Pin Bot, (what a classic) I think I bought it 1992, it has stood the test of time but doesn't get the play. I have expanded during the last few years.

I'm really at my limit and with the new ones coming out I have some tough choices on the horizon.

On my third TZ. I think I'm finally done with it and when it's gone, I miss it and acquire it again.

Gilligan's Island because it is just fun and I love the show-SKIPPER!

Jackbot. Second game I purchased back in December 2010, replaced it with a near-CQ example last year.
Love the theme, gameplay and call outs, for whatever reason it just never gets old. Would be the last game to leave.

72 Fireball
Kings & Queens
They're both just impossible to master but they trick you into thinking they're not

Banzai Run ... Because Duh, it's a Banzai Run.

Theatre of magic. I consistently go back to this game and really enjoy the flow. Beautiful to look at also. I think that I would regret selling and probably wouldn't find another in better original shape. Although, never say never.

TZ; Was the game I always dreamed aboot getting in the 90s. First in, last to go.

TZ. My first pin I ever purchased. It was a graduation present to myself after 10 years of college/graduate school. I will never, ever forget the first time I got Lost In The Zone. To me, it is still the best wizard mode in pinball. I met Chris Hutchins a few years later and he "tuned it up" for me. I am going to be buried in that machine someday....

I'll weigh in... Since I'm the only one who will say: Big Guns

I got it for a really good deal. It was not working, and it was my first Solid State repair. It was the first game I had that I experimented with LEDs, and I was really astonished how beautiful it turned out. Now, the translite looks hi-res to me. Also it has a 17th year TNT Amusements sticker.

The ringtone on my phone is the Big Guns multiball theme. For those of you not familiar:

IJ4 - was my wife's favorite for a couple of years . It is about to go up for sale.

They might as well hollow out Getaway and turn it into my casket. If they don't, I'm going to haunt the crap out of whatever jerk ends up with it.

TSPP my grail pin

TS. It keeps kicking butt, but I can't stay away.

Rock...Rock...Rock N' Rollergames here. Can't say it will never leave, but so far it has the longest tenure. Second longest goes to Funhouse, and that one is truly a game that I'll be buried with.

(If they refuse to bury me with Funhouse, I hope they'll at least have an open casket and put the plastic Rudy faceplate over my own face. Best. Death mask. Ever.)

Gottlieb 300. First game I bought and it'll never leave. Learned a lot with it, and set the hook hard for me in the hobby.

Basic rules but so much fun racking up the bonus balls and trying to hit the saucer to collect.

Bsd bc its a awesome pin thats hard to find in great condition for a decent price. Also my huo tz bc ill never find another as nice for what I have in it .

I think I will start a new offshoot topic:
What was the first game that you sold from your collection & why?

I actually don't remember.

Maybe there are others like me, who bought their first pin thinking it would be great to own one pinball machine (singular, with no intention of ever buying any others). People I knew just didn't have pinball games in their homes. I only knew of one family in our area that owned a pinball machine back then. And if you are only intending to buy just the one game, then you carefully decide which game you like the best and start searching for it. It was 1994 and I didn't realize that I had been unknowingly playing protos and pilot games at one of the test locations in a Chicago suburb before those games even went into production. I had no idea what a pinball machine cost, but decided I wanted to own either CFTBL or IJ. It was a shock to learn that they were just produced in 1993 and cost thousands of dollars to purchase because they were still so new. I bought Creature in 1994 for $1895.00 and enjoyed it for about two years as my only machine before thinking that IJ would look good next to it. I had the distributor I purchased CFTBL from look for IJ for me, and when he found a nice one he also found a TZ with no cab fade and a mint playfield and shooter lane. I took them both the same day and paid $1400 for Indy and $1200 for Twilight.

I now have 13 pins in my game room. Every one of the 13 is a game I specifically wanted and hunted down myself (like my ToM proto) or had the word out through distributors that I wanted it. I have three other pins that didn't make it into my pinball room. Those three were all purchased by chance opportunity in 1997 ('94 Baywatch, '96 Barb Wire less than a year old, and '97 X-files on a NIB close-out). I don't play those three much at all, but I keep them because I like pinball and the prices they would bring don't tempt me to sell any of them.

My "collection" really only consists of two games at a time and maybe three if I squeeze one in my room. Either way my first pin to come and to go was Time Warp. I honestly had more fun getting that $300 piece of junk working than actually playing it. With the exception of the plunge you're pretty much working the lower playfield only and it was an outlane drain monster. Add to the fact that the backglass was all but completely coming apart I did a little jig when I got back home from dropping it off at a buyer's house for eight big ones. I did put a few hundred into it and fifty plus hours labor but I was happy it was gone and quickly replaced with an infinitely better game Paragon.

