Bally Star Trek for $225; no photos.

This is how I feel right now too. Especially being in the Pac-NW, where there's just apparently a lot of people around snapping everything worthwhile up. It feels like by the time I would actually see something on CL here, it's either been snapped up, or going to be a really bad deal as that's the only reason it would still be available.

I talk about pinball to anyone that has a conversation with me. Yes it gets old and people probably get tired of hearing about it but that's how I come across cheap tables. I am now known as the pinball guy in the area and people call me weekly with games they have come across.

Best story of this is I was at a funeral and was in line to pay my respects and someone came up and whispered "aren't you the pinball guy" I said I was and he said "what's my EK worth to you"

There are still plenty of good deals to be had on pins in the PNW. Craig's List is just not the best place to find them. There are a lot of collectors who are willing to pass along machines in good condition for fair prices or have purchased one too many projects and are willing to sell them for what they have in to them.

Get to know the people in the community and they deals will pop up. Are you on any of the e-mail groups for pins and arcades in the Seattle area?

Mark I think these days and perhaps always a big part of the hobby is the chase. Fixing your own pins IMO is defiantly part of the hobby. You will spend heaps more time looking for and fixing broken down pins than playing them. If this is not for you I suggest you save up and get a brand new one out of the box that you won't have to paw through sales post for and will not have the tec issues of a 20 year old machine. That way you can just enjoy pinball.

Loving pinball and loving the hobby are two quite different things
One is like
And the other is just repeat

Welcome to the club. Its not too late. I started at 40!

Best advice is becoming friends with as many pinheads on here as possible that do restore jobs. They undoubtedly have one too many projects and will often times be willing to let them go because they can't get to them all, unless they have major pin hoarding issues.

Finding those "projects" is difficult...lots of patience in order. Simply because of the laws of supply and demand.

Since it is your first, I would recommend early solid state - especially late 70s/early 80s Ballys. Parts are pretty standard among many of these games, they are fairly easy to work on them, and a lot of knowledgeable folks on here to help. Stay away from one tainted with battery corrosion for
your first, or allocate a few hundred bucks for a replacement board.

The more cosmetically damaged a project is, the cheaper it will likely be for your first game. If you are willing to attempt playfield and cabinet touchup and repair, or at least willing to live with it, you'll have more opportunities open for a project.

No, it's never too late...but a lot of us that have been in the hobby wish we started much earlier - like during the time when many pinball machines became available at the introduction of vids and home consoles.

Firepower is a great game to start on and you can usually find project machine sub $300, depending on how rough they are.

My advice, buy a decent game on the cheap and fix it up to make it like new again.

I bought a Hurricane last year that was in said shape. Tore it all apart, restored it and now it looks and plays awesome. Super fun, like new pin now.

I was talking to someone recently that was telling me that project machines, at least in some areas of the country (like here in the NW), are getting quite hard to find. Either they've already been picked up and restored, or parted out. And that in general, more and more of the remaining machines that fit into the project category are the really bad cases.

Anyone have any thoughts on how accurate that is in their experience?

I agree, I've been seeing less out there just in the few years I have been in the hobby. Even out the really bad cases there's a new category: I call it "project machine at player's condition prices". Usually identified by an ad that describes the machine as in great condition for it's age - but the playfield and cabinet is worn to the wood and its price is at about double or triple of what it should be.

Become part of the local PNW pinball community. Many pins are trade and sold away from craigslist. Seattle has a group of pinball collectors on Yahoo. There are also Facebook groups.