I am fairly new to the hobby and have a formerly routed but slowly-getting-cleaned-up Ripley's at home which I love. I have looked at that machine as something that will need care and repairs from time to time but would likely be around longer than I would. I was starting to get excited about purchasing a second, and was looking at Star Wars.

This weekend I started diving into the Spike system threads where people were throwing around the idea that pinball is becoming disposable - if I purchase a Star Wars Pro, I should expect to have problems 5-10 years down the road, and possibly not have available parts to repair it. Time to throw it out in other words.

I don't want to turn this specifically into a thread about Spike, but rather, would anyone care to share some thoughts or advice as to buying a machine that will last a while. Are the newer JJPs and remakes also in danger or a short lifespan? Are there machines where you might say something like, I'd buy a new Houdini but not a new Iron Maiden or something like that? Is it actually better to stick to something like Fish Tales which has done fairly well for its age instead of buying new?

Thank you for any thoughts.