How Many Chess Sets Do You Own?

My wife doesn't get it.  I used this post to show her that my collection was really quite modest.  She still doesn't see it that way. :-)

My husband looked askance at my 3 sets, but I noticed he's grabbed my Drueke to work through a Spanish Exchange book....heh.  

2 DGT sets --1 royal and 1 ebony.

Comparing Chess to other hobbies or pastimes shows how cheap it is.

Golf is certainly not cheap.  Paying the green fees alone puts it more expensive than Chess.  The equipment also costs quite a bit of money.  I have a friend who golfs as inexpensively as he can and he sstill has to pay close to $400 a year to play on our 5 city, public courses.  He also has to maintain equipment which he told is about $125 on an easy year.  And he really can only golf here about 7 - 8 months in a year.  He also is a chess player and has about 6 sets.  I have a friend and colleague that plays on some of our private courses and he will spend $45 - $80 every time he plays.  And he plays at least 6 times a month for those 7 - 8 months.

When you buy Chess equipment it lasts a very long time.. I also do keep my Chess set number by selling off dets I will not play with.  We also have our club with no dues or costs to the individual for playing even rated games.  So Chess is, by a great deal, cheaper to participate than most any other hobby.  

Its hard to think of a cheaper hobby than chess , maybe checkers ?  However the cost is rising for OTB tournament players . Member ship fees for USCF , State and sometimes a local club combined with hotel rates , expense of travel , food , entry fees ... I have found that often when I win 1st place I only break even .  For me there is less and less incentive to play . 

Not surprising!

No doubt that unless you are a top Super GM world class player, youre not playing to get rich.  But for me, I travel to tournaments for different reason than most.  To me they are:

Vacations

Fun

Meeting up with friends i only see once or twice a year

Group trips - bunch of us from the club will go to a tournament, play, hangout, have fun

Looking at it from purely a business/investment POV.  Im a horrible businessman.  I have invested way more money into chess, than i have ever gotten back, and thats ok.  What i get back in everything else not involving money makes it worth it.

1 magnetic travel set

1 folding wooden baord and wooden pieces set

Definitely cheaper than playing the pipes.  

Highland dress (needed to play in competition) runs around $706 (and that's taking a lot of the cheaper options that I, personally, wouldn't use) plus the cost of a dress shirt and tie; set of decent starter pipes (polypenco) will run you about $770 (more for African Blackwood), plus chanter reeds (about $17 a pop), drone reeds (mine cost about $80) and a practice chanter at about $80, plus reeds for that.  That comes to about $1653 just to get started.  Add in $45 yearly to belong to the local piping association, plus entry fees and around $9 more per event per competition (2-4 events each), plus gas, lodging, meals...  

Yup, chess is definitely cheaper.  And the equipment's a lot lighter to carry and less tempermental. 

ETA: Sorry for the diversion...let's get back to sheer numbers of sets owned.  I'm admiring all the collectors out there.  

6. 1 travel chess set, 1 tournament chess set 2 small wooden ones, 1 carved stone set and a fragile glass set people need to give an oath and written agreement not to break it before touching it. :)

1 Wooden Folding/Backgammon

1 magnetic Plastic

6 vinly tournament sets

1 Marble 

1 Set of peices without a board

Two chess clocks 1 digital, 1 analog

Yes, chess is cheaper than golf.  I have played golf but I enjoyed chess more. Plus I like the fact I can play a game of chess anytime I feel and golf is seasonal at least for me. I rather played a long game like game 90 was 4+ plus hours of 18 holes of golf.