I would go with a DMD with an easy to achieve multiball. Some system 3 Gottliebs would fit this bill like the Wipeout you have. Data East has some good DMD games in that price. It’s been mentioned before but Lethal Weapon 3 is an absolute blast to play, very approachable rules but actually has multiple scoring strategies that can lead to some big exciting games. All uzi awards and stunt scenes are active and can stack along with multiball and the multiball has some pretty good risk reward rules like changing the jackpot to a double or trying to shoot it quickly twice to get to a quadruple after you lite the double.

Stern Striker Xtreme is probably the newest game that you can get in that price range. It has easy to understand rules and an easy to achieve multiball, most people hate the theme though.

Maybe ask him if theme or gameplay is more important, plenty of games with junk themes that play well and plenty of games with great themes that play like junk, usually if it’s a great theme and a great playing game it’s going to be out of his price range.