20 years of working and investing has paid off pretty well. I didn't make anything going to school.

hmm, I worked to earn the money for all of mine, so theres One way, but im 25 so i've had some time to save money and whatnot.

you probably can't buy a NIB one at 5-9k but you certainly can buy a $500 one that needs some work. I saved up for months to buy a projector when I was 16 as at the time this is what I really wanted and I did it.

Work! Earn Money! Make sure you can eat, have housing, pay for electricity, etc!

You could always start with an EM. You will be able to find a pin in the $300-$600 easy. I believe the Xbox One is over $500. So, just ask your parents for a pinball machine for xmas. But once you graduate High School and land a decent job $600 wont seem like a ton of money like it once seemed. This is a very expensive hobby, however owning one is not impossible. Just save and spend Or just apply for a credit card and go nuts lol

Don't worry... stuff comes with time. When I was in college $100 was a lot of money. Now I spend that much at the grocery store and I don't give it a second thought. The keys are (1) having an income and (2) having your reoccurring expenses being less than that income.

Money Earned > Money Spent = Money Saved

Money Saved = money to spend on frivolous things.

At your age I was not concerned with owning a p-ball I was more concerned with getting some punanny.-LOL
Get through high school and concentrate on getting a good degree from a reputable college. Then graduate, get a good job then start plunking all your hard earned benjamins into pinball machines.

It's tough spending money on any hobby when you're going to (and paying for) school. And saving for a car (for transportation) is more important than spending money on a non-essential hobby. I remember when I first heard the term "discretionary income" and I wondered why I didn't have any of that? Some guys go right from school into marriage and having children, and that can eliminate discretionary funds for years.

If you've got to get involved in pinball now, then you'd better start with as cheap a game as you can find even if it is less than stellar in appearance (as long as its in working order). Once you're out of school and earning money, then there are a number of really good pins that can be bought for reasonable money. Just don't try to collect all the pins in Pinside's top ten until you've found that "discretionary income" that keeps eluding me.

As everyone else has said, start small, and work your way up. I started with a project EM game, fixed it, sold it for more than I bought it for, bought another, did the same thing. I saved the "profit" from a couple of games until I could afford a game I wanted to keep.

Keep checking around online (ebay, craigslist, here) and hopefully a reasonably priced project will come up and you can give it a whirl Full warning though, if you get one, you *might* end up with more than one

I wasn't going to "go there." But getting a career, a few promotions with no wife or kids = money for whatever. One of my friends is buying a $70,000 car. He has no pinball machines though. I sold my extra cars to start a new hobby - pinball.

Not having kids will help. But, If you have a wife that has a career and contributes to bills, then having one helps. But they won't let you buy all the pins that you want, so in a way having one doesnt always help with the pinball situation. lol

.50 Then find a bowling alley

Luckily owning a pinball machine is not essential, to enjoy the hobby with out ownership is do-able. If there are places to play near you, great! Go to the arcade and have Fun. Find out if some one near you has pins you can play at their home. NIB may not be viable for you at this time, that is fine. Time will tell. Good Luck.

That is if you can find a Bowling Alley that has a pinball machine. None of the lanes near me have any.

PB and J for food and cheap beer. Seriously though all the above is great advice.

Word of warning, pinballs are like Jeeps (Just Emptied Every Pocket). If you are not throwing money into an old one to keep it going, then you are spending money on modifications with a new one.

This hobby will still be here when you have a good income coming in.

Good luck!

Don't fret.

A young and ambitious man living in central Florida such as yourself should be able to find a world of opportunity in the recession-proof industry of black-market drug dealing. I mean heck, UCF is just up the street, I'd imagine you'd have plenty of opportunities there.

If you need a kickstart, you could always go rent Breaking Bad Seasons 1&2. Problem solved.

Wasn't until I turned 35 that I purchased my first pin...had no kids & we had double income at the time...work hard, be patient, save up & buy your toys when you can afford them...I'm not planning to be buried w/ my money...when I have extra money I spend it on toys that I enjoy...maybe I can be buried w/ my pins...or better yet, inside a pin!

Make sure your car is a big van and you'll be ready for the pinball shopping.
I don't understand how people on these forums can afford to buy every NIB Stern. My 5 machines add up to 2 LE's. Considering owning a home is the other necessary part of pin ownership, there are some rich mofos around here.
Don't even get me started on the folks who can also afford getting machines shipped to them. I'm lucky to live in the home of pinball so I can find machines within driving distance.

I never would have thought about buying a pinball machine when I was in school. As a matter of fact, I never would have considered buying one until I bought a house.

