good deals do pop up...my advice is to have cash on hand and act as quickly as possible when they do

Nope not too late . Pinside is a good place to start , place a wanted post for project games in your area and see what turns up.

You could always head to an auction then pay market value of a working game for a beater that needs a bunch of work. That's sometimes a popular strategy around here in NC.

It's always a good time to get into pinball! Welcome!

Reach out to the peeps on this thread, they are in your neck of the woods and seem a very friendly bunch:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pacific-northwest-buyerssellers-thread

Be careful Mark.. wanting to spend a few bucks can quickly turn into a lot more $$ hahaha I started with a beater $300 Firepower I was fortunate to find on craigslist that I intended to learn on and fix up. That was about a year and a half ago.. now I've sunk thousands and thousands into pinball, not to mention all the time and money that went to *finally* complete that firepower project.

Good deals on project machines don't seem to come up too often around here but I'd say check criagslist obsessively several times a day like many others and maybe you'll be the first to see & call on one of the good deals. Or do some research, play some games, and know what you want and be willing to pay a little extra to grab it when it comes up. Also could try the NW sellers/buyers thread on here and see if anyone has something for you. If you went EM era, you'd probably have an easier time picking up a machine on the cheap.

I just started in January. Now I have two machines- one all fixed up and one I'm working on. Follow the threads here on what's listed on CL and eBay. They listed one on ebay 1.5 hrs from me and I picked it up. Around here there are lots of collectors, dealers, flippers, etc. so the market certainly isn't flooded with cheap machines... But there are some EM's around. Unless they're mint they're not worth the effort to try to flip so those are your best bet to find.

Usually you can get a good project pin from a fellow pinhead. It won't be super cheap, but depending on title and era, under $500. Then you need sweat equity and parts. Just choose a pin that has a wealth of parts available (I check marco and pinball life and see what they have on hand, in stock).

It's not too late, maybe too late if you are cash strapped and want the big name pins, but there's some great under rated pins that are still affordable and enjoyable. Maybe look at the segas or gottlieb premier pins if you want something cheap.

The other thing besides what cosmokramer stated is your technical ability. The the most inexpensive machines tend to be electro-mechanical machines that are non-working. Do not be fooled into thinking that replacing a fuse will bring the machine back to operation.

Generally electromechanical machines do not require having to buy parts to get them working. However a schematic and the ability to read the schematic and translated to the machine wiring, relays and contacts is needed. This is usually hampered by faded and non-existent wiring colors because of the passage of time. Some EM titles will be difficult to find a matching schematic.

Then the next step upwards is the early solid state machines. These will require ability to work on circuit boards and connectors as well as the ability to read schematics if you are to do the work yourself.

The positive thing is that you can post on pinside to obtain guidance and help with your project.

Pacific NW is not as rich with deals as the east coast seems to be, but it's not too late to jump in.
You should definitely come to NW pinball and arcade show in june to get to play all kinds of machines, and maybe find a deal even

In the Lower Mainland (Greater Vancouver) there is a bunch of Pinball fans. There is even a tournament that happens. Welcome to Pinside.

never too late

Be patient. Machines always turn up.

not to late at all. I started less than two years ago. There are multiple avenues to take tho. Depends on the era game you are looking for too. Bottom line, deals are to be had, but patience prevails.

Sounds like his intent is to play the game with his family, not to sell it immediately for a profit.

I'm less than a year in.....got my 1st (RK) fully working for $500.....so they are out there....for craigslist you have to check every hour or two to catch the deals.............Joey

I wouldn't say your too late, but the days of good deals hanging around are definitely over. Craigslist is monitored by collectors and flippers 24-7 where I live, and if you don't respond within the first 10-to-30 minutes a good ad goes up, you probably missed out. It would drive me crazy feeling like I have to check Craigslist every 10 minutes. Non pinball people are also becoming more aware of what these games are selling for. For example, Coin-Op Warehouse (a picking company) in Hagerstown MD, used to sell routed pins several years ago for nice discounts, now they want $$$ almost what you could get a good condition one on Pinside for. But like someone mentioned above, patience does prevail. Something will be pop up, but be ready to act fast!

I thought I was too late to start 3 years ago.

Now is as good a time as any.

It's hard to get a good deal on any late model Stern or 90's Williams/Bally DMD pins, but there are some good buys to be had in electro mechanicals (EM), some early solid state (SS), and some 1980's pins. Granted, these pins in general aren't as deep rule wise as some of the 90's and later DMD pins, and are usually lacking in ramps, toys, and multi-level playfields, but there are a lot of things to shoot at on some of these pins (including lots of drop targets on some), and doing whatever is required to light a special and see all of the rules involved in these earlier pins can be quite a challenge in itself. Some of these earlier pins are also a blast to play 2 player head to head on, as the ball times can be pretty short.

