personally, i'd buy both if they are priced well. but baywatch is deeper and better ruleset.

I'd go with Baywatch and save for a TSPP. And welcome!

Baywatch is a much deeper and better playing game. Data East Simpsons has a cool theme but gameplay is pretty meh. If your a Simpsons fan, like Minus mentions, save for a TSPP.

I'd continue your search to be honest. Tell us about your price range and what you like in a theme/game etc and you'll get some great recommendations. My gut says you'll find a much better game for what you are looking to spend.

Baywatch is a hard game to get rid of - and you'll likely want to get rid of it after a few months. I'd only buy it if it were very cheap ($1100 or so). I don't know if it's any good or not I've never played it.

Simpsons is a fun game and you'll have NO trouble selling it when/if you decide to mix things up. Nothing wrong with it as a first game it's really cool and I've always liked it since the location days.

Buying a pin should be more about location and price than specific machine - if you get it for a decent price you can ALWAYS sell it for what you paid or more and get something else. Don't obsess over a specific title or pay too much, or put too much stock in the advice you get here, which will almost always be "spend more money, get a different game."

My advice is always if it's a good game at a good price in a good location, consider it.

Geeze, if you can get that Simpsons for under $1000, I doubt you'd be disappointed with it. I like Data East pinballs. Lots of people want to hate on them. The Simpsons Pinball Party is probably way cooler, but it's also way more expensive. Any 90's Data East for under $1000 is a good deal I think.

Not sure where you are located but a good pin under 1k around here is pretty rare.. Prob most games at this price point won't last too long replayability wise. I'd personally save a bit and watch for a good 2k pin

I'm not sure either, but OP mentioned a budget around $1000 and he was looking at a Baywatch and Simpsons and considering either one, so I assumed the price he was given was that good on both of them. Some deals still happen. I saw a Simpsons Pinball Party sell 5 minutes before I got to it for $1500 a few weeks ago. I was actually first with email, but my phone call was second. :-/

I don't know where you are located but I have a really nice LAH with no ticket wear that I would let go for $1800. That's about what I have in it

Simpsons was my first pin. It is fun for a bit, but does tend to get repetitive, and rules are not very deep. Just beware once you get one, it wont stop. I was told this before and didnt believe them. I now have 6, and have had over 12 different ones, and I have been doing this less than a year.

2nd this. DE Simpsons was my first pin purchase a few months ago. Though it's not as deep or contain crazy moving ramps and toys like my follow up purchase, it still gets wide eyes and dropped jaws when they see Simpsons. I'm 32 so early Simpsons is in my friends' and my wheelhouse.

Not only would you not have a hard time selling it, I already have a gentlemen's conditional sale with an old friend. He likes it so much if I get too many pins and run out of space, he's going to lease it from me for "free" with my terms (the machine is 100% mine, he pays for any/all repairs needed during lease, I get to shop it once a year at his house, and I can take it back at any time I want).

The theme alone just gets some people hooked... and honestly, it's a great first pin. It has a ton of shots for its age, it's challenging enough, it has actual voice callouts, it has enough rules to play longer than something like early SS games, and it's not too deep to confuse guests. Really, it's a perfect party pin. My buddy may be waiting a long time to take mine.

Uh oh. I'm 3 months deep, bought the same first machine, and am already working on pin #3. You just gave me the view into a crystal ball I was afraid of...

I'm still wanting a Data East Simpsons... It's a must have for me at some point, even if I don't make it a keeper forever.

Update your profile and tell us where you are. That will always generate a lot of sell offers in your price range...

I would suggest Pinbot, unless you dislike the space or sci-fi theme. It's a classic game, simple rules, hard to master. It should be available for a reasonable price and parts are available.

2nd...and really any of the System 9-11 era games you can hardly go wrong with. Still around for the $1K price range in player's condition. Don't expect a fully working one fully shopped for that price, however. Most of those are in the $1500 to $2K range now.

If you can get a Simpsons for $1K, do it. If you tire of it, sell it. It's fun, and it's a reasonable place to start.

