I was looking through an old game store receipt from 2005 and the price of a starter set shocked me.

I was cleaning out a closet and found a receipt from a game store in Portland. It was for a Warhammer 40k starter box, the one with the Black Templars and Orks. The total was $39.99. I checked online for what that same kind of starter set costs now. It's over $150. I remember saving up for weeks to buy that box after school. We'd play on a sheet of plywood in my friend's garage. Now I see people with whole rooms dedicated to painted armies. It's not just the money, it's the scale of everything. The hobby feels bigger and more serious now. Has anyone else dug up an old receipt or price tag that made you pause?

4 comments

4 Comments

cora_perez8d ago

Remember finding an old receipt for a box of Space Marines? Mine was like $24.99. Totally get what @paige_harris means about the low cost letting you just jump in. We used bottle caps for terrain. Now the starter boxes feel like a huge commitment before you even know if you like the game.

john_murphy648d ago

See this everywhere now. The free sample became a full price tasting menu.

the_angela1mo ago

You're only looking at the price tag and missing the value. That old box had maybe twenty push-fit models and a thin rulebook. Modern starter sets are huge, with way more detailed miniatures, full hardback books, and even terrain. The hobby has grown because the products are objectively better. People have dedicated rooms now because there's more cool stuff to fill them with. It's a golden age, not a sign things got worse.

paige_harris1mo ago

Got into the hobby with one of those old boxes. The low cost let me try it without a huge risk. If my first set had been a hundred bucks, I probably would have walked away. Sometimes less stuff is better when you're just starting out.