You got a BSD and a Funhouse for about $400 each? MAN i need to move to the states
They would both be 2K machines here at LEAST !!

I'm all in. I got my favorite EM Flying Carpet for 150.00 about 5 years ago, and still love it. Also picked up an Evel Knievel for 200.00 in really nice shape. Still deals out there. Just have to dig a little harder.

My Strata-Flite was $150.- Space Time was $250.- Two awesome games for $400.-.

Bought Meteor for $250 which included all new boards in the head due to fire, including an Alltek MPU. It's one of my best playing games now. All of my early SS games are players, but I'm spending $$ to restore the keepers.

I haven't paid over $1k for a pin yet, so I guess I'm in the club?

I also have a Spy Hunter, bought in great condition, and that's a fun player.

My cheapest was a $200 Post Time and I probably overpaid as the cabinet had been painted over with florescent colors, the bells didn't work and everything was old and unmaintained. Was a good learning experience to get it cleaned up and running, though I need to revisit some items as the bell is again fritzing, at least one flipper needs a rebuild, and it occasionally drops a ball from your queue.

I would love to have a NIB someday though, so I'll quietly leave the club if/when that happens!

I got my first pin in the spring, a WIlliams Space Odyssey that was in decent shape. At the time, I knew ZERO about pinball repair but someone gifted me the $350.00 the seller was asking so I took the plunge. I was telling myself at the time that I would either fix up the Space Odyssey and then "flip" it, or just keep it as I started adding new tables to my collection.

I had no idea what I was in for, and I mean that in the best possible way.

In the last 5 months, I have rebuilt the flippers and the pop bumpers. I have cleaned and adjusted all stepper units and score reels. I have cleaned and waxed the playfield and all playfield parts. The playfield rubber is all new and the playfield parts that were "wrong" have been replaced. I have gone through all my playfield leaf switches and adjusted them so they operate the way I'd like them to. The chime unit is rebuilt and sounds great. In each case, these repairs/rebuilds meant that I needed to learn how to do them (thank you Clay Harrell for http://www.pinrepair.com/em/index.htm). It was not all easy because I knew NOTHING. I made mistakes, but thankfully never did anything badly enough that I couldn't fix it as I learned.

Three months ago I had never cleaned a scoring reel. Now I've done 10 of them and if anyone handed me a Williams 1970s EM score reel I could clean and adjust it pretty quickly. Five weeks ago I had never used a soldering iron. Today if I went downstairs to shoot for a bit and I saw anything during play that needed soldering, I could do it. I will get better, of course, but at least I am getting comfortable with soldering. I'm slowly building up a nice set of tools, including the specialized things like flexstones, leaf adjusters, ultrasonic bath and so forth. The fact that I spent so little to get the table made it easier to spend the money I needed to spend in the process of shopping it.

Today, five months later, I am moving closer and closer to being comfortable with the ins and outs of EM repair. I no longer look for that Flight 2000 or that Cyclone or that Funhouse (although I'd still love to own those pins). I am on the lookout for another "Bargain Basement" EM that I can take home and fix up. I know so much more now and it puts me in a much better place as I look for that next table. More than anything, I have learned that I can handle the Electro Mechanical issues. I know enough to make sure I get the best playfield possible so I can concentrate on those other repairs.

More than anything, I have learned that I absolutely LOVE the whole EM thing. I spent a ton of time in my teens in the early 1980s in arcades and I am a huge fan of those classic tables from the early 80s, but I never thought playing an EM would end up being so much fun. My kid brother has taken to calling it "Pure Pinball". You can either make the necessary shots or you can't. Yes, I am pretty sure that there are newer, more expensive tables in my future but for now I am happy shopping for another bargain.

I'm very happy to be a part of this "club" here on Pinside. I have little doubt that my next pin will fit right in here as well. Great thread! Keep those posts coming, bargain hunters!

I would like to join with my sub $400 Williams Time Warp.
I would also like propose a name change to the "Cheap Bastard Club".
Cheap Bastards unite! Wear the name with honor!

Whose making the CBC shirts??

We could also call this the "My Time Is Worth Nothing" club (of which I'm a charter member).

You know: buy a game for $500, put 50 hours into making it work and look nice, and still call it a $500 game. I'm cool with that.

How about CAPB (Cheap Ass Pinside Bastards)?

I would but I can't afford the licensing fees.

*edit* I can probably work with the broken flipper idea though.

I'm getting into EMs. Have two, third one on the way. $450.00, $700.00 and $800.00 paid for each of them.

