You should be able to find a pin to buy at Allentown. You might find some good info and what is available by posting in this thread, if you haven't already:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinfest-2018-buy-sell-trade/

Good luck with your first pin!

You should be able to find a title that reminds you of the games you played in your childhood very easily for that price. Every decade further add about another $1,000.

I usually stay away from recommending specific titles. Just start looking around and see what is available locally, and check the games out. Too often people get tunnel vision, that's how you end up paying too much or getting a game that's not newbie-ready to plug and play.

DEFINETLY go to Allentown. Perfect chance for you to play 100 different games or so in one place and find something in your price range. Bring as much cash as you are willing to spend.

You are definitely going to need to play a bunch of games in the price range you are willing to spend. You are not likely to find any with fancy exploding toys, but you could find some with ramps. Be aware that not all the machines are good buys at shows, the last one I went to had some grossly overpriced games. One was almost double my estimated street value and was a real turnoff because it was peppered with rainbow puke LEDs. If you can, I would recommend taking a friend or meeting up with someone you trust to help evaluate prior to purchasing.

What’s your location?

Always transport with legs off...ask black rose what happens when a pinbot is transported on its legs.

Backglass depends...if it's in a head that doesn't fold down and is real glass remove it and wrap it. If it's in a head that folds down or is a plastic translite, leave it in head.

For $1500 you'll be hard pressed to find a decent playing DMD era game. Not impossible but will require patience and luck. Best bet is to attend shows or find an arcade that has pins and play as many as possible. Especially the system 11 era Williams games. These are still the best bang for the buck, imho.

Honestly, at that price range and looking for that many features, I'd stick with System 11 games for the most part. Most are in that price range, most titles had big runs which makes them available, parts are readily available, and games from that era still make the Top 100 list even with DMD and newer games continuing to come out. Working on one is a good entry into the hobby and will let you know if you've got the patience for it.

Screenshot_2018-04-28-11-17-15 (resized).png
Screenshot_2018-04-28-11-17-48 (resized).png
Screenshot_2018-04-28-11-18-22 (resized).png
Screenshot_2018-04-28-11-18-32 (resized).png
Screenshot_2018-04-28-11-18-48 (resized).png
Screenshot_2018-04-28-11-19-23 (resized).png
Screenshot_2018-04-28-11-19-33 (resized).png

Seriously, I would plan to spend up to about $2250.00 and have way more options.

Wow look at that awesome list! Easily 3/4 of those games are classics

4 hrs. from Allentown. If you're in N.Y., you could possible be real close to where I am.
I have quite a few machines set up from the era that you remember..

could always pick up a sharkey's shootout for 1500-1600. Think it's the cheapest late model stern I know of.
is there a cheaper one post 2000?

should be plenty of games to find for that amount, but i would maybe budget for a little higher amount. many more choices that way. the list provided in a prior post should give you good ideas. best of luck getting one!

Not any more!
People are catching on to how fun and rare this game is. Besides, the days of modern DMD pins for under $2000 is over, unless they are beat to shit. I payed $1700 for mine in 2014. Payed too much for the condition it was in. Put tons of work into it and LED's and some mods. No way in hell I'm selling it for under $2200!

Don't know if there's a cheaper one to be had post year 2000, but definitely less fun ones.

I remember shortly after Filthy Nastys changed hands having a ball bowler in the
Tavern on the Flats (right along the canal docks). Nice little happening Saturday night bar..
I'm in Newark, but just have Wedge Heads and a few EM multi-players..

Just remember, expensive doesn't necessarily mean better. Stick to your guns. You DO NOT need to spend a lot on your first pin.

Agreed! My first game was Space Shuttle and it's well within your price range and would probably be one of the last to leave my house. It has ramps, sweepable drops, physical locks, a gate, spinner, and stand ups...really a nice mix of "features". It's also relatively easy to work on and a great starter pin, but really fun all around. I agree with this post though, don't spend more than you're comfortable with or can afford until you know if you like owning these dumb things