Perfect Casket lol
rip.jpg

Either start with a project and learn how to fix it, or wait until you have disposable income, and start saving. Work hard; if you're eligible for overtime at whatever job you land, take as much of it as you can stand to. Learn to be thrifty.

I've got a decent job and a pretty reasonable income for someone who's 26... I just work hard, and keep my frivolous spending (bars, meals out, first run movies) and recurring expenses (utility bills, internet, phone, etc.) to a minimum. I've managed to amass a collection of 11 pins, though I started collecting arcade stuff several years ago, and sold off a lot of that to fund my pin collection.

Figure out which game you want, first. Then start saving.

Barter up!
th-1-429.jpegth-2.jpeg

i mean how many kidney's do you actually need? prob even get a NIB ......

How do people afford a 42 foot sailing boat? How do people afford a BMW 735i? How do people afford a $1M vacation home? The answer isn't much different except that pinball machines are much cheaper.

My first pin was an EM, $150. You can be patient and find deals, you can put work into it, or you can put money into it (your choice). Money can be earned if you're patient. Hell, every time I buy a pin I usually have $150 just in coins saved up in a jar. If you want it badly enough, you can always find a way even if it means a 2nd part-time job

He is in 9th grade btw. Think he has plenty of time to save up.

Start asking people to pay to see your impressions...

Fun question and I'm enjoying these responses. And I love the idea of a pinball casket lol. Too bad I'm donating organs and getting cremated.

I was 33 before I felt like I had enough savings to splurge on a machine. Two actually! Took me a decade after college to pay down all my debts and pull the trigger on a pin.

Plus, it's not like flushing money down the toilet. If you're selective, your purchase will hold its value and you can usually get your money back if you're in a pinch.

In the meantime, feed the hobby at large 50 cents at a time by visiting your local pin on location. I always make a point to drop a couple bucks at least into every pin in the wild that I stumble across.

Good luck and keep the dream alive!

We're all old and have jobs.

Well said. I don't have enough time to play with all my toys anymore.

a job helps

Deals are out there. Tell everyone you know you're looking to get one. You'd be surprised what might happen. You might even get one for free.

I got a couple of decent pins for very cheap that way.

Buy a book on basic electronics.

So does a sugar mama!

Patients and hard work young padawan.

Well, that explains the hunt for teenage girls. He sure had me fooled.

It's amazing what you can buy once you graduate college. Or high school.

<edited>.

_{Post edited by The_Dude_Abides : Political banter is not allowed on Pinside if you post this kind of thing in the future it will likely result in a ban.}

political commentary unnecessary... all that will do is get this thread locked...

op... work... save... aim low to start... there are a LOT of inexpensive pins out there, the vast majority of pinball owners entire collection didn't cost as much as one nib... i have 6, and you couldn't even pay for half of a nib pin for what i paid for them...

good luck...

Work hard, play hard. Made some good choices career wise, invested in my education which has afforded me the opportunity to purchase certain luxury items in life.

In some ways pinball is a very inexpensive hobby compared to others. Yes, the pins cost a bunch of money, but they seem to hold there value (more or less). If you were into flying, cars, boats, home audio, then you would redefine what you consider an expensive hobby.

You have to remember that you're only 14/15 years old.

Think about your entire life up to this point... Now double it. Triple it. Quadruple it??

Long story short, most people on these forums have had nothing to do but work, make money and be successful for the past 10, 15, 20+ years while you've simply been focused on kickball, recess, and snack packs (mMmMmM...)

Give yourself time, stay focused in school, and business. The rest will come....

WTB: snack packs

It used to be I could put wanted ads out & pick up games for dam cheap,fix them up,& sell for a profit. Then buy expensive games with the $. It's hard to do now that everyone is in on it. After 15 years of this I now have some very nice expensive games.

I suggest do well in school, go to a decent college and get a major in a field where jobs are abundant such as accounting or engineering, and don't spend money on frivolous stuff if pinball is what you really want. Most of all, in that life plan it is important to have patience and a great work ethic.

Listen to pinmister. Plenty of time for owning pinballs when you're old, have extra money and nothing else to do. Buy that car and find a lady friend! Save the leftover change to play on location.

<edited>

in all seriousness, you'll have to work for it. better to learn to fix/restore on your own and make some money flipping/selling. been doing this since 1998 to be where I am today.

_{Post edited by The_Dude_Abides : I explained that political banter is not allowed on Pinside above please do not do this again.}

I am just about positive that picture was taken at the Cedar Point arcade in Ohio. That is one of my favorite places! Rollercoasters in every direction! That arcade has two Hurcules machines when I was there in early September. AHHH how I miss Top Thrill Dragster and Millenium Force