This ^^^

You can find, with patience, a slew of System 11 options in your price range. Fix them up, play them for awhile, and sell them. Gain a little equity and use it towards your next purchase. You should be able to find a High Speed, F-14, Pin*Bot, Grand Lizard all in this range.

I like the the F-14 Tomcat Idea. Very fast and exciting game for $1000 (maybe less). I prefer it to DE Simpsons. Then again for $1000 it's hard to go wrong on the DE Simpsons. You should certainly get you money back+ when you go to sell it.

If you just sit and wait patiently and check your local Craigslist fairly often, you will definitely see a good variety of games in various conditions. Then if you're unsure, just consult here or IPDB for ratings and reviews, look over the rules and play field layout to see if you like it.

When you decide you want to try and buy one, here's what I generally try to look for.

To me, the most important thing is a good play field, preferably with no wear at all, with no raised or chipped inserts. This is all very difficult to fix unless you're skilled at that type of thing. And it can get costly to have it done. Also check all the mechanics, make sure all bumpers, switches, & etc. work. Run the tests in the game or just take the glass off and hit everything with your finger or drop the ball where it needs to go and make sure everything works. You'll want to get to know how much parts cost for the games you're planning on buying and how difficult they are to get, preferably before you go to test the game.

Next for me is cabinet. I don't want one all beat up, you can get decal kits for some games, and stencil kits for others, but a beat up cabinet to me is a few hundred to fix. Inspect all of the plastics. You may or may not find cracks or chips. Look at the back glass - if it's painted, is it holding up or flaking?

So if you know about what everything will cost to fix a game and bring it back to the high average retail price that game is getting, then you can try and negotiate with the seller a little bit better.

I just bought a $900 game for $300. The seller thought I was getting a great deal, but guess what - $300 back glass nowhere to be found, had to settle for a $200 remake. It needed board work. That was $200. It needed 2 score displays. Another $80. So now I'm into it for $780. Then I spent $100 on LED's and $20 on rubber. So now I'm into it for the $900 it would sell for in good condition. And I explained all the things I would need to do with my estimated costs to purchase the materials to the seller so they knew I wasn't just trying to hustle them. Time - plan on countless hours, because you'll love fine tuning and enhancing your machine. I don't do it for profit, I do it for the love of the game and so I can add them to my collection. But if I can come out ahead when I finally decide I want to sell any of my games, it will help me grow my collection and continue to do what I love a bit easier.

Being that you have engineering, soldering and schematic skills is a huge plus as you'll be able to fix virtually everything on your own. If you don't know the answer, you can usually find it here. I'm excited for you, good luck with your search and let us know what you end up with!

Exactly. So long as the title has some basic appeal to you and you're not getting raped on price, give it a go. If and when you get bored of it you can sell it. Most likely it won't be permanent and you'll churn through lots of pins over the years.

I do recommend being more choosy before dropping major coin on a NIB LE, or a Chris Hutchins restoration, or something like that.

Congrats! Welcome to the club!

Pinbot for #2. You'll be there in a month.

If it has any incandescent bulbs still in there get them out and put in LEDs. Less heat is generated and easier on the old boards and connectors. If you like the warm white look of the incandescents just get some warm white LEDs then. Congrats though! Lots of fun to be had with these machines. I have 2 in the living room ready to go and one in the garage getting back to playing condition. I'm always looking for number 4,5,6,7 lolol. Good luck!!

Except for older Bally Games, in which case they'll flicker. And in some cases, people prefer Incandescent bulbs. I do for GI most the time, but like LEDs for inserts and whatnot. I use regular flasher bulbs too cause they rarely burn out. #47 bulbs though for sure, not #44.

You're the man! Congrats.

loved reading this post. I was in the same situation
almost got a fireball for 800 - that fell through, looked at space shuttle for 900, laser ball for 750
stalked craigs list for a month, landed on this Simpsons for 1k.
super clean machine, looks great - only issue is slight humming sound and laser kick don't work but shouldn't be too much to fix, so I'm happy with the 1k price

its a blast to play, I'm enjoying it.

OP how much did you pay?