If you've been lurking for the past year or so, you probably think that pinball is a rich man's sport. It doesn't have to be. A friend of mine decided to opt out of buying his first pin, because "$5k is too much for a toy". It made me feel that I failed him. There are some amazing games under $2500. Any game from the 90's can be a good buy in this range. Heck, I just sold a really fun 2005 game for $1800. And I had shopped it out and tweaked it to perfection.
Buy from fellow collectors that you know and trust. More importantly, trust us! If you stumble, we'll help you. We "old heads" don't like seeing new guys with broken older games. We'll help you and teach you. We'll come to your place and show you how to fix your games. And after a few years, you'll have a great collection for under $10k, and you'll know more than the guy who only buys new pins.
Are we selfless? Hell no. We have older games that we may want to sell some day. We are trying to build that part of the collector community that's not afraid to rebuild a connector, or replace a rectifier. We selfishly want you to experience something few people understand: a $1500 game can just as fun than an $8000 game, if you're willing to learn and grow your skills.