TFTC....still trying to get rid of it haha. Fun up just not enough for me to justify keeping it.

Elektra ... Wanted one for the longest time, but WTH... sold it off to a fellow pinsider and now we're both happy.

It is important to try to play any title before buying it. If you "think" you are looking for a title try finding one at an arcade or show to play to be sure it is actually what you want for sure before buying one.

We are lucky because part of the hobby for us is buying & fixing up machines and selling the ones we don't like as well - just keeping machines we really like. On several occasions we have saved people from buying something they really didn't like as much as they thought the would because we only sell to people who will actually come and pick up machines they want to buy.

Most recently I had a guy bug me for over two years to buy my Diner and as he started playing it I could tell he really didn't like it. I said "it isn't what you thought it was going to be is it" and he just looked at me and shook his head. I had him play about a half a dozen games to be sure - shook his hand and told him he is better off going home without it. I am sure he is glad he didn't buy it sight unseen thinking it played differently then having a machine he didn't want.

I'll bet in the 4 years we have been in the hobby I have had at least 10 people decide they didn't want a title after playing it. 90% of the time they have ended up buying something else from me (but that really doesn't matter to me). I always tell people "I only want you to buy a machine if you love it".

Our memory sometimes can play tricks on us and some of us remember things from our past differently than they actually were. If you remember a machine from years ago you loved be sure it is still something you would want to own before buying it. You might just remember the fun you had playing it because it was the machine you had the chance to play often - won a lot of free games on - or something else,

Go to Pinball Hall of Fame or a couple other larger venues. Play lots of machines and then make a wish list. Don't buy machines you remember from the past without at least trying them again unless you are willing to be disappointed if they are not what you remember!

Just my 2 cents on this topic!

This is so true. Loved Silverball Mania in the 80s during my teenage years and had to have one. Found one a few hours away at a great price. Got it all cleaned up and... ugh. After that, I played some of the ones I thought I wanted and didn't end up buying any of them (Fathom, Xenon).

The one I do want though is Centaur. Anyone got one to sell me? I have a brand new playfield to put in it if necessary!

I should add that I think part of the reason pins seem different than they did before (at least for me) is your skill level changes and your understanding of the game(s) change as well. Funhouse back in the day was super fun because it was dark and mysterious. I didn't understand rules or objectives. Now I think it is still fun, but for totally different reasons.

NGG. Should have been a favorite of mine. I'm in the golf industry. Love Caddyshack-like humor. But, I just didn't love the gameplay. It was in great condition too, so I'm glad another Pinsider is now enjoying it.

Played nbafb a couple of times and tought I liked bought put it up for sale 3 days later, really disliked the game.

Bought a NGG because I am a big lawlor fan, lasted a couple of months but never really got into it.

RFM

I liked it for years on location from time to time. Once I owned it for a couple weeks it felt repetitive. I know it is pinball but I think it was the video aspect that did this. I love the theme and layout as AFM is one of if not my all time favorite game. I traded it and TSPP for my Magneto and as it is panning out I am very happy with that trade.

Same thing went for SG for me as well. Wanted one for years. Liked it on location from time to time but at home I bored quickly of it. I think mostly due to callouts. Layout is by far the best I have seen from Gottlieb IMO.

I know it can be hard but if possible my best advice is always try to play a title before buying it. Either that or at least if you are not sure go into the transaction knowing you might end up selling it sooner than you think!

Stargate.

MM. It's AFM only with painfully annoying call outs.

No Fear for me..Love the skull & the look but for me it was a drain monster & I just wasn't enjoying it. My wife & daughter liked it but for how often they play it wasn't worth keeping.

LAH.

TSPP couldn't move out fast enough. Respected the code but never got into it.

IJ (wms)

Cray37, what didn't you like about HH? Curious?

I have not been able to acquire all of my holy grail machines. I look for broken machines and fix them and then flip them. Not having luck lately finding 90's or newer machines needing fixed.

The three that I would still,like to have are: Centaur, TOM and MM. Having a hard time thinking I would be disappointed with any of those to ever sell them.

Same here. I don't have a huge lineup but so far I could not be happier. Played a lot of pins and even most of the best rated but some games just don't do it for me. Some others well....too expensive for my blood.

WH20, tried 3x..still no luck in liking it.

CV. Best pin ever for 2 months. Gone, never looked back. Same as others-thought it would be a keeper and was in my top 5 to own. You never know!-Joe

Good point. Next to TSPP was CV. Loved the artwork and the ringmaster and that was it. Let down after hunting for one.

hurricane is the first one that comes to my mind - I love cyclone and just thought hurricane was going to be so much better being a dmd - I bought an absolute mint one - well there was a reason it was so nice. it was a terrible game.

haunted house is the second one that comes to mind.

on a positive I never thought I would like black hole because of how much haunted house didn't do anything for me - I love black hole and still have it years later

ps: chris send tommy my way - I will figure out a fair trade

thanks ed

You and I both.

Actually I'm not a fan of the show at all, but really do enjoy the game and coding. It's pretty tough to complete all the modes so I see this one staying a long while.

I'm likely in the minority. It's cool you enjoy it! Agree great code.

I love the Simpsons but I had a hard time getting over the no Marge or Lisa voices, the sound system was terrible, game played toyish to me (flippers felt terrible), and shots were boring beside garage shot. I also dislike the side art which looks like the sun faded it by design. Even the dots bothered me. The code was the lone saving grace for me - really great code.

Glad we all have choices.

