Kiss Pinball thoughts please

Nevus

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I'm thinking of getting a pinball to go with my small arcade. I'm not looking to restore my first one. I probably will only have room for one. I'm gonna be 40, and can put some money into this with little grief from the Mrs. I want Kiss for personal reasons, loved the band as a kid etc. Few others meet my nostalgia criteria. Maybe a Star Wars, but I have heard here its kind of a lame pinball.

That being said,
Would you be willing to offer me some pros and cons of the Kiss Pinball. I'm not really looking to be coaxed into another one, I like Kiss for the theme. If you haven't guessed yet. My pin knowledge is ZERO! I haven't even played a Kiss pin. My thoughts are that I'll either go with Kiss or just table the idea for a while.

Thanks
 
I love Kiss and wanted a Kiss pinball as my first arcade machine. The price for a nice one was pretty high. Cheaper ones were more faded and I really didn't feel comfortable restenciling art. But I still wanted one.

Then I played one... Fun factor lasted about 10 mins.

If you want one because it's a KISS collectible, go for it.
If you want one to play, well find one and play one first.
But I wouldn't suggest buying one as your only pinball.
It won't fix your pinball fever!
 
I love Kiss and wanted a Kiss pinball as my first arcade machine. The price for a nice one was pretty high. Cheaper ones were more faded and I really didn't feel comfortable restenciling art. But I still wanted one.

Then I played one... Fun factor lasted about 10 mins.

If you want one because it's a KISS collectible, go for it.
If you want one to play, well find one and play one first.
But I wouldn't suggest buying one as your only pinball.
It won't fix your pinball fever!

Ahg! Don't make me go there. I have the worst luck at getting pinball machines. :(


Video: 6 Pinball: 0
 
Pros:

1. Looks extremely cool.
2. Everyone will be jealous you have one.
3. Almost everything is reproed for this if you need something replaced.

Cons:

1. Costs a lot to get a nice one.
2. Gameplay isn't that exciting (Star Wars is better).
3. You won't get much more than you paid for it should you ever decide to sell it (unless you did a major restoration)
 
it is a fun pin to play, but there are better ones out there, and expect to pay a lot for one. they never seem to go for cheap.
 
Definitely play one before you get it. Its a slow playing machine. That's fine for someone who likes older pins. If you are really into ramps and cool features and neat mechanical gadgets, you will be disappointed. That's because its a typical late 70s pin. You're very likely to find a hundred pins of that era with near identical gameplay. Of course, the cool part is that its KISS. If you want a pinball machine that his going to have a ton of replay value, this might not be the one for you. If you want a neat KISS collectible or enjoy the slower playing single ball older style solid state pins, then this is a good choice.
 
I have one and several other pins. Also being a kiss fan I always wanted one. Long story short I ran across one at work got it for about 30 bucks and a 2 hour service call. Looks great so as soon as I got it home I found the transformer was bad couldn't wait to fix it planed a full restore. Long story short got the transformer put it in held my breath and everything worked great. Sad part of the story after playing my first couple games I never turned it on or finished order my resto parts.I wouldn't sell it due to being a kiss fan and having several other pins, But I would not recommend this to a pinball fan a kiss fan maybe. Good luck there usually very expensive.
 
Mine is one of 8 late 70's/early 80's machines in my collection and it's gameplay is no more exciting than the other 7. Most people buy one because they are a kiss fan. If you are going to spend a lot of $$$ on one machine, you would be better off getting a newer dot matrix multiball machine.
 
Thanks a lot everyone. I was kind of hoping for input like this. I think playing one for a while is a good idea. Maybe I'll get a chance to play several at a museum one day. If they have any working pins at the next Mesquite auction, I'll get some KLOVers to show me some of the finer points.

I'm a kiss fan in the sense that If I had a band pin, it would be one of the few. I don't crank the kiss in my car and follow them on tour etc.
 
Kiss is tough to find one that is not thrashed for a decent price. I also suggest you play it for a while before buying one. The gameplay on it is less than exciting.
If you want a pin that you can get for cheap but is really fun to play check out Mr & Ms Pacman pinball. I have seen tons of project machines for sale for less than 100 bucks and complete working machines as low as $500. I paid $150 for mine and it just needed a little MPU work to get it going.
Dont get me wrong, I love kiss and the pinball looks awesome but its just not very fun to play.

My buddy went to see Kiss last night .
 
Thanks a lot everyone. I was kind of hoping for input like this. I think playing one for a while is a good idea. Maybe I'll get a chance to play several at a museum one day. If they have any working pins at the next Mesquite auction, I'll get some KLOVers to show me some of the finer points.

I'm a kiss fan in the sense that If I had a band pin, it would be one of the few. I don't crank the kiss in my car and follow them on tour etc.
I disagree about the gameplay. I think the game play is good and about right for a game of that era I enjoyed playing the machine and would love to have one as I'm a Kiss fan,but the price is just way to high on them. You may have more responses by posting this in the pinball section.

Glennon
 
Hell, if they werent so expensive I would have one for sure. I just cant justify paying that much for a pin with average play. Its got to be up there in the top ten most expensive pins.
 
Hell, if they werent so expensive I would have one for sure. I just cant justify paying that much for a pin with average play. Its got to be up there in the top ten most expensive pins.
I'd say pre 1980 it is probably the most expensive.

Glennon
 
What I've gathered is that, for the classic Bally era, it's one of the best as far as artwork, but from a pinball player's perspective, it's so-so. It kinda seems like the playfield layout, as far as the pop bumpers go, is made to accommodate the artwork.

I'm a huge KISS fan and had to have one someday. I got a project years ago, but still haven't restored it, as I still need to buy a repro playfield. I already got the backglass and plastics set. Long story short, for what I'll end up putting into repro stuff, I'll have a new looking game, but probably should have just bought a nice original one.

Black Knight, Eight Ball Deluxe, Firepower are good players from that era. Firepower comes up for sale fairly often it seems.
 
Thanks a lot everyone. I was kind of hoping for input like this. I think playing one for a while is a good idea. Maybe I'll get a chance to play several at a museum one day. If they have any working pins at the next Mesquite auction, I'll get some KLOVers to show me some of the finer points.

I'm a kiss fan in the sense that If I had a band pin, it would be one of the few. I don't crank the kiss in my car and follow them on tour etc.

nevus, ill be in mesquite and would be happy to help,

i like kiss as a band, but i could never buy the pin, id fall asleep!

for what you would pay for that pin in decent shape, you can buy 3 or 4 newer b list dmd games, if your looking for a band pin, IMO guns n roses is the best....dmd,6 multi ball, deep rules set music, etc....

darren
 
Thanks everyone. I hate to ask now but this is the place.

Another one from my Generation would be Evel Knievel. Thoughts on that one?
 
Thanks everyone. I hate to ask now but this is the place.

Another one from my Generation would be Evel Knievel. Thoughts on that one?

i have a friend that has several pins from that era, fun for a short period of time,

as i said in a previous post , I prefer newer pins
 
Old Chicago
or
Delta Queen

Are my favs with great game play.

Me and my girl are big Kiss fans and I had the pleasure to play the Kiss machine growing up. I was not a fan of the game play at all then.

Fast forward 30 years and where everyone does the klov meetings a couple times a year. aka crab towne

I have had the chance to play the machine again because well they have one.

Guess what after all this time I was glad to play the machine again but it still sucks big time! Go figure...
 
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