I can't remember how old I was, other than early secondary school, but we had someone renting a room in our house, and he let me borrow his PS1. It had a helicopter game (Apache Assault? Something like that) and chess on it, and I played it tonnes. When he moved away, he let me keep it, saying I'd get more use out of it than he.

I can't remember what happened between then and buying FFIX. But that's the next stage of my gaming life. My friend and I were in Insane Games on the Avenue, and I liked the look of this game. My friend told me Final Fantasy games are crap, but I bought it anyway. Platinum, no booklet. Ended up accidentally stealing the booklet a few years later, and I still have that very same copy. :]