Congrats on joining in here.

Best advice is to keep playing on location and figure out what you really like, when you have one pin at home you need to really love it and I would suggest a pin with DEEP rules so it doesn't get old fast.

You might want to wait until Stern comes out with the LOTR Vault Edition this year and pick one of those up. Great classic pin, with deep rules.

Plus, being new in the box purchase you should have too many issues to worry about fixing.

Have a budget in mind, and do not go over it. Do NOT pay for a machine by credit. When and if you do buy a machine for home use, do not spend all of the money that you have allowed yourself for a budget. Eventually you may want to mod out the machine or you may have to pay for repairs or buy replacement parts. Lets say that you have $2500 to spend, Instead of buying one $2500 machine, put a few hundred aside and buy at least 2 machines with the rest of the money. Trust me on this one. One machine is never enough. It can be addicting. You have neen warned. Also, keep the machine clean. If the machine is used you may want to consider replacing all rubbers. ( The rubber rings, rubber posts and flipper rubber.) New pinballs are a must. Old pitted and rusty ones are like rolling balls of sandpaper. Wax the playfield. If the machine does break down do not fix anything if you are unsure of how to do it. Ask here first. If you go it alone you could do more harm than good. Many people on this forum could help to walk you through some repairs. Sometimes it is good to get a machine that is not so great that way you can learn the ropes on it. Watch youtube videos on different machines. Even though most of the videos might suck, you can get an idea about the specific shots, gameplay and music. That might help narrow down what type of machine that you may want to get. Do not rush out and buy the first machine that comes along, be patient. Plenty of games are out there. Stay away from ebay. If you go the Craigslist route, have cash in hand, be ready to go at a moments notice, have a suitible vehicle to transport the pin, and be prepared to be disappointed. (CL sucks like youtube pinball videos.) These are just a few things that come to mind. Good luck in whatever you decide to do, and have fun.

Don't set your sights on any single title.. I found that casting a wide net caught lots of fun titles I might not have considered if i kept my focus on finding only my top 3.

1. Find your budget that you are comfortable with.
2. Go over the pinside top 100, 200 etc and find games that interest you and put them on your Pinside wish list in "your collection". Add games you like and take games you change your mind on after playing off your list.
3. Play a lot and everything you can get your hands on.
4. Buy your first one from a local collector that has a good reputation and is helpful to the pinball community. You will not get a bargain, but you may just get a game that you still have years later that has never given you a problem, like my HS2.
5. Get it home and suck playing for a while, then get better at pinball and have a blast!

Don't do it. Stop now before you start. Just back away slowly. Never consider pins again.

Or resign yourself to endless hours on pinside, watching pin videos on youtube, justifying ANOTHER new pin 5 after you swore to yourself that THIS would be the last pin, trying to come up with the right way to break it to your wife that you want another pin, etc.

You can't have just one....I tried.

Me too. 9 pins and 3 years ago.

Buy from a local collector, pick up in person, not eBay or craigslist. This is a good place to find folks.

Don't do it, pins multiply like Rabbits.

Seriously though, checkout the gameplay videos on the PAPA youtube channel and try to play as many as you can.

If you can hold off on a purchase, get yourself a ticket to the ReplayFX, you'd get to play a ridiculous number of machines and then you can make a list of machines to hunt for.

It's been told before but go out playing before you buy one! Hunt down pins in the wild, or check the Pinside map to localize local collectors. Give them a pm cause most are most happy to let you check out their machines and tell you all about pins, especially when your new

And it NEVER ends at one, so start planning your space accordingly.

I have them all around the house, so I could offer my advice on rearranging things to get just one more game in the house. Rarely do I get rid of anything. 35 games in the 2100 sq ft house/garage. I don't need any storage. Just move some things around and poof...another game will fit. Currently, I only have 3 games not set up.

Do what everyone else does when they first get into it and fixate on the most expensive 4 or 5 titles, get upset that you can't get one for under $8k, and then declare it a "rich man's hobby" and run off in a huff.

Actually don't do that! Find some locals and play some games and see what you like, then buy something at the right price and right location. Don't fixate one title or budget and keep in mind if you buy something and don't like it, you can just sell it and buy something else. The vast majority of pinball machines are fun...there's a relatively small percentage of great games and awful games. There's plenty of fantastic games you can buy in nice shape from $500-$2000 so that's a good start.

Have fun!

Welcome to the greatest hobby and greatest website in the WORLD!!!

The best advice is to go to an arcade and play every game. Take notes on the games you love the best. Then go back and play those ones a couple more times and narrow your search down like that.

In May, there's an AWESOME pinball show in Allentown, PA. Great place to play pinball AND purchase a game. Also, I'm one of the promoters of Pintastic New England. It's in Sturbridge, MA. 4 hours away from you, which isn't bad at all. I drive 6 hours each way to get to Allentown, that's how awesome that show is.

So definitely take advantage of going to shows. You'll get to play a couple hundred games ALL for free with your admission price. Most of the games will be for sale too, so you can wheel and deal on the price of a game and buy one. It's all a fantastic way to meet some of the nicest people in the world cause everyone is so friendly. It's a real blast and you would really enjoy it.

Anyway, good luck and welcome again to the MaDnEsS!!!

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/how-to-not-get-ripped-off-in-pinball-vids-guide

Vid put this together ... Great Info!!!

These 2 are more wise than they know, and this just about summarize the hobby for me.

Also, get a digital multimeter and a soldering iron, and start watching YT videos and how to use/do each. You'll be using them.

Owning a pinball machine and not knowing how to use a DMM or a soldering iron is like trying to jump rope down a flight of stairs.