I try to always "try before I buy". It is REALLY tough trying to find a lot of these machines on location, let alone in good working condition. You might get lucky checking out pinside's pinball map, or checking out local pin maps like the ones posted by awesome guys like Jonnyo.

I highly suggest people to head out to pinball & classic video game shows whenever they hit your town, if your either thinking of adding a pin....or just were curious about joining the hobby for the first time. In my area, we have California Extreme in the summer, and Pacific Pinball Expo in the fall. Almost guaranteed to have people sell some pins there in good shape (CAX has the best prices from personal experience comparitivly).

Entry fee is relatively inexpensive, grants you all day access, and games are set to free play usually. This gives you a preview of what a game would play like in your home. I try to help setup, and my entry fee is completely waived.

Reviews are hit and miss. Sometimes you get a really good informative review. Lots of other times you get once sentence reviews. Have to also take into account that pinball is EXTREMELY unique over video game reviews. Each pinball machine will have a positive fanbase, while others might hate its guts for whatever reason. One person's trash pin, is another person's smile inducing time-suck. Be it YOUR nostalgia, a toy YOU think is really cool, or if it fits specific gameplay or art criteria that YOU look for in a pin. Overall, Pinside reviews usually are better than IPDB, but I guess it depends on the game.

I'll factor in affordability with some of my choices. Some of my machines are more expensive like TZ & Spider-Man, while others I try to get the most "bang for my pinball buck" with games like Johnny Mnemonic & Demolition Man. Save a few bucks here, and eventually you'll have enough money for another. And the dreaded collection continues to grow and grow.

As far as my used pins, I got great deals on all of them. Enough so that my wife could not say no. But I had played BF and Corvette before and liked them.

My new pins. SM I loved. LOTR got great reviews, I love the story and I had the chance to get a LE.

Won't be another NIB for a long, long time. So now I sit and troll Cragslist for another great deal so my wife can't say no.

The reviews get me wanting a pin,then I try to search them out and I always play them first before actually buying.

I think we probably all get caught up in chasing machines because they are "popular" or "highly sought after" "highly rated." etc. I have 2 pins in my collection that don't qualify as "A list machines" I bought them because I like them.

I am a Jurassic Park movie fan as well as s Terminator fan. I enjoy these machines just as much as so called "A list machines" These machines get just as much play as my TZ and my SM.

My advice is simply buy what you like.

I have a few on my wish list , but unless I find deal of the century.......I can't afford any more. I get urges to jump on that Jersey Jack bandwagon......but trying to resist those. It seems to me that these forums will be the failure or success of JJP. Free advertising here and RGP has to be great for his venture.

Right Twizz63.We can help bring a comeback of pinball on this as well as other forums.Lot of buying power and influence here at pinside.Several of us are teaching our kids and grandchildren about the benefits of pinball playing.

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Not sure if I can put a finger on it of not?
but I remember a certain 'hunger' I felt when I was really into buying pins
you know searching CL a few times a day and finding some great projects near by.
- cool feeling getting a new game home and that 1st time going over it
finding all the little stuff thats out of whack - luv it

Well, I bought LOTR after only one play but I always watch games on www.youtube.com and read as many reviews as I can so I knew after one game I would like it. I am about to buy AFM and only ever had one game but I love the theme etc. I have space for one or two more and have to start getting picky. I have to love the look of the pin, it has to play well and have replay value. At the moment I am not a fan of the newer Stern games so am looking back to the 90's and as I am quite new to pinball, I focus on the top 20 pins more or less. Very interested in the JJ upcoming pins as well. Also I have keeper pins and I want to have space for others that I play for 6 months and sell on. Trouble is I have maximum space for 4 and already have 2 keepers!

My pinball goals are to have a 10 machine collection consisting of 7 nineties titles 2 system 11 titles and a newer stern or even Jersey Jack pin! Love reading peoples personal views,reviews then watch some footage on youtube and then ultimately hunt down for a test drive.
I dont shift or move on pins and am lucky enough to have a couple of friends with collections of 30-40 machines so get many a test drive to find my absolute favorite titles to own!

I have bought several pins with out playing and as long as I have gotten a very good to excellent condition pin at a price that I know I can flip then I am ok. Knowing selling prices is important. I always look at the ratings now and picked up LOTR based on them alone. An SE, NIB with shaker for 5175 was a good deal, I thought, 6 months ago. I am also looking at Youtube now for ideas on pins, mods and LED's. While I may have not loved a pin such as IJ or CFTBL, after playing awhile, I got my money back plus on them both. Right now, I am trying to stay below 4K for each purchase and am focusing on FG, Simpsons Party, Dr Who and a few others but if a hi quality MB or AFM comes up at a great price I will move on it

As soon as I've got money in my pocket, I'm looking for a new pin deal.
C-list early 90's games is what I look for. Usually 1500$ or under.
When I seem to find a deal, I start researching it out and see if I like it or not.
I am becoming more confident in my skills as a pin-tech, so I am less worried about minor problems that may be involved with these machines (switches not working, etc).
but like I said, once I have about 1k$ available, I start looking (mr pinball, craigs, forums).

Hype over a pin does nothing for me. I'm not into spending 3-8k on a pin yet.
plenty of pins out there for 1.5k that give just as much of a rush as any A-list.

I...must...just...have...it...

Lot's of different reasons. For me, it's a connection to the past. Both as an avid arcade player and my time as an Arcade Technician (I loved working on the Pins the most).

It also has something to do with the deep desire to see Pinball survive. I don't know how many of you were in to Pinball during the late 80's and through the 90's. But, that was when two of the biggest heart breaking events (for me) occured.

The first was when Williams bought out the Pinball division of Bally. I always liked the games from both and that was one of the reasons it bothered me when they merged. One of the great things over the years had always been to see how the big dogs duked it out with the release and innovation of different games every year.

The 2nd big event was (of course) when Williams announce it was ending it's Pinball operations for good. My heart sank into my stomach when i heard this.

While I'm glad to see Stern is still manufacturing and the few others that are marginally out there, it's just not the same. And, for me, since all of my fondest memories are of the Late 70's - Early 90's machines, these are the ones I like to help preserve.

G