That reminds me of a networking story I had. I was talking to my brother and the girl working my house mortage in 2004 heard me talking about pins. She asked if I wanted more. I said always need more so she gave me her parent number. They were moving to a smaller house since the kids were gone and had pins to sell. I set a time to visit and ended up with Blackout, Gorgar, and Defender (arcade) for $400. They had owned the machines since the mid 90's and they are in great shape. I was not sure of the prices at the times but he told me a price and I did not argue. granted the pins were not worth as much in 2004, but I did OK.

Sometimes just talking to ramdon people will score you something.

Poor pics = red flag 1
Stopped replying to emails = red flag 2
Wanted half up front = red flag 3 (a couple hundred is more than enough of a deposit)
Didn't disclose the taxi ramp = red flag 4

You were right to walk away, but you should have after number 2.

After you've been buying/trading for awhile you begin to get a feel for who is trustworthy and who is not. If they don't send good-quality pictures and they don't seem to care about that, that's a bad sign. And no game is ever "100%" There's always something wrong, even if it's something minor. I agree with what others say about dealers... you're likely to pay more and get less from them. The best deals are probably from the pinball shows.

Dude just go over to al You should be able to get all those on your list for like 10g. Most of those are undesirable to most of the Mn Madness crew. When all else fails contact John Ross. Run from nabours novelty ecccck. Tell liberman to go to hell they offer nothing either. Mn House's some of the most massive collections in the country.
These prices are gonna be about average in the Twin City area.
) Police Force 800
2) Cyclone 800
3) Hurricane 800
4) TOTAN 4-6,000 pending shape
5) WHO dunnit 1,500-2,000
6) SlugFest 900

You need to go to AL's with cash in-hand and purchase un shopped titles. I only suggest AL becasue you are new to the hobby and dont know any of the locals.

If you can get Cyclone for under $1000 that is pretty good if in good shape. They seem to be higher at times.