I usually purchase a lot of electronics hardware on a whim. With FPGAs, I'm forcing myself to learn how to use them before I spend the cash. There are quite a few boards out there though .. but this isn't a rec based on actual usage. The Papilio Duo seems like the one I'll get. My main concern is that this (and other hobbyist boards) use the Spartan 3 or 6. From what I can tell, it seems this has been retired by Xilinx. I'd prefer going with a Xilinx since the toolchain seems more popular with hobbyists.

Oh .. and for now, I have a cheap Cypress PSOC that I'm playing with. They were literally giving 'em away at Maker Faire :)