Carcasonne is about 20 years old now, and has been constantly in print, so you should be able to get a copy for $15-20. It's a simple game, but really elegant and just pleasant to play - and doesn't have the balance issues that come to be clear in games like Catan if you play them enough (the expansions to Carcasonne are pretty much entirely fluff - they add new components but nothing needs to be done to fix the base game).

And yeah, board games have become a collector's hobby which is frustrating. And I think reviewers are far to lax about quality/price. Like, how in the world can you recommend spending $60 on a game with obviously lazy production where components break easily or don't work as intended? A lot of them are priced so highly because they know they will only be a flash in the pan and need to turn a profit while they have people's attention. While older games can be pretty hit-and-miss with the rules, there are a lot of good ones out there (and idk, a lot of modern games are pretty crappy too)