Quoted from snappahead:
What did you end up with as a first pin? My High Speed was more a local opportunity and not a game I had thought about owning. I think it was a good first game though.
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.