I definitely, strongly agree that you don't have to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a pin collection in order to enjoy it.

Cheap basturd!

SEE THERE YOU GO! I'M IN!

My first...RK.....PF paint a little beat...but all works nice....I had to get one player1/2 display and done....got him down to $600 on craigslist........love the game............Joey

This thread could and likely will degrade into the "bragging about deals"-club...

I think a players condition and b-listers for life club might work too.

Personally, I've never once played a cabinet ... worn cabs are welcome in between two machines with better sides. You only need two machines with decent sides, ideally one has a good left and one has a good right.

I have only ever had 2 games over 1K. I cannot justify spending so much money on a "toy". Besides the cheap ones are just as good sometimes. I just play other peoples high end stuff.

I think best deal was a Pinbot for 200 that had no issue other than the lady had no idea where the power switch was. Was missing the topper dome but who the crap cares.

I have been in this club for many years . . . having been dubbed 'Cheap Bastard' by my wife 3 decades ago!

All pins were much cheaper when I bought mine. My HS, F-14, EBDx2, Elektra, Blackout, and BMX were all pretty cheap.

Getting started....was busy tonight so didn't get much done.. =P

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I just paid $400 for a non working lightning but it had a ton of extra parts and boards so I took the plunge.
It has become a very expensive hobby to be sure unless you dumpster dive for deals!

18 pins. Only one cost me more than $600, TSPP.

My first EM cost me $50, my cocktail was $100, and I just passed on a $200 EM with a rodent chewed wiring harness. Am I in?

I'm in. Just bought my first EM Williams Argosy not working but in pretty good shape for $200. Spent a couple of months figuring it out and how to read schematics. Thanks to help from some nice Pinsiders it is now working 100%. I'm having problems finding more and Argosy's getting lonesome. I have found a couple locally but they want way too much $.

I'll take one of those shirts but only if they're cheap.

I guess I have to join

Time warp $30
Gorgar $200
Party Animal $500
High speed $700
Cyclone $800

Yeah I'm a cheap bastard

Here's mine...

Seawitch - Free
NBA Fastbreak - Free
Time Line - $40
Tri Zone - $100
Evel Knievel Home - Free
Evel Knievel - $100.00
Hollywood Heat - $200.00
Lost World - $50.00
Kings of Steel - $200.00
Gorf Arcade - Free

I like this thread. Unfortunately, I think I'm disqualified from joining based on my current lineup.

They don't call me a cheap bastard. They just call me Dutch.

It's okay, I feel that way too, but I do have a 150 buck EM sitting in my living room, so it's okay, right?

I really like my $30 BadCats

Had a $10 ES for a while...sold it to a friend for $800...he sold it for $1500

I also enjoy my $100 Fire!

I'd say you're in.

I used to buy cheap beaters before a became a pin snob. I once scored a $700 Taxi & $850 BSD.

Chug chug chug...

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Okay so.....anyone interested?

cheapoShirt-112.png

If it wasn't obvious, it's front/back. I'm asking Robin's permission to use Pinside's name, and I'll have to do some actual alignment on something other than MS PAINT....hell, who am I kidding, I'll probably try to vectorize it too. It's all pixel art by hand, Inkscape should be able to auto-vector this with very little trouble except the text...and I have the fonts, so...yeah.

Let me get all my ducks in a row, proper like.....and I'll see what we can do. I can't use Inkscape at work and I'm very rarely at home with free time, so hopefully the auto-vecotorizer makes quick work of it and all I have to do is re-type the text!

Wow! Finally I club I can belong to!
Damn, its only cheap pinball machines.

I guess Ill be a lurker, because I am a cheap bastard about everything else!

Love the artwork, Frax!

(but my first couple dozen games were under $150....but that was the 80's....most were $50.
I splurged for a Paragon, at $250)

Looks good frax. I'm in for a buck lmao sorry I'm a cheap bastard

Gottlieb Hot Shot for $75.00 and Williams Spanish Eyes for $25.00

Disclosure, had to buy a backglass for the Spansh Eyes for $175.00

A few of mine.. That were ridiciulously cheap -

Genesis - Free
Blackout - $60
Jungle Lord - $100
Secret Service - $100
Seawitch - $100
Firepower - $150
Galaxy - $100
Flash - $50

Now granted, none of these were even close to working when I got them, some worse than others. But Still... I ended up keeping most of them, after all the blood sweat and tears had to keep em!

Some nice scores!

Let me know when you're ready to part with your Genesis...I'll pay you TRIPLE what you paid.

Too much....we ARE cheap bastards after all