I'm the author. I'm married but don't have kids. I distinctly remember when I first visited Hilo, Hawaii when I was 15, thinking that if I had to be homeless there, it would be better than having a job I hated. For years I lived in a tiny 21' RV behind a gas station in SF.
Now I'm married, and I would certainly sacrifice a lot for my wife. I don't have kids, but I would also sacrifice a lot for my nieces and nephews.
What I should have said is that I'd rather live a very materially basic life than do work I hate. If I couldn't afford clothing/food/housing/etc. I'd do whatever I needed to.
Tynan here. I've bought small apartments with groups of friends in Hilo, Budapest, Tokyo, and bought a small island in Canada. My share of all four of those cost under $50k. So most of the time when I travel I go to places I have my own place. I don't do a ton of touristy stuff, because I've been to all these places dozens of times, but instead more or less live a life like a local there, which doesn't cost more than my life in Vegas.
I still have to buy flights, but there are a lot of well known methods (points, etc) to get really cheap flights.
Even back when I really had no money, a buddy and I just rented cheap apartments around the world for a year and gave up our places at home. It cost very little.
PinballFX is video game pinball. VisualPinballX is more of a simulation. Of course the simulation isn't 100% accurate, but it's shockingly close. Medieval Madness was one of my favorite games on virtual (I had never played the physical version), and the first time I played the physical one I got two replays in a row. It translates pretty well.
I built a virtual pinball, which led to me buying 4 physical pinballs, and now I'm in the final stages of remaking my virtual pinball to add to my little arcade. With all of the exciters, solenoids, and LED lights, it feels surprisingly physical. You can even nudge.
It's a tradeoff of realism for variety, and I think there are valid arguments for either.
I'm the author of the post that you mentioned inspired you last year. It was fun to read your post as I tinker on my 2nd virtual pinball cabinet. I now have 4 real pinballs and built new walls to make a secret pinball arcade in my house... it really is a rabbithole
Thanks for getting me to take a second look at the hobby.
I did build a half-size second cabinet because I had enough hardware sitting around. There are so many tables that the smaller machine just has EM tables on it, the big one has the SS tables that the wife likes.
Just to chime in and add another datapoint, I switched to Kagi and expected that I'd eventually go back to Google (like I had when I switched to DDG), but the results are just as good or better and I'm happy to pay to not have ads or tracking.
Very anecdotal (just the experience of me and my friends, who have a total of 5 new sterns between us), but I think there's not much maintenance. These things are made for commercial settings so they're pretty durable. One of mine had a bolt fall out of the auto plunger, which I screwed back in. When it fell out again I added some loc-tite and it has stayed in since. No other issues. If you're into DIY at all, they are VERY easy to access for repair. The playfields flip up, they come with technical manuals, many parts are generic, and all parts are pretty easy to find.
Now I'm married, and I would certainly sacrifice a lot for my wife. I don't have kids, but I would also sacrifice a lot for my nieces and nephews.
What I should have said is that I'd rather live a very materially basic life than do work I hate. If I couldn't afford clothing/food/housing/etc. I'd do whatever I needed to.