If you're between TFTC and FT, get the FT. TFTC is great, but Fish Tales is one of the best in my opinion. I've owned both, but I've sold my TFTC and FT will never leave my basement. Even amongst all of the others you mentioned, I'd still take FT. That being said, if you're really looking for depth above all, FT won't do that for you. It's just plain fun and will be played many more times than the others. If you're only looking for depth, RBION or Shadow would be your choices.

Regardless, you should be able to find a nicer FT at your price range. Get that and don't look back.

I always like playing FT, it's fast and fun to shoot, but I wouldn't get one at home, the game has no modes and not much depth (no pun intended), and the video mode comes up too often and becomes a bit boring in time.

Once a game, really. And if you rock it, Extra ball!

aybe you progress through the entire boat and see it twice, but it speeds up on the second pass.

Also. Best Video Mode ever.

Fine, I must confess I am biased on video modes. I just hate them all !

As you can read, opinions are all over the place. I'd like to have a Fish Tales but would not give one thin dime for WPT and I won two games on my 2nd game. A lot of the others in these lists do nothing for me.

It took me 2 years of watching You Tube videos before I finally made my decision and I have never regretted what I bought. But I shudder when I think back to several I was thinking about buying; If I had bought some of those they would have already been gone.

Take your time.

Agreed, but at the same time, screw it! Just buy one and let the chips fall. I've bought games sight unseen that were great ones, and games i lusted over be boring and shit.
There's never s way to know until you now. Not when you're just starting now

You've gotten a lot of good advice in this thread but one that's kept coming up that I totally disagree with is BSD. You said before that you want one your wife could get into, that has modes you can progress through, and I think you said you don't consider yourself a very skilled player at this point. There are plenty of games that would fit that bill perfectly, including almost all the ones that are getting multiple recommendations here, but BSD ain't one of 'em. Now don't get me wrong, BSD is one of my all time favorites- owning one is probably the most fun I've ever had with a pinball machine, honestly. But the reason it's beloved is that it's uniquely challenging and brutal, and it stands out from almost any other game. Goddamnit I want to go down and play it right now, but my mother is visiting and the guest room is in the basement!

I don't play golf, but I imagine it's sort of like playing at one of the hardest golf courses in the world. If you're a decent golfer whose played tons of courses over the years, I would imagine playing a course like would be a special, memorable thrill. But if you're more of novice player whose only played a few courses, you'd probably have more fun on just about any other course instead.

That's not to say you should rule out a game just because the shots are tough, but BSD in another league.

I may have missed it but 5 pages in, has anyone mentioned Terminator 3 yet? Lots going on in the game for the value and it’s a Stern.

I’ve owned T3, CSI, WPT in the past and i’d consider owning them all again....all those are in that price range if they are stock and probably provide the most value for Sterns in that range.

Other Stern games around 3k range Rollercoaster Tycoon?, NASCAR, Sharkey’s Shootout, Austin Powers?, Striker Extreme, WWE, not even sure what Monopoly is going for these days. RipleysBION is like 3500-4k range?

Also Maybe look for an X-Men Pro, Avatar, or TF Pro that might have heavy play or off a route or something, or multiple previous owners and may drop in price.

WCS94 is a family friendly pin, I still have one of those... and I’d also consider CSI...some people might knock it, but you can get into a multi-ball quickly and new players like to achieve something. Maybe Jackbot. Fish tales are getting harder to find for 3k, if you can find one, that is a solid option as well.

I will take the opposite approach. I think BSD would challenge his game and make him a much better player.

It is pretty much loved by all, and it continues to go up in price, so it would likely only gain value in his possession as well.

I would lastly say that because it is a challenging game, it won't get boring any time soon. I find that easier games don't fit well in home settings. At home, you want something you can work on and progress through.

Have you created a pinside wishlist yet?

Screenshot_20200227-020236 (resized).png

It helps keep track of games you own (collection), games you want to own (your wish list), and games you previously owned (history).

It also has the added benefit of messaging you when you wish list games come up for sale.

Mine is available for public viewing if you want to check it out.

I went with early solid state pins. I started with a Stern Big Game ( based on playing it in Visual Pinball and watching youtube videos ) and the classic Stern collection grew from there. One major benefit of staying with a particular group of pins is that the boards and other parts will interchange; that makes it so much easier is you need to do some trouble shooting.

I live in a pinball desert here. All of my buys were made after watching hours and hours of youtube vids. I stumbled into a Robocop thread here and decided to check for videos. I liked what I saw and went looking for one. I lucked out. The videos were good; It played just like what I saw in the videos.

High Speed is a great 1st game. Good taste. You will do OK when you make your decision.

The Law does have a good point when he says just "let the chips fall". If you make a mistake buy I guess you look at it as tuition; The cost to get into the game.

Daditude made a good point about BSD. I hate that pinball machine. It keeps saying "feed me". But in a home environment, a pin like that will hone your skills and make you a better player. It is not one you are likely to master, therefore you will not be getting bored easily.

EDIT: Read down farther and saw what you said about BSD and your wife. Road Show is one I stepped up to and liked immediately.

I will be interested in what you finally decide on.

I really like Road Show too, but the wife doesn't like Red and Ted, go figure. I tell her they are better than Rudy

Wait. Unless you have stumbled onto some hyper rare pin that all are dying for, wait. Going from 3K to 4K opens up a world of choices. And who knows, maybe you will get lucky with someone pricing a pin too low and you get to make a deal. And cover your pin jonesing at the arcade. A few quarters at a time

If you want a newer stern, the Avengers tend to hover in the high 3 to low 4's. It's a pretty fun pin from what I remember. That and Transformers tend to sell in a similar price range. Saw an LE listed recently for 4K on facebook. Good luck!

I'd rather have a good game that's older than a newer game thats medicocre. Most of the newer games that sell cheap do so for a reason. Of course your taste may vary....

Better quality games (in condition and quality) are always the superior option.

Congrats....enjoy!

3k is quite the deal on that!

Congrats

Wow..... Jurassic Park that is an awesome deal for an awesome pinball machine. I remember my first pinball Bally Corvette.

https://media.giphy.com/media/3o7WIJXcRrxJaRUanS/giphy.gif

Well then... Great choice!

You paid way more than $3K for that and the whole discussion of this thread was irrelevant then right?

Great game, especially for $3000

Just semantics, but can you really refer to a single pin as "a collection"? What is the minimum number (maybe 3)?