No, from my experience with vids, I fully understand that this collection will not be static. I know it will evolve over time. I'm just trying to establish a nice starting point. As a matter of fact, I spent all afternoon playing pinball. I played: T2, Metallica, Tron, Indiana Jones, AC/DC, X-Men, Getaway 2, Spider-Man and Dirty Harry. I have a lot of reviewing to do.
Quoted from Kcpinballfan:I also am of the group that thinks dmds don't look dated, just like the alpha-numeric display and the chimes and scoring reels don't look out of date or place. Its just each era of machine and they are timeless works of mechanical art. Your age and perception of games may make these machines seen like relics but there will always be a collectors market for each type of pinball machine. Jmo
Glad I'm not alone. My husband has a Hobbit on order and I'm really on the fence on how I feel about it mainly because of the LCD screen. I am firmly planted in the '90s when it comes to pins and don't see that ever changing. Kick it old school!
Quoted from Hobbypinball:From your post you seem to be indicating you just want to buy 3 and then stop. Very few people can maintain a long time interest in just 3 games - regardless of the title. It happens and maybe you fall into that category, but most like to have a little flavor in their collections.
This is very true. I originally only wanted ONE machine when I first got my Twilight Zone in 2008, now I have 16 working games, and 15 project games, just only 5 years later. What can I say? I am a pinball addict, no doubt.
Quoted from Russell:No, from my experience with vids, I fully understand that this collection will not be static. I know it will evolve over time. I'm just trying to establish a nice starting point. As a matter of fact, I spent all afternoon playing pinball. I played: T2, Metallica, Tron, Indiana Jones, AC/DC, X-Men, Getaway 2, Spider-Man and Dirty Harry. I have a lot of reviewing to do.
Awesome, HS2 (getaway) is one of my favorites of all time. Of that list I'd take a MET, SM, and DH. Never been a big fan of ACDC, game is fun, but it's so much about the music that I would never fully enjoy it.
Quoted from Russell:No, from my experience with vids, I fully understand that this collection will not be static. I know it will evolve over time. I'm just trying to establish a nice starting point. As a matter of fact, I spent all afternoon playing pinball. I played: T2, Metallica, Tron, Indiana Jones, AC/DC, X-Men, Getaway 2, Spider-Man and Dirty Harry. I have a lot of reviewing to do.
Very cool. Sounds like you had a great day of pin. When you find one you absolutely love try and find a nice one. Soon enough you can replace all the vids with pins and you'll be in paradise.
We had a vid collection with about 20 great classics that we kept at work in the mid 1990s. Was forced to liquidate it in 1997. It was great while we had them but I had not yet discovered pins.
I had always planned to build that arcade again when I had the space and could afford it. Funny thing happened when I finally could afford it. I had a Galaga, added a stand up Joust, but then I bought an RFM on Ebay. Figured a vid/pin combination could be cool. Since I had to travel about 8 hours to pick it up, the seller offered me 2 more pins from his collection for a full van load. I did some research and chose TZ and TAF.
4 years later I still have the same two vids but my pin collection has grown to about 65 machines.
What can I say, I'm addicted. Pinball is art in motion. I love the speed, I love the sounds, I love the lights. I love the action.
And my point is, that when you buy art, you don't look for the picture with the highest resolution. You buy art that moves you. Like Picasso, Warhol, Monet, ... old school artists that tug at you.
So forget about the latest and greatest technology. It may be cool but this is not a computer and we are not concerned about MIPS or FLOPS. This is PINBALL.
Quoted from roc-noc:We had a vid collection with about 20 great classics that we kept at work in the mid 1990s. Was forced to liquidate it in 1997. It was great while we had them but I had not yet discovered pins.
I had always planned to build that arcade again when I had the space and could afford it. Funny thing happened when I finally could afford it. I had a Galaga, added a stand up Joust, but then I bought an RFM on Ebay. Figured a vid/pin combination could be cool. Since I had to travel about 8 hours to pick it up, the seller offered me 2 more pins from his collection for a full van load. I did some research and chose TZ and TAF.
4 years later I still have the same two vids but my pin collection has grown to about 65 machines.
What can I say, I'm addicted. Pinball is art in motion. I love the speed, I love the sounds, I love the lights. I love the action.
And my point is, that when you buy art, you don't look for the picture with the highest resolution. You buy art that moves you. Like Picasso, Warhol, Monet, ... old school artists that tug at you.
So forget about the latest and greatest technology. It may be cool but this is not a computer and we are not concerned about MIPS or FLOPS. This is PINBALL.
Very well said, kudos to you my friend!
Quoted from Russell:What do you think about the idea that music pins will get stale in a small collection due to repetitiveness of the music?
Music pins actually have more music than regular pins. The only music pin that I have a beef with is GnR (which I really like by the way) over plays Welcome to the Jungle . . . as do sports arenas all over the country.
In my original post, I said I didn't like Funhouse. I want to retract that statement completely. Over the weekend, I played it for about 2 hours at Johnny G's in Frisco, CO. I completely loved it!
