Considering 1st Pinball - seeking advice

Nevus

Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2010
Messages
546
Reaction score
3
Location
Shreveport, Louisiana
If money was not an issue, what pinball would you recommend for a first buy. Here are my considerations. I'm not looking to restore. It doesn't have to be perfect, it does have to be clean and in good cosmetic shape. I can't repair it and I'm 3 hours from someone that can.

After those, my thoughts and desires at this point are:

Nostalgia - Kiss, Evel Kneivel, Star Wars. C'mon, I'm 40.

Sports - I hear there are NFL pins, I'm fan of a certain team.

Looked at some "top 100" lists and a few caught my eye based on movies I liked etc.
-Indiana Jones (are there 2?), LOTR, Black Hole,

Fun and replay potential - lame wont do.

Not too adult - my kids are young

Thanks KLOVers
 
Cirqus Voltaire is a great pinball so is medevil madness if money is not a problem that is.
CV go for $4500 and up and MM go for $6500 and up depending on condition.

Theatre of Magic is also very cool!

You can get a brand new spiderman or ironman for around $5000.
And thats new in the box from stern.

The mesquite store is a good place to see pins up close, not sure they will let you play unless they know you are serious.

They are retail prices.

The Mesquite auction is a good place to buy, but the tax and buyers premium will kill you!
Your looking at almost 25% more then your bid price. So a $2000 pin will have almost $500 in fees.

You might as well have one shipped.

Good luck, I love my pinballs!
 
Last edited:
Go to the pinball section of this forum. There are alot of threads on this subject already. Often they are base on 'what is best for my price range'. There was a thread just in the past week or so. Pins vary greatly in price, so often people start with their budget and look from there. And even if you set a budget, allow yourself overhead room for expenses after your purchase, because it will likely need alot of parts or work. As is always recommended, go find machines and play them. Pins require alot of work, and life long maintenence, i'd say more so than video games. Don't choose a game just based on theme, there are some great themed games, but they are crap when it comes to how well they play, or they become very boring very quickly.
Its often said about pins 'you can't own just one...' its a very addictive habit that many people have transitioned from video games to only focus on pins.
good luck
 
Well, you seem pretty determined that you can't fix one, so if I were you I'd stick with the Williams games from the 90's. You're going to have less issues than you would with those classic Bally's you mentioned. One of the Indy pins you mentioned would probably be a good one for you, you're not likely to have major things go wrong with it.
 
LOTR is cool. I'm personally a fan of Williams pins. If you have a game console you might want to look at picking up a copy of "Williams Pinball Hal of Fame". It gives you a broad sampling of different game types. It's what got me into pins and probably the reason I only have Williams pins. :D

You should come to the Arcade Expo here in Houston on Oct 9th. There will be a lot of different pins there.
 
Honestly the best advice I can give you is playtest the machine you want to buy FIRST. Don't go by ipdb or pinside ratings...It comes down to different strokes for different folks...Example...some people worship TSPP, me personally, *meh*!!!
 
If money was not an issue, what pinball would you recommend for a first buy. Here are my considerations. I'm not looking to restore. It doesn't have to be perfect, it does have to be clean and in good cosmetic shape. I can't repair it and I'm 3 hours from someone that can.

After those, my thoughts and desires at this point are:

Nostalgia - Kiss, Evel Kneivel, Star Wars. C'mon, I'm 40.

Sports - I hear there are NFL pins, I'm fan of a certain team.

Looked at some "top 100" lists and a few caught my eye based on movies I liked etc.
-Indiana Jones (are there 2?), LOTR, Black Hole,

Fun and replay potential - lame wont do.

Not too adult - my kids are young

Thanks KLOVers

If repairing it yourself is a major concern (i.e. no matter what you won't attempt to repair it yourself) then I would stick with a newer Stern. Something like Lord of the Rings, Spiderman, Simpsons Pinball Party, Iron Man, Pirates of the Carribean, etc.
 
I would not recommend to someone that does not want to do work on a machine to buy a Lord of the Rings....they have problems: magnets, switches,etc, just like any pin, and more so than more other recent Stern games.
 
My situation is such. I don't have a workshop. I have young kids (3,5,7&10). My games are in a small room next to the kids playroom. I can't take something apart and leave the pieces lying around or they will turn up missing etc.

I could and would be interested in doing minor quick fixes but restorations etc cant happen in my current situation.

I can see me swapping a board, but not re-soldering capacitors etc.
 
Best advice: Find a game YOU like, and buy it. Some people may like a particular game, while others do not. Opinions vary.

I will say this without you even playing it... stay away from Stern's NFL pin. It really sucks. It sucks animal.

-Mike
 
How much are you wanting to spend? I know you said if money was not an issue but you have to have some idea.

I looked at the cost of a new Avatar pin. I would consider paying that if the game was new and really fun. I would not likely pay that kind of money for a used pin unless it was in mint/new condition. Meaning, I'm not necessarily looking for a rare or collectors item piece. I'm looking for something fun and reliable for home play.
 
Hi - I have owned about 11 pins over the last two years. Right now, for space reasons (to bring in Vids, my new obsession) i sold off alot of the collection.

I originally set out to collect Bally / Williams DMD games from the 90s - Twilight zone, Addams family.

Somewhere along the way, i tried Stern. Surprisingly, i sold off most of my collection and have Sterns only now (Batman, Ironman, Spiderman) (and an Attack From Mars, which is near mint / restored).

So - my suggestion? After all of these games (all a listers / Indiana Jones, Addams, Twilight, Taxi (kind of b list), Revenge from mars, LOTR, TSPP), i felt the best games were Iron man, Spiderman, AFM, Batman (in that order).

If you can swing the 4k - get Iron Man OR Spiderman. They are both incredible games - fast, furious, Fun with a capital F. Iron man slightly edges Spiderman. I have never played a game like this (video or Pin) - one game after the other. Try and find one to see for yourself. Now thats my opinion - and it seems to be others. I have people over for parties / family - they all play the IM (and we are talking about people that smirk at Pinball / dont like it).


www.pinside.com is a great site for rankings / opinions.

Let us know how it turns out for you.

Thanks.
 
Oh - and to previous points regarding Stern reliability - having owned about 5 - 6 of these, they are stable / well built and rarely (if ever) give a problem. For the Bally williams - i am always fixing something (except on Attack from Mars - that is pretty well built).
 
Oh - and to previous points regarding Stern reliability - having owned about 5 - 6 of these, they are stable / well built and rarely (if ever) give a problem. For the Bally williams - i am always fixing something (except on Attack from Mars - that is pretty well built).

AFM is a great first game due to its lack of complexity. Rarely do you see much go wrong with them.
 
I think you pretty much have to expect to do some maintenence with a pinball machine.

My favorites are Terminator 2, Funhouse, Adams Family, Whitewater, and Twighlight Zone. Not neccessarily in that order. Whitewater probably being the most underated game of the lot.
 
Back
Top Bottom