I would have a little different approach. Agree with going solid state but I would look for something close to you in your price range and not Necessarily a particular pin. I had played for years before owning and I bought my first game out of the newspaper classified. It was a pin that I had never heard of or seen but it looked cool and had multiball and ramps, etc. My budget was $1000 and the buyer wanted $800 and took $400 when we determined it had several issues. Played it, worked on it, improved it for > 5 year before buying a second pin. Then things accelerated (now have 10) and after I had multiple more desirable pins I sold it for $1300. (Laser War).

So whatever you buy first it will be fun and get plenty of play because it will be your first one. Can’t really go wrong with anything. And if it’s not perfect or has some issues then it sets you up to learn. And the learning/trouble shooting/repairing etc for many actually becomes the more rewarding part of the hobby.

A good rual of thumb is to look at Pinsids top 100 - pick something out of the first 50 , might be hard to find anything under $2,000. But remember thoes top 50 games are easy to sell and hold there value . They are top 50 for a reason !

I’m going to defend the word Table here. Pinball table. Hah, I make all the name Nazi’s skin crawl. Seriously, back in the glory days of arcades some players did call them that. Some pinball creators have used the term. Don’t be autistic, community. Show some flexibility. Everyone knows what the word means so it’s fine.

F-14 Tomcat for $1500

The ad is currently listed as local pickup, but the owner may be willing to ship if you make the arrangements?

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/96087

Don’t ever ship. Especially not for your first game. You need to be able to see and play before you buy. Just stay patient. You’ll find something you can go pick up.

Agree with Chuck. Besides the obvious playing the actual machine etc you're going to miss out on how the game breaks down, how to load it, move it etc.

For 1500 we’d all love a DMD game! Haha

I did, in 2006