You've got to play as many different games as possible. It's amazing how different people's tastes are. There are games that aren't ranked in the top 200 here on Pinside that I enjoy more than games ranked in the top 10.

I love how people on this forum say "especially at this budget point" or refer to $1,500 as "not much money". For some people, that's a LOT of money to be spending on anything that isn't bills. Crazy friggin forum we have here. I'd LOVE to have $1,500 to spend on a pin right now. I would have loved to have had $1,500 to spend on a pin any time in the last couple of years. Financial reality is very different for different people. The two pins on top of my want list right now both fall under the $1,500 mark, but that doesn't mean I can possibly find a way to buy them.

I stand by my point. Play a ton of games. You don't need to spend months doing it, but whether you are spending that time owning a game or playing them on location, at people's houses, tournaments, league, whatever, you are still playing pinball and learning what you like and don't like. I was given that advice by a bunch of Pinsiders and it turned out to be great advice!