I found a Jurassic Park (1993) machine for sale at an estate sale this weekend. This would be my first pinball purchase, so:

A) Is this a decent machine as a first purchase for someone just getting into the hobby? Is it fun, challenging, worth it, lame, etc? I haven't had a chance to play much of this table, so not sure what the general consensus is on playability and fun factor.

B) Emailed the organizers to see if they'd divulge price info but assuming they don't, what could I expect to pay for one that works and functions, likely has typical cosmetic wear and tear, no mods?

C) Any advice specifically about purchasing via the estate sale? Never done that before, not quite sure what to expect with crowds, interest, haggling, etc.

Really want to own a machine at some point, but most of my favorites are way out of my price range, so hoping to score a somewhat decent deal on a lesser known table. Figured I'd ask the pros first if it's even worth it, so thanks for taking the time, appreciated!

Awesome, thanks for the info, glad to hear it's a decent game. Would love to snag this, just don't know if I can go $3k. And it's only listed as a 1 day sale so I'm guessing no discount, unless it sits all day and they really want to unload it. So I'm not expecting to necessarily walk away with it, but I'll at least throw my hat into the ring and see what happens.

I don't mind a little work, but I also don't have any special tools or special knowledge of pinball machines, so it's hard to say what kind of work is reasonable for someone like me and what's maybe a bit too much. Is replacing batteries and rebuilding flippers some of the more common repairs, and are they generally pretty easy/straightforward, or pretty involved/complex?

Thanks for the great advice guys! I think I'll still go check it out for giggles, but I plan to be very cautious. They are asking around $3k, according to the organizers, but I'd be much more comfortable around $2k (assuming it's all working and only minor replacements need to be made). So I'm fully not expecting to get it, but I want to check it out anyways for R&D, and just my own personal experience looking at and analyzing pins. Gotta start somewhere.

Thanks again for the advice!