[os2warpman]

A tennis racket is $13 at Goodwill and tennis balls are $1.30/ea. In the case of living in Massena, NY like the author you can play at Alcoa Park for $0.00.

As for climbing, you don't need a $200 climbing harness you can tie your own Swiss seat out of rope ($2/ft.) and buy a couple of snap links ($4-10/ea.). I would buy a lower-end harness for $30 though.

Spread out over several seasons that is as close to "nothing" as you can get, and is well within reach of any person with a pulse.

35 years ago I played DnD with a single AD&D 2e player's handbook and DM's guide shared among us all, campaigns and items out of Dungeon Magazine and Dragon Magazine hand-copied from issues at the library, and a player miniature made out of a film roll canister that I used whiteout to paint a design on. Our greatest individual expense was dice and I think those were less than $10 for a set.

Hobbies are only expensive if you let them or want them to be.

[watwut]

Have you ever tried to do those sports with cheapest equipment? Because I did and it ended up the same as everyone else who tried it in a cheapest possible way - you stop because it is not fun nor pleasure and equipment limits you.

That being said, for tenista you need to pay entry. For climbing, you will be kicked out of gym on top of it being uncomfortable. Climbing gym don't want you injured due to badly made seat - it makes other guests feeling bad.

[fragmede]

> Hobbies are only expensive if you let them or want them to be.

Climbing gyms aren't cheap. Climbing rocks outdoors is fairly cheap.

[nativeit]

Now we’re back to the point where you’ve saved so much money by not carrying health insurance.

[TheNewsIsHere]

That’s the thing about the discussion in this thread, and generally on HN. People just don’t consider that virtually without exception the realities of life, the choices we make, and the choices we can make, all form and are part of systems. Life isn’t a set of unrelated logic exercises.

[watwut]

You need more equipment to make them safe. You need literally more then you need in climbing gym, you need to know what you are doing too.

And you need to travel to the place where that climbing suitable rock is.

[troupo]

Not available in winter and rain. Requires equipment (crash pads and shoes at least)