Quoted from GTech13:My machine will be a clone of the 3D Space Cadet Pinball game which use to come on Windows computers.
That would be awesome... I guess I would suggest starting with a project machine. You can get some machines for around 300-500. Work on learning the in's and out's first hand. That way, if you decide it's more than you'd like to take on you can sell it. I bet it'd be tough to build with no pin experience.