wouldn’t be at any competitive disadvantage.
In a trading card game, if you want to remain at no competitive disadvantage in every “format” then you have to continually spend more money purchasing more cards, because the company producing the game makes its profit from selling new cards. It’s the same with wargames, you have to constantly buy new figures since the company employs “power creep” to favour the latest additions.
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For some reason the time stamps didn’t sort correctly when moving here. Don’t care. Don’t @ me.
Nice! Now with that cost the Black Lotus is literally an artifact ahahaha
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Anyone inclined to argue about the value of diamonds should probably read this article:
When it comes to the perceived value of limited-edition items, this book is a good place to start:
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Looks at the top of the screen to confirm this is indeed a Go site
Challenge accepted 
Let us think what is the cost of our hobby (which some people consider expensive).
In the past 10 years I have spend for Go equipment around 130 euro. One could argue that I could have bought a decent board and stones with a fraction of the cost (around 50 euro let us say), but I am always in facour of the idea of buying hardware that is not very expensive, but not very cheap either so that they will withstand the test of time and eventually become value for money.
So, Go has costed me 13 euros per year for equipment. If you add 100 euro worth of books, that is raised to 23 euros per year.
In comparison, an average smoker (let us say five packs per week) with the cost of the cigarette pack being around 4 euro has spent 52 weeks * 5 packs per week * 4 euro per pack = 1040 euros per year
In a similar fashion:
- a person drinking one coffee per day spends: 52 weeks * 7 days * 2 euro per coffee = 728 euros per year
- a person lightly gambling in the national lottery spends: 52 weeks * 2 lotteries per week * 5 euro per lottery = 520 euros per year
- a person ordering cheap take-out food twice per week spends: 52 weeks * 2 orders per week * 6 euro per order = 624 euros per year
- a person filling his car with gas and going for weekend excursions spends: 52 weeks * 1 refill for leisure per 2 weeks * 20 euro per refill = 520 euros per year
And so forth… And people think that Go is expensive and elitist ? Quite the contrary 
P.S.
The prices were calculated according to my local market.
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2E / coffee is only if you’re drinking out; you could be drinking in your house using ground or instant coffee for much less.
5E / lottery ticket seems kind of high, but I’ve never bought one.
I spend well over 20E / per delivery (not takeout). But then, I like to have something left over for the next day.
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2E / coffee is only if you’re drinking out; you could be drinking in your house using ground or instant coffee for much less.
Indeed, but the stereotype of mediterranean people sitting in cafeterias and basking in the sunlight is actually true here and a lot of people retain the habit of drinking coffee even when there is no sunshine or free time. So, a very high percentage of people in my country buy coffee from a cafeteria or some shop or vending machine. Some of them drink two or three per day, thus balancing the number of the people that drink coffee at home or none at all, which is why I made the average to just one per day.
5E / lottery ticket seems kind of high, but I’ve never bought one.
The minimum cost of the most popular lottery is 0.5 euro, but a very conservative average of the people that do play is 10 times that cost.
Be that as it may, even if we were to adjust the numbers to a person with more fiscally careful spending, we would still be hard to approach how affordable Go is and that is the main point.
For example I do not drink, smoke or gamble, but I do like the occasional souvlaki or going out with some friends to eat, so let us say a very moderate spending of 5 euro per week on average on restaurant bought food? That still amounts to 52*5 = 260 euro per year which is still ten times more than what I spend on go books and equipment per year on average.
Now imagine the people that do all four things (my numbers previously were not imaginary). A person like that spends 2392 euros per year for some leisurly activities … in comparison to that, the 23 euros per year I have spent on Go is just 1% of that money.
So, my point stands. Go seems expensive because we use to buy things in bulk (to avoid paying for the shipping costs too many times). So when the bill comes and it is in the range of 70-100 euros, then it feels expensive, but it really is not … on the other hand with other habits that absorve money slowly feel affordable, but they really aren’t.
It is like the boiling frog analogy, come to think of it …
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By far the most expensive part of playing go for me has been travelling to and from tournaments and accomodation there. It can easily be 150€+ per tournament.
For me saying go is cheap and only counting equipment is like saying golf is cheap because balls are not that expensive. Of course this is true if you only play in your garden 
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Oh, I was only being pedantic. I think we’ve all spent several times more on food / alcohol / transport / entertainment than we have on Go.
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As far as hobbies go Go goes on to be one of the cheapest.
Sure, it’s possible to spend exorbitant amounts of money on luxurious, rare and/or collectible equipment, but that’s entirely optional, and true for many hobbies. However, for Go, it’s also possible to participate at very little cost.
Basic equipment that costs under 50 EUR and lasts a lifetime is readily obtainable (via online stores at least). I’ve even seen very basic Go sets sold for under 10 EUR, and one could always improvise a set for very little cost, since the game is so abstract and requires nothing more than a surface marked with a grid and two contrasting sets of tokens.
Then there’s online participation in the hobby, where the only costs are just those from operating an internet-connected device to visit OGS … and maybe some time costs from procrastinating in the forums.
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