Fellow broke guy here. Just getting back into pinball almost 20 years after selling off my bargain machines. I had $15 tied up in 3 machines. You didn't misread that. Fifteen dollars. I was in the right place at the right time. Now they weren't STTNG special gold plated edition modded out led packed etc... But I played the crap out of them. And now i kinda miss it. So I just bought a Firepower that's in pretty tough shape for $150. It needs a whole cabinet, but I patched it up enough to get it playing, just waiting for my boards to come back. If I like it I'll build a whole new cabinet, probably out of furniture grade materials and finished like a piece of fine furniture so SWMBO might be more likely to let it in the house. If you have champagne tastes and a beer budget, find a beer you like. In fact, if I had $5000 extra laying around, I probably wouldn't spend it on a pinball. I'd put a clutch in my Alfa-Romeo, finish my MG, build a new kitchen, or any number of things that give me even more enjoyment than pinball (sacrelige on a pinball forum I know) if you have a place nearby where you can play high end titles and can keep an old EM or low end SS around to sharpen your flipper skills so your hard earned quarters will last longer on those other machines, I'd call that a win. And keep a few bucks free in case lightning does strike, like the guy who just posted here who bought 3 DMD era tables for $300! Or closer to home, when I bought my '55 Chevy at a yard sale for a third of its value. Right place, right time, you don't get to choose, leave that to the rich guys who can have what they want when they want it. Guys like us, we need patience, skills, a little luck and the wisdom to jump when the time comes!

Also... I'm planning on leaving the coin mechs operational in my machines to help fund the hobby. If I wanna play, I'd better find a quarter!