Quoted from onemoresean:BSD is my favorite machine out of my collection right now.
I’ve owned mine for over 25 years!
If I could only have one machine from my current collection it would be my choice.
Most visitors to my a game room say it’s their favorite game no matter what age they are.
Quoted from Troostr:I was an EM guy, because that's what I grew up on. With my kids getting older and into pins, they asked if we could update a little. Back to the Future was our first, because its a family favorite movie. It will likely be a keeper simply for that fact. Now I'm up to 10 later pins, '87 forward. Ripley's and Monopoly are family favorites, Frank Thomas Big Hurt is an Everyone favorite, Twister is one of my personal favorites. My wife "likes" pretty much all of them. She didn't care for Hook ("I'm not a fan of the skull") so that one left as well as others that we just don't love. A couple months ago we stopped at a show room. She played almost every game in there and said "if wasn't an arm and a leg, we could take that fancy Willy Wonka (LE) home". Long story short, My Brother in law wants a few pins after his kids won't stop talking about Uncle Philip's house. I told him we can work out a deal where he picks out 3 or 4 or whatever, give me a fair price for what he takes, with a few games off limits. Every 6 months to a year, we'll trade titles and try to keep the money even or settle a little if we need to. That allows me more room to shuffle through titles, and a little extra room for titles that are maybe a little less than keepers. Also because BIL will probably want (my guess) some of our more played titles to start, I'll need to replenish my lineup a little. I called the showroom we were at and got the WW bought. This will be the first title I've added besides BTTF that my wife really fell for.
So like others have said, maybe get the rest of your crew involved in the title choice. Especially on your first! The Showroom idea is also a good starting point. The one we went to had all the newer Stern titles, some JJ, American, and some of the "classic" titles too. (Cactus Canyon, TZ, AF, etc) I was able to get my kids opinion on a bunch of games as well. One that will probably stay in the rotation between BIL and I is Ripley's. None of our kids really knew what "Ripley's" was but they all love playing it. It's fun for first timers, and challenging enough for enthusiasts.
Good Luck!
I was thinking Ripley's as well, interesting pin and one that might be my second.
Uncle Pinball speaks of this...And a big shout-out to Caucasian2Step too!
I'm sory to the fans, but EBD LE makes me want to puke just looking at it.
My advice is look out for a routed modern Stern Pro, or HUO if you can find it, for around $4500. Lots of themes to choose from. If it's not really for you, you can sell it for what you paid and bring a different game in. Of course, this assumes you can place the pin where you don't have to deal with steps moving them in and out.
Quoted from KCPinhead:You guys are certainly keeping my google fingers nimble with all of the acronyms. Ha!
I like the idea of two solid "classic" games. I haven't seen it mentioned, but can anyone give me feedback on RFM (Revenge From Mars. I see it going very reasonably and I know the first one is epic. I am also intrigued by the 3D aspect, but it may be a bit of a novelty? I don't believe I would house this one as a solo, but maybe as a secondary pin.
RFM blows in my opinion. Way better games for the same money
Parts for Data East games can be unobtainium (can't find so many things I need for my Rocky & Bullwinkle). And I love my Ripley's but it's a constant source of headaches. Spider-Man is out of the $4500 range unless you stretch your budget (has taken a COVID jump). Like others have suggested, if you up your budget I'd go for 2 games rather than 1 expensive one. It's double the fun and 1 game can get stale.
Can't miss games at or under your price range for family friendly fun: Congo, Fish Tales, WCS, Getaway, NGG, ST Pro, Munsters Pro, X-men Pro and Stern POTC.
BSD, while very cool, is way too brutal and unfair to be a good first game. It might make you a better player but it will turn off friends and family who are casual players. The Shadow is close behind it, less unfair but extremely tough, with a lousy theme.
Make a wish list of games so that when one on your list comes up you can pull the trigger.
Ignore the game ratings and read through some of the reviews instead. And then ignore the reviews that say "awesome game" or "just don't get it, wasn't for me". Look for people to explicitly state what they like and don't like about each game and decide what is important to you. Don't believe everything you read but look for common feedback.
One game I would have recommended but is a bit out of your range and hard to find is TNA. Simple rules and layout, but so challenging, great light show and sound, and a co-op mode that enables you to work together to blow up reactors.
The best first game ever made has to Be - Bally , World Cup Soccer 94 . Great for the whole family ! And should be under you budget !
I bought a road show and my wife really liked it. Then I sold it. She was surprisingly disappointed and brings it up every now and then. So morale if the story is be careful for what you wish for, or you may wind up with the same pin for the rest of your life.
Any I would recommend road show. Easy rule set and pretty funny.
A Stranger Things Pro just went up on the market for $4500. Haven't played the Pro, but the LE is a super fun game. And that seems like a crazy great price! Good luck with whatever you get!
Quoted from Joeymonkey:A Stranger Things Pro just went up on the market for $4500. Haven't played the Pro, but the LE is a super fun game. And that seems like a crazy great price! Good luck with whatever you get!
