Age old question which has been asked many times over the ages. Depends on if you have space or not is one of the most common answers.

I'm in the process of going from 2 down to 1 great game, I'm going to probably stick with 1 A list game for awhile and swap it out for another when I get sick of it

If you have 2 games on your wishlist you can get for that price, I would do it versus getting only one. I wouldn't buy a cheap game just to have it, but if they are titles you actually like go for it.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/quality-over-quantity

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/quantity-vs-quality

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/quality-or-quantity

I would go for the 2 or 3 titles over the 1 expensive stern. The game play gets spread out over many vs. one. So, the game getting stale problem gets spread over a longer period of time.
Both the games you mentioned would be good titles!

Looking at your wishlist...I would go TWD Pro and never look back.

buy the 2

Since you're okay with repairing games, I think the older games are a much better value. I would definitely pick up 2 or 3 instead of only one if I had the space.

If you're patient and selective about what you buy, you can play, fix and maybe even build your pinball fund.

Variety is the spice of life

Buy a machine you like!
Quality is better then quantity, imo

When I just started out it was quantity but now that all the spaces have been filled up it's quality.

Price does not equal quality. Buy/keep the games that you like.

I dont want to sound like an ass, but those are 2-3 year old threads. One being 8 months. Sometimes peoples views change over time after experimentation and its good to start up another thread to see where people stand currently.

to the OP: im in the same boat. Contemplating 2 pros or 1 woz; or a premium and wait later to add the pro.

Way i see it; if you have lots of time on your hands, the more pins the better. If time is limited and precious to you, then less (but nicer) is better.

if you had no games I'd say 2 but like Captive_Ball said TWD looks like a nice choice.

But me I would probably get 2 older ones due to variety.

so I'm no help

Id rather have 2 fun older games ie Indy 500 and WCS over 1 Pro Stern - but that's just me.

Agree.

Look at the bang/buck list and the top 100...there are DOZENS of great games that can be had in your price range. I'd get 2 really fun older games rather than dropping 4k on a Stern Pro that has fewer features than many "old" games.

Fewer features, but faster gameplay and better rules (depending on the pro you pick).

maybe faster play...maybe, depends on the game--on the other hand, a lot of modern sterns are drain monsters...so the ball may fly around faster but it'll fly down the drain! I suck, so a slower, more flowing game would be a plus for me

Rules would be a toss up, but probably deeper in general on a pro.

You're not being an ass and no worries I take no offense. I was just posting them as more options to look at, which is why I didn't thumbs down the OP. Just don't go thinking that because some of the games are a little newer and you like them, it changes the question completely

Modern Stern games play looong on average.

not with me at the helm, do much better on bally/williams--like the feel much more.

i went quantity first, now that my space is filled up ill slowly sell/trade up over time

looking at your list, I would get TWD pro or ST pro

Would $4k buy WPT + Stargate? Probably not anymore? Otherwise that would be my recommendation.
EM are worth a try too. Most of them are still really cheap, and add a lot a variety. Start with an inexpensive one with 3" flippers and inlanes.

In your current position (space available) I would go for a variety (i.e. more than one pin).

Yes. Buy one expensive game and then 1 or 2 cheap games to go along with it. Just tell the wife atleast these were less expensive. Then before you know it you will have 10 to 20 like most of us. At that point, you wait for CPR to sell the playfields for the least expensive games so you can make them look and play like the expensive games. You get the idea.

Definately buy two, you get tired of playing 1 game real fast. Even if it's a fun game. I have found when we had one game we would play for an hour. When we had 2 or 3 we would play all night. Get sick of the same thing over and over, you switch, then switch back

I'll take 3 WPC games over a new Stern LE or MMR.

if you're early in the hobby and you have space, always go for quantity over quality (so long as you actually like the titles) so you have multiple titles to play. As you save up more money and run out of room you can easily sell off 2 titles to get one nice title. rinse repeat until you run out of room.