This is partly why I once threw out the idea of renting or leasing pins for a limited period. There are a lot of tables that I would like to have at home for, say, two months but which I will probably never buy. I am at the point now where I need to get rid of one pin for each new pin I bring in, which usually means taking a loss anyway. I realize this arrangement is probably unworkable, but I wish it were possible.

http://www.videoamusement.com/corporate-rental.php

Hands down Junk Yard. I chased this pin for sometime, bought a beautiful example and within a day or two I knew it had to go. Actually kept it for a few weeks trying, but no luck. Too easy to complete, hated the wrecking ball, very clunky and everything seems to feed to the left flipper. Could not get rid of it soon enough.

Move to Chicago and let's do it. Honestly, I've toyed with this idea too. Am I really done with this game? Love to try that one for awhile but maybe not own it, not sure I'll like it. But for me basement stairs and my back factors in and it's rains on my idea.

I might have some kind of record. I kept Getaway for two weeks.

I purchased it with the intent of using it to take the place of a High Speed, but decided that High Speed was a better fit for our household.

Bally Vector.

One showed up locally, I grabbed everything I could find online about it. Downloaded VPIN, played it for 15+ hours and thought I really liked it -- virtually.

Picked it up a few weeks later, and after fixing a ton of stuff over a few months (now well underwater), I really do not like it. No one else (that likes my other two pins) likes it either, though they love the backglass and parts of the playfield; and are astonished by the speech for the year it came out.

It just plays way too 'clunky' and has some badly designed parts to it as well that just beg for constant damage and repair.

TOMMY hands down...this may be my least favorite game of any pin. Got it and couldn't figure out why I ever liked it.

Stargate was another disappointment.

I completely agree with one of the previous posts that talked about skill level. When I was little I played these at the mall, but it was just fun to smack the ball around. Ex) Funhouse...all I wanted to do was smack the ball into "bucky's" mouth. Now that I'm older, I realize Bucky doesn't exist, and Rudy is the man!

Ok,so by reason of deduction here my third Pin should be Demo Man as no one seems to have wanted that one out very fast after getting it.

WOZLE - lasted 2 months. only game I owned less time was TOTAN. Jpop games just never last due to kiddie rules.

Medieval Madness. It wasn't a game that I had really wanted, but I picked one up anyway. I realized after a couple months why it wasn't on my must have list, and down the road it went.

Tron:Pro. I was so excited to get it, first ever NIB, had fun modding it, but for whatever reason I just found it boring. I love Tron, and Daft Punk, so I was really let down. Not to mention that damn GEM shot...

Yeah...but WOZLE isn't a Jpop game. And the rules are so complex that most adults can't even understand them!

I picked up a project Space Invaders in April-completely dead and dirty. I have over 100 hours and too many $$$ than I care to admit into restoring it. I am pretty sure the game play is going to be a huge letdown.

wanted a tom forever, finally got a nice one, but I just did not get into it. Maybe because I have cv and totan, both will probably never leave. Also a corvette didn't really last that long, and I passed up on a really nice sstng in favor of it ,because the corvette was huo.

put bigger coils in the pops, slings and flippers, and adjust the switchs so these mechs are sensitive, and it will come to life...

also add some pitch to it after that...

It will change the feel and gameplay entirely..

XMLE.

After a bit of initial excitement, it became a chore to play.

Mary Shellys Frankenstien, was a pretty quick let down for me..

As was ToM....

24 was a fun shooters game. but the soundtrack and callouts made that one fade fast too...

Haunted house was a bit boring in the middle of a faster flowier DMD collection, and also my only single ball game at the time.

But now that you can get multiball and speach in HH with the Pascal boards, i think i may add another and give that a shot, and i am a Gottlieb freak...

Oh yeah, and X-Men LE... loved the shots hated everything else...

wanted it gone within a week !

TFTC was another, very short lived, and i have had it twice...

and unless i steal one on the cheap there wont be another...

Forgot to add TOTAN to my list. I knew I was forgetting one! I was so excited to get it, played it for a few days and was bored out of my mind. Great looking game, some cool toys, but the rules are just eh.

Junkyard...I had it or about 2 months and then it found a new home. It was not hard to beat, and I suck.

+1. Loved Vector in the arcade, but hated it in my house. It's a maintenance nightmare and like you said, plays too herky-jerky.

Also Special Force. Love the multilayered plastics, grass hut bumper caps, the dirt road ramps and the missile shots. But once I got one I figured out how easy it was to get multiball and destroy it. Wasn't any fun after that.

Bill

I've been lucky enough not to have that experience. Closest I've come was with RFM, and I think that's because I went on a several-week-long binge of playing almost nothing but that game (I had no other working post-'90 pins as of when it came home.) Think I burned myself out on it after a couple months, but am coming back around to it. I also need to swap in EP1, though I played one on location this weekend and it's worse than I remember.

On a happier note, I just bought a Congo; after only playing it on a few occasions recently and then watching youtube videos of it many times, I'd built that game up in my mind so much that I figured it would HAVE to be a disappointment when I got it home. I set it up Saturday night, and it's every bit as great as I thought. I've probably played more Congo in a 48-hour period than I have since I got my first modern pin (Fish Tales) or my long-term favorite (Getaway.)

Dr Who

Skateball

I am pretty sure that would be me too, I just had so many good memories playing the game. I guess if i saw one cheap enough I would still pick it up, I am sure I will tire of it fast, but if I buy right I could still maybe make a buck or two off of it.