(Topic ID: 99533)

Popeye, Austin Powers, Fire, Medusa, and Riverboat Gambler First pin decision

By dondon4720

9 years ago



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#1 9 years ago

So here is the story, I have a ad up on craigslist for My Wurlitzer 45 rpm Jukebox for trade on pinball table (asking 4500) because I have been wanting a pinball table for quite some time (I am 19). A guy replies to my email saying that he has Popeye, Austin Powers, Fire, Maedusa, and Riverboat Gambler up for trade and I was wondering what would be a good first pin .
From the pictures he sent me they all look to be in really good shape (didn't ask about Medusa tho). So what are some common in general issues to look out for on these tables and which one should I get

Here are the pics the guy sent me ( I will probably ask for Medusa as well)

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#2 9 years ago

You should be able to get 3 or 4 of those if your jukebox is worth $4500.

#3 9 years ago

Popeye gets boring quickly, Austin Powers wears off after a while, Medusa is a great game for a Solid State, Fire is fun but I have never played River Boat Gambler.

I agree with Kevgascan that you could at least get 3 pins for you jukebox. Do some research on pins prices, but not on ebay. Those are "asking" prices...not what they are selling for.

$.02

#4 9 years ago

Plan is to go for one and some cash (I only have space for one)
Also Here are the Medusa Pics

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#5 9 years ago

Prices on those games should be around:
Popeye $1500
Austin Powers $2k?
Fire (is a Champagne Edition) $1500+?
Maedusa??
Riverboat Gambler $1k?

Those are approximate, and his games look nice, so maybe a bit more.

In terms of gameplay, none of those titles are brilliant. Fire is probably the best of the lot. People seem to hate Popeye, but I like it a lot. If you don't want the Popeye (or get it, and decide to trade down the line,) I may be interested in that one.

#6 9 years ago

A lot of the games that you named are not exactly "traditional" pinball machines that most people are looking for in a first. They make a good fourth or fifth game, but the first... not so much. Here are my thoughts, in no particular order.

Popeye - Mine is sitting about three feet to my left right now. I think it is the most amazingly designed machine ever made. The way they integrated the boat theme with the playfield is nothing short of genius... but it just doesn't play that great. A TON of the shots are hidden. I can overlook that since I have a bunch of machines, but as a single machine I definitely wouldn't keep it set up.

Fire - It doesn't have pop bumpers, and being the fancy edition of Fire it's an expensive system 11 for more than most system 11 games sell for. The lack of pops drives some people mad. The gameplay on it is also pretty darn simple, even for a system 11. Again, it's a great game if you have like five and want something totally different, but I can't imagine it being good for one.

Riverboat Gambler - It's been a LONG time since I've played it, but it has a betting theme where you actually bet stuff using buttons on the front or lockdown bar or something, and again it's unique and usually not what people want for their first machine. Another great "mix up the collection" title.

Medusa - It's a relatively simple game from the early 80s that is unique in the fact they more or less crammed two half playfields into one. Like a theme that I keep repeating, it's a neat machine in a collection of five or so, but it's not the type of pinball machine most people think of when they hear you have a pinball machine.

Austin Powers - I saved this one for last because of these options, I think it is far and away the best of the bunch. AP is a great playfield layout (anyone who disagrees, go look at the bunches of people who love Iron Man - AP is Iron Man with more stuff on the playfield). It has pop bumpers. It has multi-ball. It's a DMD machine. The only problem with AP is once you get good at it, you can really keep the ball in play for a long, long, LONG time. Unlike a lot of games, it doesn't seem to me to matter how nasty you set it up, I seem to be able to play any one of them for 20 minutes a game, which drives me nuts - I like 3 minute games. If you want a longer game, this is a very good first choice, I think.

Austin Powers, Popeye and Fire would be the easiest three to sell down the line.

Final thought - If your goal is just to play, ignore this. If you want to learn how to repair and stuff like that, you might want to start on the Medusa for a bit. When I started in this crazy hobby many, many moons ago, I bought mid 80s, single level Bally game as a project, and I spent about 6 months just repairing the thing, learning how to do it and so on. I graduated later to a system 11 (Space Station), and once that nightmare was done, I figured out how to repair just about anything. That is a really nice skill to have, and if that is your goal, I'd suggest that Medusa is going to be far less overwhelming to look at than any of those other games.

Good luck, hope this helped in some way

#7 9 years ago

I just bought a popeye tonight. It's still in the car lol.

It's really clean and I got it for 1200. I figure how can you go wrong.

I agree AP is the way to go. Although I have never played popeye...

#8 9 years ago

You have 20 pins according to your list near your name, you'll appreciate it FAR more than you would with if you had two.

#9 9 years ago

Well unfortunately being 19 and still living with you mom doesn't help my case:

1. I re measured the stairs leading down to the basement / family room and because there are 4 stairs a narrow landing in a L shape then 4 more stairs, they are too narrow to fit a pinball machine ( or jukebox it's in our living room)
2. That and because it is my mom's house she is not to keen on me having a pinball machine over money to pay for college (computer engineering major)

I appreciate all of the advice that people have given me in the past 7 hours, this is a great forum and when I finally do get my own place in 5 or so years I will defiantly be back asking questions and planning on getting my first table. Good things come to those who wait . I defiantly want to learn how to work on tables and fix them if they break.

The pinball machines I want to own:

Tron
Transformers
Circus Voltaire
Fun house
South Park
Back to the Future

Thanks Again everyone

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