Don’t buy a new game just because you think it won’t need repairing. All pins need repair eventually and you don’t learn to fix something until it breaks. I started with an early ‘90s machine a little more than a year ago when I didn’t know the difference between the inside of a pinball machine and the inside of a refrigerator. Stuff broke, but with help from pinside I quickly learned how to do things like replace coils and troubleshoot loose connections. Fixing stuff on the playfield like worn or broken rubbers or just changing a bulb can involve taking a lot of stuff apart and putting it back together again. If you’re like me, the first time you drop a screw down the drain you’ll totally flip out. After about a year, I’m confident that I can tackle pretty much everything short of a board repair. This stuff will eventually happen to your NIB or recently manufactured pin as well. So just buy the machine you like and don’t be afraid to poke around in it’s guts. It will scare the hell out of you the first time you need to disassemble a pop bumper or solder a connection, but after you’ve done it once, you’ll not only have that skill in your mental toolbox, you’ll also have the confidence to tackle the next repair.