What an interesting thread to read through.
Back in 1998 I was 20 and had a lot of competing priorities. I decided that due to space issues lack of time I would sell off my collection on a relatively new website called eBay. I sold everything in a single lot including my all CIB collection, including a Jaguar, Jaguar CD, Saturn, PS1, 3DO, Lynx, 7800, Virtual Boy and 7800.
I had so many now rare games, including likes of Panzer Dragoon Saga, House of the Dead and the Working Designs games on Saturn, Rayman and Atari Karts on the Jaguar, and Nestor's Funky Bowling on Virtual Boy. It went for about $1400 back then, so $2,200 in today's dollars. A screaming deal for the person who got it.
At the time it was somewhat freeing to get rid of all of that "stuff." For a few years I worked, played music and lived very light. I did have a Dreamcast and handful of games but it was nothing like it was. Around 2000 I got a CIB Jaguar for $25 with Iron Soldier, Tempest and Cybermorph. In 2002, I sold my car and moved across country with a trunk, a suitcase, a guitar and a bass. No games came with me. I left the bargain bin Jaguar and Dreamcast in storage with a few boxes at my mom's and, for awhile, didn't think of gaming much at all. I missed an entire generation at least.
Fast forward to 2010 when I went home for a week for a wedding. My Mom reminded me that I had these boxes under the basement stairs and asked that I go through them. I rediscovered my long forgotten Dreamcast and Jaguar, shipped them to California and began my slow and now much more expensive quest to rebuild my old Jaguar collection. I completed that in about four years. That of course snowballed and here I am. LOL!
I don't regret selling that initial collection but there are some games I'll likely never have again because of it. Panzer Dragoon Saga is the biggie. Still, selling it off was what I needed to do at the time.
I've also fixed and given away a fair number of 2600s to friends, family and coworkers with kids. Usually a starter pack with a console and 10 or so loose commons like qbert, frogger, asteroids, etc. I love it when they send photos of their little ones playing a 4-switch woody. It's so cool to know that these kids, most born since 2013 or so, will remember Atari as their first console. Losing my garage space and tools in the divorce kinda put a halt to that but someday I'll have a workbench again. 🙌