Quoted from Boatcat:If you're going to have just one, make it a Gottlieb single player, where the objective continues throughout all 5 balls, and the potential rewards for performance thereafter will keep you coming back! The selection above are multi-player games, and have the objective reset after each and every ball, meaning it's too shallow and boring, IMO.
I'd agree that generally single players are the best choice, but don't just limit yourself to Gottlieb games. Williams, even Bally, made some very, very good single players, and you'll generally pay less for them as they aren't considered as "desireable" as Gottlieb games.