Welcome to Pinside Goomba. Those are great games indeed. There are several members from your area on Pinside. Perhaps someone can tag along and provide some insight. Most dont need an excuse to go check out pins. Again, welcome to the madness.

Welcome to Pinside!

Those first two pins (Fish Tales and Getaway) are sorta similar in price range, while TAF is much higher. I'd figure out your budget first, then play a bunch of games in that price range if you can find them out in the wild if possible to see what kind of game you like as a lot of them fall into certain categories (flow, rampy, stop and go, etc).

I would not suggest indiana jones as a first pin or any of the other 5 super games (Twilight zone, Star Trek Next Gen, Judge Dredd, Demolition man, Popeye).

They are the most complicated machines ever made and they are almost 20 years old now. Indiana is known for having issues with the ball trough, path of adventure, and the idol among other things. My suggestion is to get something simpler and cheaper like Getaway first. That way you learn what to look for in a machine and don't lose your shirt.

Most people way over pay on their first machine. As for pinball warehouses if they know, they have already bought it. It is a pretty competitive hobby and good deals sell in hours so my advice is watch craigslist and be ready to drop everything.

Be prepared to do this sooner than later, unless your going to pay someone to fix it.

TAF, Getaway, and FT are all great games, I've owned all 3...

welcome

Getaway is fast, flowing and fun but there isn't much depth or modes. It would be a great balance to TAF which is deeper with more to do. I own both.

If you have the funds and the room for two pins, I'd get two. Even owning just one of the "A" list games would get boring IMO over having 2 cheaper and less involved pins. I don't own an "A" list machine though. LW3 would be a good choice for a first pin. It was my first pin. There's enough to do to keep you interested for a while, the video mode isn't bad, and you can get them at a reasonable price and still get parts for them. Metal ramp and wire forms mean no broken ramps to deal with. Getaway would be a good first pin too.

Good luck, and welcome to Pinside!

You'll learn pretty quickly how far from the truth that often is. Some (but not all) are as shady and corner cutting as operators used to be. Hack repairs, hidden damage, things put together with the wrong parts, dirt, etc.

Here's a quick tip though - read up on WPC GI connectors - here's a photo showing the two that matter (red arrows):
http://www.flippers.be/images/nb/giburn2.jpg

That's in the backbox, behind the translite and door. Any good seller will open it up to show you, if those two connectors are brown and burned looking, but the pin is being sold as 'shopped' or 'serviced', take everything they say with a pinch of salt. I have bought several machines which were shopped, even guaranteed - then opened up the backbox to find burned out connectors or worse.

Go for the Addam's Family. AF is a $3,200 game, probably $3,800 from a dealer but you should think twice about paying over $4K. Also, buying from a dealer doesn't mean you will get a fair deal or be treated fairly.

The Getaway is a good game, but T2 and LW3 will get old fast.

Hey,

If you're in the Minneapolis area, I'd suggest a couple things before buying. First, there are two arcades I'd check out. One is in Hopkins (SS Billiards), and has pretty much every A-list pinball machine you could think of. The other is Blainebrook Bowl. Bowling alley in Blaine; probably has 40 or 50 machines. Essentially, you can go to either place, spend $20 in an afternoon, and get some time in on a variety of games. You might find something you like other than the games listed, and having a flexible list of games you want is always a good thing.

Secondly, there are a few guys from the Minneapolis area on here, but there are an absolute TON on rec.games.pinball. I'd stick my head in the door there and say hi. I'll be forthcoming and say that things aren't quite as friendly and clean-cut as they are here; however, there are also a bunch of pretty good guys from the Twin Cities area who frequent it. Tell them what machines you're looking for and see what comes of it. Minneapolis is a big city, but it isn't so big that people can afford to burn bridges in a community that's as small as the pinball community is; not too many collectors are going to sell you a broken machine without telling you first. If you go the Craig's List route, you might get burned with a dud machine, but if you go through RGP or Pinside members, you're probably a bit safer. All machines are going to break here and there, but I've never found anything that's broken on my machines that I can't repair without some time and poking around on the Internet.

Maybe it's not the most helpful advice ever, but that's what I'd do. Take care.

Luke

Congrats on your first pin!

Welcome to Pinside!

T2 was my first pin and it was a great buy.

Welcome Goomba,
Be patient in your search for that first machine,you will find it,great advice from the guys to go out and play,play anything you can find.Snap decisions usually don't turn out so well.