Lot's of great suggestions so far, I would also say it depends somewhat on your skill level and the skill level of people you think will be playing the game. I love my Paragon, but she can be a cruel mistress sometimes. Great bang for the buck there though based on your criteria. Speaking of bang for the buck, I'm going to go in a different direction with my suggestions. An era of games where you can really get a lot of bang for the buck now are big flipper EM's, roughly earlyish to later 70's. The other upside to them is that they are generally built like tanks. Once you get them in place, you can go for a long time without ever needing to fix anything. If that's a consideration, I'd take a look. They also have a much lower price point for entry. Some games that I like and think would fit your criteria would be;

Abra Ca Dabra
Atlantis
Capt Fantastic
Centigrade 37

Others in this category that hit most of what you're looking for

Fast Draw
Grand Prix (WMS)
Jungle Queen
Old Chicago
Prospector
Surf Champ
Target Alpha
Wizard

Keep in mind that these games also have simpler goals, no multiball, no modes but there's a beauty in that sinplicity and a certain elegance to that from my point of view. You're also usually not waiting a long time between ball times if you're playing with friends. Keeps everybody engaged if you're playing with non pinheads, there's nothing my non-pinhead friends love more than watching me blow up a ball on a more modern game, (sarcasm alert there lol). In general, I would not invest a lot into a game until you figure out if owning a pin is right for you. There's a lot of reasons to collect and have a pin at home but ask yourself some questions to help figure it out. Are you going to swap through a game when you get tired of it? Then you might want to stick to more desirable titles to make that easier. Are you going to learn to fix them when things go wrong? May want to look at simpler/earlier more reliable games etc. Good luck!