I think it took me a while to really understand the rule set. As with so many games that I'm trying for the first time, learning the rules made a huge difference in my enjoyment level. It makes me wonder why the designers don't seem to focus much on making games more self-explanatory. The little rule cards are just not cutting it!
Quoted from Russell:As with so many games that I'm trying for the first time, learning the rules made a huge difference in my enjoyment level. It makes me wonder why the designers don't seem to focus much on making games more self-explanatory. The little rule cards are just not cutting it!
I think regular pinball players forget just how confusing and intimidating pinball can be. "I hit the ball in that hole and it told me the lock was lit, what does that mean?"
Yes, once you understand it all then it becomes obvious, but there's a real gap before that understanding if someone isn't there to explain it to you.
Games like Centaur don't have even alphanumerics, much less DMD, but are sought after because of the gameplay. That is why pins are both personal and invasive. You want more because each has its own very unique personality.
Quoted from Russell:I am surprised how forgiving this community is with regard to DMDs. Dot matrix!?! If computer companies were still making dot matrix printers, would you be so kind? If so, I can probably dig some up for you guys, just $10k each!
I agree with DMDs being outdated. WOZ is a step in the right direction. But if you like to start a pinball collection you have to accept DMDs - because there aren't many LCD games available.
By the way - I really like the color DMDs but they look like antiques as well. I'm just crazy about that 8-bit/16-bit video game look. 
Since you said you have young kids, I have a different suggestion. I have three girls (oldest is 4) and I wanted to make sure I got something that would appeal to them. A lot (arguably all) modern games are not all that kid-friendly and do not hold my girls' interest. I ended up going for a machine that I played a lot when I was 4 years old, Gottlieb's Haunted House from 1982. It is very colorful, has great sound, and the gameplay is slow enough that they can follow it and not get frustrated. And I won't lie, daddy loves it too! This is one machine I probably will never part with.
Dude - Keep it simple!
Your views on pinball are wide open and you created huge grey areas with your ideas of "buying 3 pins" and "Dmd's are going to crash".
If you are opening a restaurant chances are you probably would not come in saying "I want to open three restaurants, all with different styles, and I think that this salad thing is going to crash because a steak just looks and tastes better"
Keep it simple list-
1. You have money (it seems) - awsome!
2. You like collecting fun items you can play (vids) - check!
3. Go play tons of pins and do research - check and check!
4. Buy one and get playing. Your list of games you have played is awsome.
5. Play your home pin and see if you like it.
6. If you enjoy it buy one more. You can trade them out also for around what you put into them.
7. If you don't enjoy pinball sell your pin and move on. Not likely.
Put aside over thinking with your "I must find the 3 golden pins" attitude and collectable economic theories and just buy an AC/DC and have a blast.
Enjoy the ride
Asking a bunch of collectors what "the best" is and saying "I have zero and now I want the three best" is gonna provide some pretty wacky answers! I've been at it for years and I have no idea how I'd narrow to three, much less for a complete stranger who thinks MB and MM are too dated to buy. Good luck, and I look forward to seeing what you end up with!
Buy what you like. To me, the majority of "new" games are really lame. I love the 90s Williams/Bally stuff...
Quoted from Sgtmax:If you have a problem with Dmds looking dated buy a colour dmd for it?
A couple of weeks ago I played Rascal's STTNG with a color DMD in it. First time I had seen the color DMD in that game, and I thought it was fantastic. It looked like it belonged there. It didn't seem tacked into the play, it was just great.
Quoted from Russell:I am surprised how forgiving this community is with regard to DMDs. Dot matrix!?! If computer companies were still making dot matrix printers, would you be so kind? If so, I can probably dig some up for you guys, just $10k each!
10K is a bit high, try 400ish...
http://www.okidata.com/printers/impact/ml320t-321t
It might be short notice, but if you can get to PAPA ( http://www.papa.org ) you can sample hundreds of games over the course of 5 days. Blow a few hundred dollars worth of tokens, and you'll have a very good idea of what games you like, and can then start shopping! If PAPA is too soon, head to Pinball Expo ( http://www.pinballexpo.net ) and check out the games there.
Quoted from Matt_Rasmussen:Well, I think you need to switch your judgment of what a good machine is by how it looks. Sure, the DMD is important, but most importantly is how fun the machine is for you to play. Personally, I really like the DMD displays and the creativity that the programmers had/have. I think LCD's look odd in a pin, but, I'm sure that will change as the devs come up to speed with that technology.
Pick games you like to play, not games high on the list or ultimately you will be disappointed with anything you choose. Along with an empty wallet...
Personally, some of the system 11 machines are my favorites, with the 'basic' alphanumeric displays, the devs really pushed the limits of those too.
Totally agree. I could pick and buy my top 3 games which are deeper, more challenging and fun to play IMHO...all for the price of a single game on your list. Don't go with the masses sheep mentality...buy what you enjoy. And I think they are aging just fine. My top machine was built in 93-94 and it blows away 100% of the more expensive LE versions of games that are coming out today. Even my 2004 RBION is way more fully featured than the games of today. Just because a game is new and/or expensive, doesn't mean it is that better of a game.
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