A couple of months ago, I found some Singstar microphones and a copy of Singstar Pop at a local op shop. Although I don't anything to play them with, I couldn't fight off the wave of nostalgia - crashing to the sound of Sk8r boi by Avril Lavigne washing over me. 
I decided to keep an eye out for hardware over the next few months - with the goal to eventually end up with a playable Playstation. 

There's just one problem - I have no money. In fact, I actually have less than no money. Hardcopy is currently $400 in debt. 

The current financial situation
So, the only chance was to get this Singstar set working for free. 

Luckily, I came across a post in a Facebook group I am a part of - offering a Playstation that wouldn't turn on for free about half an hour from me. I know there can often be problems with the internal power source on these - so picked it up in the hope I could fix this up.

Unfortunately, when I picked it up, I noticed it had already been opened - which meant if it was an easy power source fix, it likely would already be back in action.

As I was doing an inspection, I noticed a loose ribbon cable at the circuit connected to the eject button. On closer inspection, I noticed this circuit was also attached to the power switch. This pointed to the fact that it wasn't the power source - but the switch itself! I slotted the ribbon cable back in, and it turned on! It's wild to think of how many things I've thrown out in the past which may have had a solution as simple as this.

On first opening

After some careful cable resetting
Next up was controllers. I knew these would be hard to get for free (controllers can break or get lost quicker than consoles - meaning 20 years after the Playstation 2 was released, there are less of them in circulation), so I decided to get a little creative. 

I found a listing on Facebook Marketplace containing 30 Playstation 2 games for $30 - including five different Singstar games! I took the bus up the road and picked these up. Once I'd separated out the Singstar games I would keep, I took the rest to my local EB games shop to trade in for cash. They paid me $45 for the remaining games - leaving me with $15 and a beefed up Singstar collection. 

Luckily, I didn't even need the $15! I found a $1 reserve listing for two untested controllers and a memory card on TradeMe. I took a chance on them, dusted them off and they worked! Leaving $14 for chips and dip. 

That night, we got everything working - and with my wallet completely in tact, the only thing that took a hit was my ego. Turns out it's just cheese that gets better with age - I am still firmly in the "Tone Deaf" category when it comes to Singstar.

I'll stick to fixing things
Overall costs:

Singstar: $25
Playstation 2: $0
Games: $30 ($45 recouped)
Controllers: $1

Total cost: $11
Estimated value: $150