So don't write off the earlier pins, they can be quite fun and afforable.

I love that many are only interested in 1993+ DMD pins in the top 50... lol...

Leaves early solid state and System 11 games for me at a decent price. LOL!

Not too late....but I would recommend your first buy from an honest collector.
(yes, all collectors are honest...sorry..... )

You want something to play, so does your family, and not something that needs constant repair.
This way you get familiar with how everything works, and can grow into the service/maintenance
side without being overwhelmed.

Perhaps even a nearby collector who will share some time to be of help.

What I think can be hard is trying to save what appears to be a few hundred dollars, only to find
that thats whats needed to get a game playing right. A good, tweaked fine playing game, will allow you
to ease into the Hobby, focusing on the joy of playing with your family first.

Talk with friends. Ask them to talk to friends. LOTS of games tucked away with people who have no clue about pinside, rgp, etc... You would be surprised!

Q: "Where do people find project machines these days?"

A: Months (maybe even years) of making connections with local pinheads. Start going to leagues and tournaments. Make friends. Get invited to parties. Tell people what you're looking for.

That said, I wouldn't recommend an unplayable game for your first machine. It might end up sitting in your house for months, broken...taunting you. First, get something cheap that you can actually play (or at the very least - it powers on and flips but has other, smaller issues). Then get a non-working project (if you can even find one) to tinker with.

I don't think it will be hard to find a cheap game unless you are trying to find something in great shape or a top rated title. Pre-dmd games are probably the best place to start. I would spend a little extra to get a working pin or at least something that boots up. Otherwise you can be dealing with a whole host of problems from hacks, bad boards, and gremlins.

You are correct, I mispoke and almost immediately edited my post. I apologize as I read it incorrectly at that hour.

Start with a working EM - great titles are out there for under 500 bucks. Then work your way up. Once an EM is working, it's like a tank.

The Seattle area has a very active community. It is a little bit of a drive for you but the prices will be better than what you will see in the Vancouver BC area for the most part. There are a couple of google/yahoo groups that you should get on to and it would be worth the drive down for one of the bigger tournaments just to get to meet some people. Also, the arcade and pinball show in June is a must.

I just bought my first pin about 2 months ago and got an amazing local deal here on pinside through my "wanted" ads. I put one up in the Market and also posted in the Wanted forum section, clearly spelling out that I was looking for a "really rough condition early Bally SS project machine in the midwest."

Maybe it was good timing and maybe I got lucky, but within a week or two I had 5 offers for machines in my area all under $500. The one I went with was even significantly less than that, offered as an untested machine (and missing backglass). I've already gotten it running with just a little bit of extra cash and elbow grease into it (granted the backglass is still missing).

So yeah just put out some feelers and see what people are looking to get rid of!

As hobbies, Cars and Pinball are very similar - heavy, hard to move, take up a lot of space, and crazy expensive. Also, you are better off spending as much as you can afford to get the nicest condition example you can, because restoration is a money-losing proposition.

That said, buying a $200 beater EM or SS on CL and spending a couple of hundred fixing it up and getting it playing nicely is a great way to learn the hobby. Think of it like taking a course where at the end of it you know more than when you started.

You can still get some of the less desirable DMD pins for cheap, like I mentioned in my other post the gottlieb premiers and segas are still pretty cheap in players condition and some of those have the features of the popular pins but just bad themes/shallow rule sets.

... and see what the future will bring ! I started 13 years ago with my first own pin.
Meanwhile there was a "in and out" but for some years getting quiter and no longer hunting for each pin.

The question is: Will the bubble break ?! When will the prices go down ? Its like on a stock exchange, I am sure that the hype will stop .. anytime. When I started in the german forums were 300 members .. now its more than 10.000 users have subscribed, many leave asap .. others stay. But the kids are mostly not interested in pinball. The older guys prefer EE .. my age (47) like new machines and WPC / WPC95 ... but we will also become older and maybe interests will change. In my opinion its just a matter of time and pins will be payable again.

Buy a nice one ! At least over here in Europe the money is worthless ... money on a bankaccout is just loosing worth ... invest in a pin you like and have fun with it. Dont expect to make some effort and sell it higher ... just have fun, forget the money and the surprise will follow if you ever sell it !
Its a hobby .. hobby means burning money.

Excuse my english.

Tom

My advice is don't expect to make out in the end by getting a project pin. YOU WILL spend more getting it up to snuff than buying an already working one. Do it if you enjoy projects and don't care about how much you put into them.

Good example, I'm selling a Comet currently I got initially for $350 that was blown out completely.

