I grew up so poor I couldn't play games, so I just picked player's guides from the dumpsters behind the Blockbuster. That was one of my favourites, I'd read it while watching the movie and imagine I was playing the game.
I wasnt even that poor but i still browsed miniature construction vehicles/lego/coin/poststamp/toystore catalogues all day. All vidya i wanted to play usually required a better pc than we had at home so i also read vidya magazines and looked at boxes in the gamestore.
My post had the meaning that I have been participating in the same activities, namely mooring over Lego catalogues I was borrowing from a friend for hours on end every day back when I was about 7-8 years old.