Wow! Great deal! And one that I would have jumped on had I not just committed to buying something else. I'm sure that will go quickly.
Update for all who were so generous in offering valuable feedback.
I have decided upon a game that was not really on my radar since it was a couple grand out of my price range. Totally contrary to the recommendations of Uncle Pinball, I have reached an agreement to procure a Guns N Roses SE, one that's already in the wild so I don't have to wait until March/April to dive in. I was a huge fan growing up and when I saw the immersive gameplay I felt like it had to be the one. My wife is on board already. My 9-year-old son even picked it as his favorite from the several gameplay videos I showed him. I couldn't be more excited as I envision many hours teaching my children about the virtues of classic rock.
Even though you've decided, you should still hit up Solid State Pinball. Play over 30 games at a great hourly rate and get to know Nick and Keri!
Quoted from KCPinhead:Update for all who were so generous in offering valuable feedback.
Totally contrary to the recommendations of Uncle Pinball,
No surprise there my friend.
Quoted from KCPinhead:Update for all who were so generous in offering valuable feedback.
I have decided upon a game that was not really on my radar since it was a couple grand out of my price range. Totally contrary to the recommendations of Uncle Pinball, I have reached an agreement to procure a Guns N Roses SE, one that's already in the wild so I don't have to wait until March/April to dive in. I was a huge fan growing up and when I saw the immersive gameplay I felt like it had to be the one. My wife is on board already. My 9-year-old son even picked it as his favorite from the several gameplay videos I showed him. I couldn't be more excited as I envision many hours teaching my children about the virtues of classic rock.
Congrats! Pins in my house only last about 6-10 months. So when you have a smaller collection they tend to get rotated often. Unless you like nobody playing the pin for 3 months straight. My rule is if everyone stops playing / looses interest and over a few months nobody turns it on, even if its a good game you have to rotate them. There are too many good pins to only look for "keepers". Unless you have 100k budget and can fit a crazy amount of pins there is no reason to keep any pin past its time. I feel that you get what you put into this hobby. And on the bright side when you buy a pin and then sell in a year or so a majority of the time you will make your money back so on a 1 pin purchase of 5k and you never rotate for 5 years you only had 1 pin for 5 year. IF you rotated that every several month or so with the same 5k you can have 7x the amount of pins and in my book that is always better.
Quoted from KCPinhead:Hi all.
I have been a low-key enthusiast for many years, but I recently discovered this community. Getting ready to take the plunge and start my "collection" by buying my first machine and would love some feedback.
I have scoped out many "best of" lists and am familiar with a lot of the games that are entrenched near the top of those lists. I just can't realistically spend $7500+ to get one of the greatest games of all time just yet. Looking to spend maybe $4500 and would love to get something to help draw my wife in a little and show her that spending the price of a car on a machine for the basement can actually be a good value.
I love the newer, shiny, LCD & LED laden stuff (Willy Wonka, Wizard of Oz), but realize those are well out of my range at this time. I also love the more classic stuff (Twilight Zone, Addams Family, Indiana Jones), but am finding those to also be quite pricey for the age. So what's the best value out there? What's a beautiful, well-made game with tons of replayability that won't cost me my first-born to home in my basement?
Any feedback is much appreciated. Thanks!
Just just save your money.
You may consider looking for a project as a second pin, or at least a lower priced game (1k or less) to learn how to fix them and get some variance in your home. You can always fix them up and/or trade to get something else while keeping your "top tier" game.
Quoted from RyanStl:Congrats, on the GNR SE. Funny, seems like the recent trend of this type of thread the OP ups budget $2K our more.
True! Lol!!
I feel like I give sage advice...they say thank you for the advice...then buy something double the price! Lololololol
Oh, well. At least they are flipping
I have the pinball disease too, so I can't judge
Quoted from KCPinhead:I have decided upon a game that was not really on my radar since it was a couple grand out of my price range. Totally contrary to the recommendations of Uncle Pinball, I have reached an agreement to procure a Guns N Roses SE
Congratulations Pinbrotato! It's great that yer boy is into it too!
Yer still gonna want another machine or three real soon! 
Thanks for listening, and welcome to the club!
Awesome! Glad you are here! If it were up to me, I would purchase several, non-A titles pins with 4500. Plenty of awesomeness in those underground pins
Quoted from 6S3NC3:Congrats! Pins in my house only last about 6-10 months. So when you have a smaller collection they tend to get rotated often. Unless you like nobody playing the pin for 3 months straight. My rule is if everyone stops playing / looses interest and over a few months nobody turns it on, even if its a good game you have to rotate them. There are too many good pins to only look for "keepers". Unless you have 100k budget and can fit a crazy amount of pins there is no reason to keep any pin past its time. I feel that you get what you put into this hobby. And on the bright side when you buy a pin and then sell in a year or so a majority of the time you will make your money back so on a 1 pin purchase of 5k and you never rotate for 5 years you only had 1 pin for 5 year. IF you rotated that every several month or so with the same 5k you can have 7x the amount of pins and in my book that is always better.
Thank you for breaking this down for me. I think this is a great strategy.
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