TS, kicked my ass so much I wasn't having any fun.....and I spent a lot of time cleaning/refurbishing it. Was a really nice looking player when I sold it.

Might be my favorite answer in this thread... Jackbot has this freshness about it... An interactivity... That's really cool. Great code, too!

I've had Road Show for almost 8 years. Had dozens of games come and go in that timeframe and never thought about selling it. Good condition, but its also a family favorite. AND everyone hates it, so I love to put it in the line up when league plays here.

My 1979 Bally KISS. I'll never sell it.

Wizard!, My favorite childhood machine from the summer of '75. Bought one in 1979 and it was later given away by my dad while I was in college. He thought I had outgrown it.
I have since purchased 5 Wizards and currently own two. My favorite machine by far!

Did you fork out the money for a ColorDMD?

Twilight Zone.Owned since 1995.Why?...It's my favorite TV show of all time.And the best integration into a pinball machine.A perfect "10"

I guess for me it's RFM! I got it in 2006...wow, to think I've had it for 10 years. It still looks just as good as when I shopped it out and still plays like a champ! I also got a BSD hat year...but the one now I have isn't that original one. I sold that one, missed it...bought another a few years later.

Hmm, it would be a tie. I bought a new from Betson's Mousin Around back in '90 (Christmas present to myself) along with a NIB leftover Devil's Dare that they couldn't sell. Both are keepers.

Lady Luck was my first in 1982, because I could and she was great!

EBD is the game I have owned the most number of times, followed by XENON (she was better and could talk).

Pretty Baby Williams 1965, has been in the family longer than I have. Over 40 years.
Next would be Johnny Mnemonic at 18 years.

IJ. It was my grail pin for 20 yrs from back to when I was collecting/repairing arcade vids back in mid 90s and not so much into pins, but knew I wanted that one.

Finally bought one in November. Have bought 6 other pins since then...

Lots of Pinbot owners, including me. It remains in good company with my "A" list WPC and new Stern titles. Was my first game - many have come and gone in the past 13 years.

Cue Ball Wizard for me - My wife gave it to me in 2007 and for that it will probably be my son's problem to get rid of at an estate sale someday.

-Rob
-visit http://www.kahr.us to get my daughterboard that helps fix WPC pinball resets or for Williams system 3-7 sound board potentiometer solutions

Zaccaria Hot Wheels

Racing theme and European made

Says it all

78 KISS. Bought it in 94 as a KISS collectible. Will go nowhere even though it hardly ever gets played...

For me, the pinball hobby didn't take the first time. The very first game I bought was Gottlieb's Baseball. I added to that Williams Argosy and Full House. I had these a while, but decided to retire from the hobby and sold all three. I was pinball-less for about a year before the itch came back. My Pinball Collection 2.0 then began with a Bally Hang Glider. That's long gone - so now I feel like I did not keep either of the two "First Pinball"s that I owned.

Space Invaders. Because it was the first game I bought.

Nuff said!

STTNG - the first game I bought also.

ACDC Pro. Brutal, fast, fun. 3 years and counting when my average rate is about 6 months to swap out. Love it.

I had a High Speed for 23 years. It was a great game, but had to make room and it wasn't getting played like it used to.

Fathom - my favorite early solid state. It is very hard to find in a nice orginal condition... so it is a keeper!

There are some machines a like a bit more and I sold them and bought them again (same type, different machine) in a better condition i.e. AFM or MB. It is easy for me to sell a machine, since I like the change itself. I am not a pinball player for a long time, so I had to catch up in my way. Right now it seems that the speed slows down and I am very happy with my current line up.

LOTR 9 years

Bride Of Pinbot, first one i bought, about to be restored in a big way and everyone who has played it LOVES hearing the bride give those groans/moans

Most of my pins are keepers. I bought them to play. I did sell my first game, my only EM, which was a WMS Aztec (so ‘75 I think). I fixed it so everything worked and even made a plastic for it that was broken when I bought it. I sold it to a guy who was making a 50s themed gameroom and wanted an EM with a chime unit. I so regretted that sale. It played fast for an EM and was a Blast.

The other game I sold was an F14 Tomcat that I bought to restore but never finished. I bought and built a Firepower for about $100 15+ years ago. It was junk, but I was able to fix all the boards and then retouch the playfield so it was acceptable enough to sell. It played well. I’ll buy another FP someday, but it will definitely cost me more.

Finally the game I’ve had the longest is an early production TZ. I rebuilt the HV on the DMD board twice. I got fed up and installed a Pin2DMD board which I recently got from Ptolemy and I really like it! It suits the game in B&W and doesn’t stress the game boards. I run it (and other mods) off a separate 12v supply. I’m not selling that game, it’s too much fun to play.

Jurassic Park for me. It is in my top 10.