- New dummy drop target assembly - $40
- New target stickers - $20
- new cycle jump ramp - $70
- Flipper rebuild & new flipper coils - $50
- Paint for airbrush - $25
- Airbrush tips - $25
- 2 cans of spraymax2k clearcoat - $40
- Blue xPin displays - $200
- New MPU - $90 + 7 hrs of work and $30 in parts to repair a busted sys11, recouped $50 by selling the trashed original sys9 board, but threw in some xtra parts to make up for the fact it was in such rough shape, so more like $30 recouped.
- CLR - $10
- Rubber kit - $12
- LEDs - $60
- Incandescent bulbs - $10
- Leg levelers - $8
- Replacement transformer - $50
- Electronics (Caps, diodes, ICs, transistors) $50
- Roll of frisket $25
- other various parts, coil sleeves, nuts, bolts, screws - ???
- spray paint $10
- EPROMs - $10 (I burn these myself).
- god knows what else random stuff that came up I didn't keep track of.

Not counting stuff I already had like tumbler & medium either, metal polish, etc.

100+ hrs work roughly. Works out to $1100+, SOLD IT FOR $750. Yeah, I could have half-assed stuff and made it cheaper, but I do this for myself. I like the feeling of stepping back when it is ll done and saying "WOW, that was a lot of work, but check it out now!". Very satisfying. It still could use more stuff too, like a new corkscrew ramp, but your have to stop somewhere.

Your first decision needs to be what era game you actually want. EM, SS etc. and the details in between. Secondly, your ability and knowledge to fix these games will be a big factor. A great price and a lot of fixing needs equates to an unused pin sitting in a garage many times. Personally I would buy a good "bang for your buck" pin made in the 90's or later. (Again, that is what I prefer. You may like the older style electro-mechanical ones). I will assure you that something will need to be done to it sooner than later and now you have your "hobby". When you are selling your living room couch to make room for your 14th pin get back to me,lol.

You're rarely going to find any diamonds in the rough anymore. There are people that do it professionally and have all day long and will beat you to any deals almost every time. IF you have all day to surf craigslist, then you might stand a 50/50 chance of getting something.

Your best bet is to put wanted ads for specific games on CL. I have had more success with that than anything else as far as reasonable prices on things. You just need to know what you are looking at so you don't get taken advantage of.

There is a 50 dollar Big Chief on craigslist near me.

I'm going to say.. "Nope, as long as you can learn to fix!"

This is all too true now. Not a lot of games left in "players condition" anymore in the wild, except private sales here on pinside. A lot of companies buying up games and refurbing them to try and sell at a premium right now. Looks like classic cars all over again. Eventually, there won't be much left but overpriced totally destroyed project/parts machines and overpriced restored games, which makes it difficult for a lot of people to get into the hobby. I doubt it will last long though. People are sitting on these restored games for much longer now than they were even just a few years ago. I think the peak happened already.

Really? huh. I always thought wanted ads on cragslist were kind of useless. I might have to try that at some point...

Just has to be a specific game. Can't be a general. I never get replies from any and all pins ads. Usually within a month I have several options to choose from. Probably has a lot to do with my location as well.

Its too late to get underrated games on the cheap. My advice is always the same, buy your first game from a fellow collector that is working 100%....trust me it will break and you can learn to fix them a little at a time. Buying a basket case is ill advised until you have worked on a few smaller issues first. Your second or third game should be the project game.

If you want to go cheaper you can buy a game that is consider a "players game" ie one that plays perfect but has less than perfect cosmetics. They are just as much fun to play and can save you hundreds if not more.

As always YMMV

Welcome and yes

you definitely can still find deals

spring is here

Garage Sales

Craigslist

Swap Meets or Flea markets

picked up a few EMs for 100$ each working couple years back

Good luck on your quest

half the hobby is the hunt

Once you're in its too late to get out.

Just go to one of the Pinball Shows. If they have an outside flea market you'll find plenty of projects...

I know you're in WA Mark, but check your CL, you can find stuff. It is often a crapshoot, but often worth a trip to check something out. Just don't ever feel obligated to buy something. Just found this near me. If I were looking for a new project, I'd shoot this guy an email and ask some questions to get a feel for who I am dealing with.

allentown.craigslist.org link

aaand that guy now has a full inbox, I bet.

probably. proof it can still happen though.

And its gone, whatever it was. Proof that you have to be watching 24/7 with cash in hand. Once the sharks catch the scent of the blood in the water, it's all over.

Here is a tip for you though, IF you manage to find something that looks like a good deal that you might be interested in, DO NOT POST HERE asking for advice. Someone will steal if from you, guaranteed.