JD is the easy choice for me. It is a beautiful pin (cab, BG, and playfield), it has tons of shots, fun modes, a great multiball, lots of fast flow, and plenty of depth. It is newer and made by bally as well, so the quality is there.

JD is also rated much higher on pinside (if you pay attention to such things), so several hundreds of pinsiders feel the same.

You have 30 reasons to get JD...the only reason I can see to get ES is because it's made by pat lawlor. I've never picked a pin simply because a certain person made it...

It also occurs to me that you have several underpriced games on your wishlist:

LAH, baywatch, high speed, JD, JM, black rose.

I think JD and JM are the best of the bunch there too.

I didn't ask before...but I am assuming you have an opportunity to get one already. What are the prices being asked for each?

I would pick JD all day, but if they want 4k for JD and 1k for ES, that changes things...

JD has a lotta bang for the buck. I really think its one of the most under priced pins out there, and it is on his wishlist.

They go for 2600-3100. What else would be a good value at that price? Getaway, wcs, whirlwind...maybe a BSD...if you could find a beat up one low enough to be at the top end of JD. None of those are on his wishlist either.

JD is ranked currently at #56. There really aren't a lot of pins that would be comparable for not much more (others than the ones I have already mentioned). In most cases, he would have to add another $1500 or more to get a "better" pin...and by that point...why not just get JD and ES?

Its the upper end if the pinside market, but I had a REALLY nice one that I ended up trading for a $3500 value a few months back.

I don't think it is bad if it's a very nice example. Of course, you can always try to tempt him by offering cash, a quick pick up, bringing up that there is a pandemic that's dropping prices, bringing up any flaws it has, or that it has been sitting unsold and you are a serious buyer.

I would shoot for 2900-3000. I don't think you will get it for less than that from him.

I agree.

3k is about the going price. I don't think the seller is off, but I do think there is a lot of leverage with the rust and in this pandemic for negotiations. It has also been sitting online as well.

The link is no longer working, but fwiw...i like phantom. If it's been sitting for over a month, you could definitely get a better price. The other 2 are better pins, but if you got phantom for, say, 1600-1800...it would be hard to pass up. At that point, we are talking less about quality and more about value, however.