Meet people near you. The guys that do the Slam Tilt podcast are in upstate NY.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-slam-tilt-podcast

Welcome!

Johnny Mnemonic is kinda known for being a "hard game" for beginners, Diner and TotC are OK games to play although for some reason TotC gets overpriced around here where i live, dunno if its the same over in the States.

Ebay is not a good place to buy a pin. For your first pin, you really want something working 100% and in good shape. You might want to consider a newish Stern.

My first game was TFTC and I searched for 8months to find. I finally found one and had to pay for shipping so that would put you over your budget. I suggest finding a local one to buy from someone who has alot of pins. Play it and make sure you will like it. TFTC I love the show and the game is still fun with multiball and ramps.

PM Gwaxt72 on here, or check out his Rockland Pinball website. He always seems to have great deals, and you'll find a lot of happy buyer threads if you search Pinside for him. He is in Nanuet NY if that's anywhere near you.

What part of upstate NY? There's an upstate NY Facebook for sale group you might want to watch. I know someone in Syracuse with a diner and Johnny, not sure if he'd want to sell

also it's always better to see a game in person so you can see all the scratches nicks, etc as very hard to tell through pictures and others not likely to tell you every detail on playfield if it matters to you. As long as the game plays well that's the best part for first time buyer.

personally, i recommend going with neither ebay nor a retailer, and dont ship a game. find a relatively local collector, and go pick it up. play it first, and give it a good look over so you know exactly what you're paying for!

this might mean a longer wait and/or a broader criteria for games, but you are less likely to overpay and regret it.

pinball is a fantastic hobby. be warned, though, they tend to multiply! welcome to pinside!

Check the pinball map whenever you travel. The more pins you can play, the better.

Take a weekend trip and check out http://www.pinballpa.com/

Pinball Arcade for the PC, consoles, phones, and tablets is another way to get exposed to a lot of pins.

The 90s pins are something relatively easy to start with, fun to play, not too old repair, and many parts are available. I started with a Fish Tales.

I sent you a PM Hot1Dog. There are a lot of collectors in upstate spanning from Buffalo to Albany so I am sure we can help ya find something. Feel free to join the Greater NY Pinball & Arcade Collectors Group also.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/gnypac/

This forum is one of your best resources. I was in your shoes almost two years ago.
Be patient, play as many different machines as you can find before buying, and definitely check the machine out in person before committing any cash.

Best course of action, just wait till pinfest.... And join the Syracuse league

Put Pintastic on your calendar as well.

While Pinside is an awesome resource for buying games, local groups are far superior most of the time. I don't know about in the midwest but in our local groups (upstate NY) most of us list our games on the local facebook groups first and if not sold in a couple weeks will then move them to Pinside.

I'd consider other Data East titles as well along with TFTC. Lethal Weapon 3, and Rocky and Bullwinkle come to mind. They can both be had for your budget with room for upgrades such as LEDs or whatever you want to do. Plus they have easy to understand rules, and all the features of "modern pinballs"

This. And if you can find a local pinball mechanic who can check under the hood for ya. Heard too many horror stories of new guys getting a machine that's all hacked together.

Find a game you really want, then make an ad here for it, you will probably get a better deal here then on ebay.

I don't think retailers are all bad. You will pay a premium but should get your game delivered shopped and working great. Bad retailers may try to hide problems and just be out flipping games. As long as you can inspect a game, play, and make sure it is what you want for the price, you should be good. I agree with others on not getting a game shipped. Way to many chances for surprises of the bad kind. At the very least, a lot of things can wiggle loose or solder joints fail on a long truck ride on a 20-30 year pin.

^^^^^^

What he said.

You didn't mention your level of knowledge when it comes to electronic/electrical/mechanical things. Pinball machines combine mechanical, electrical and (other than EM) electronic components. They were made for commercial money-making, *not* collecting or home use, and were considered *consumable* at the time they were assembled. They were also *hand-assembled* without regard, in most cases, for serviceability or maintainability and had zero, or near-zero warranty considerations (since they were commercial and not "consumer" products.) You'll find all this out with the first one you buy as you maintain and (if you're into that) improve it from whatever state you buy it in.

What this means is that while there are things that are "standard" (e.g. the size of the playfield glass on most pinballs) there's somewhat of an art to getting them running the way they should and keeping them in that condition and every machine is a bit different. In the case of EMs this is even more-so than in the case of electronic games. Pinball machines require regular maintenance and upkeep if they're going to play well, and the more they get played the more they require of that routine maintenance, although in a home it's much less than it is in a commercial location. You either need to know someone who can maintain and repair them for you (and be willing to compensate them in whatever way is required) or you need to know how to do it yourself if you're going to own these on a long-term basis. For your first one, unless you've got a fairly high degree of skill level when it comes to electronics and electrical things you probably want to buy it from a knowledgeable owner who has already done that and thus while the cosmetics of the game may be of variable state the *mechanicals and electrical/electronics* all work and are in good order.

While I know a lot of people ship these things all over the place I've never bought I game I haven't looked at in person first, and I've never sold one to someone "at a distance" either. The obvious exception would be a new-in-box one from a manufacturer, which today means Stern or JJP. Pictures cannot possibly be accurate enough to assess condition for a used pin; IMHO you need to see it.

To add to this: no matter how good a shape your machine is in when you buy it, it *will* break sooner or later. (even nib sterns usually need some work within a month or two to fix manufacturing flaws). If you're only going to have one game, and only play it casually, paying someone to come fix problems for you may be okay, but once you get past two or three you're going to be in trouble if you can't fix them (obviously board work, etc is a whole other level if skill, but). If that's the case, since you know you're going to be learning to how do some fixes and maintenance eventually, I say you should purposely save some money and buy a broken game, and then learn to fix it. It'll serve you better in the long run.

Buy a broken pin? I think that is terrible advice. Maybe that would be a good choice for a 2nd or 3rd, but not first. Pins are not much fun when they are not working IMO.

Pins are lots of fun when they're not working!

Better a broken pin that you're in the process of fixing than a broken pin you're waiting a month for some stranger to come do mysterious things to for money

Post an ad it never hurts. I got my Judge Dredd that way. I was looking for my first pin a year ago and now I have 3

As others have said hope you have some experience with fixing things like these you will need it. I had many years experience with arcade and old consoles beforehand.

Good luck to you!

Find a small, local shop that repairs and refurbs games, and also has a small showroom with a few pins for sale. Play some of the games he has on the floor, talk to him a little bit about pinball, and he'll steer you the right way. You might pay $100 to $200 more than what you could get the same game for on the street, but this way you've got a game that's been shopped and will generally have some sort of a warranty. The local guy here backs his work with a 90 day warranty. He'll also tell you what games to look for, what games are fun and have that 'one more game' lastability. So if you can find a place like this, http://www.paulspinballpalace.com IMHO that's the best way to get started.