I admittedly got my wife well-involved in getting my first pin. I only really have room for one, and it was basically going to be a piece of furniture seen by guests and family alike. So it couldn't be an old beater of a machine and just sit there being ugly. Whatever condition I bought it in, it was my obligation to to make it beautiful. The amount of work needed to be put into a machine was a pretty big factor considering how little free time I have these days.

In deciding my first pin, I first ran through ipdb filtering things based on gameplay features I liked. I liked pop bumper action. My wife loved multi-ball. Themes were pretty flexible, though we preferred something either with a classic license or some great 80's or 90's flair. Rating and price were always in the back of my mind as I looked online. I would look up youtube videos of gameplay not necessarily to see how a game plays, but how it sounds. The sound and music were actually a big issue with us. I didn't like games with cartoony sounds because I felt it a bit childish for my taste (Dr. Dude was sadly eliminated). My wife hates music that plays repeatedly, so Guns & Roses had to go.

Finally I had narrowed things down to a decent list of stuff I could afford at the time. Some of the games in the running were DE Star Wars, Last Action Hero, BSD, D&D, Black Knight 2000, and High Speed. I dragged her to the Texas Pinball Festival to do some "test driving". Good thing we did, because we scratched off a few more off out list. She's a star wars nerd, and DE star wars was scratched off for not having the classic music. I didn't particularly care for the playfield artwork of BSD. Black Knight 2000 I wished had more stuff to aim for. At the end of the night the games we liked best regardless of price were Williams Indiana Jones and Twilight Zone with TZ having a slight edge due to the magna flippers.

We sat down and talked, and she told me that she'd rather I get a good condition machine we both loved the first time even if I had to do some hardcore saving. A few months of very frugal living and I had the cash to plunk down for my TZ. Keeping her involved was a really great decision because she could provide objective feedback to my fever-clouded senses. Not only that, but she likes to play with me due to her her tastes in gameplay features directly influencing the choice in game.