For 1k or less you probably looking at a 1980 to 1990 non dmd. Repairing machines can be fun if you have the time and patience plus pinside members can be alot of help.
As far as a cheap "A" title like tz or adams family they are getting alot harder to come by as many people enjoy Repairing games and the hobby is becoming more popular.
Good luck in your search and welcome to the hobby, careful it can be very additive

For me, the easiest machines to learn repair and diag on were the early bally ss machines.

The built in boot diag is very handy for beginners, and parts are plentiful.

Also (for me) the system design is pretty straightforward, and less complicated than other companies early SS designs.

You can find plenty of stern/bally early SS machines working or projects for under 1k.

My 1st game (as well as many others) was an F-14 tomcat. Their fairly cheap, easy to diagnose and fix. There's a lot of info on repairing them. There's like 14000 made so it's easy to come by.

I'd look for a project Cyclone or taxi. Probably going to be at the top of your range but both are a lot of fun after you get them working.
I think half the battle is going to be finding the games. Keep an open mind to many titles. You can always sell them after. Just don't overpay.

What a good way to pay for your collection and get that pin for your mom. Buy a project, fix and sell, and work your way up. Your time and passion could fund the hobby!

I agree with this but would caveat it that the need to re-pin connectors and boards in those games can be a real PITA. My suggestion would be for an late 80s B/W System 11 or 11A game like HS, F14, Pin-Bot, etc. The electronics in those are generally pretty robust unless there is acid damage or the P/S burnt to a crisp. There are also a whole lot of them out there so its not unusual to see these in need of repair but mostly working <$1K. Good luck and welcome to the madness!

True, I just repinned a bunch on my xenon....what a tedious job.

I need to do a bunch on my Xenon and I keep putting it off because it is so tedious.

System 11s may be good, but you could even make it simpler, like a system 4-9. Flash, gorgar, black knight and comet come to mind.

Probably the cheapest, funnest game is Comet.

You can always find one for less than $1000.

Lot's of shots and ramps.

They made 8000 of them so it was super popular and made tons of cash back in the day.

You'll find we love our acronyms in the Pinball world!

HS = High Speed, everything you need to know about it can be found at the Internet Pinball Machine Database: http://www.ipdb.org/search.pl
SS (as used here) = Solid State, which means it is not Electro-Mechanical (EM) (SS is also short for Scared Stiff, an awesome game from the 90s featuring Elvira).
DMD = Dot Matrix Display, the alternatives are Numeric or AlphaNumeric (or LCD in a much newer game).
P/S is Power Supply (I should have left the slash out)
Re-pinning refers to replacing worn out, burnt, etc. connectors in the backbox. There are LOTS of connectors in a backbox and in the old Bally SS machines there are a whole bunch of IDC (insulation displacement connectors) and others that need to be re-pinned / replaced. It is a Pain in the Ass (PITA).

<blockquote cite="#2917567"
2)I should have put this in the OP, but what tools do you all recommend I pick up as they are universally used in repairs? I already have Phillips, flat head and torx head screw drivers, needlenose pliers, soldering iron and lots of sxrews of various sizes I've gathered over the years from building computers.

A good DMM (digital multi-meter) if you don't already have one.
Allen Wrenches / drivers.
1/4 inch drive sockets / ratchet.
Cleaning supplies, lots of cleaning supplies (there are many threads on here about cleaning / waxing pinball machines, it's like a religion in that it seems nobody agrees on the best methods / products to use.).

Biggest recommendation, a good quality digital multimeter. Pretty much any electronic diag/repair will require its use

Take a moment to read through the restoration documentation that Bryan Kelly posted https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ij-restoration-started This post has tons of good advice and recommendations for tools, supplies, etc. You will also want to build a rotisserie for doing the tear down and assembly of the play field; you can build a simple one very cheap, there was a recent topic on this very subject.

I would look at Bally -35 boardset games.

Games like:

Eight Ball Deluxe
Flash Gordon
Embryon
Frontier
Future Spa
Playboy
Paragon
Nitro Groundshaker
Xenon

etc.

Don't forget CL! That's where you'll find all the machines in need of repair

http://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?searchtype=advanced&mpu=18

I'd suggest to start with an EM, actually - it's like Latin. You learn the basics then move to solid state. Moving backwards later on will give you brain hurt. And you will likely want to move backwards later into collecting. Lots of super interesting and involved EM games with fantastic artwork.

As far as working on an EM, remember that it's all binary anyway - is a switch open or closed? You still have those challenges with solid state as well, but with a computer thrown on top! You still have to troubleshoot the mechanical aspect and rebuild stuff, it's just that the boardset for everything complicates matters.

As far as they type of machine, I would further others' suggestions for a nice early solid state Bally or Stern. They are fairly simple to understand. Original System 80 or System 1 by Gottlieb is also fairly simple. But remember my advice: everything builds on the EM tech.

Good luck in your search!

-Nick

Bring it up, I'll take care of repinning and you can play your jurassic park while you wait.