A vote for WPT here. Lyman, Keith and Ritchie.

I got a routed but very good condition RBION for $2600 a few weeks ago.

Great value for the price! Everyone really likes it.

Googly eyes optional. My son was a little creeped out by the white eye sockets.

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I don't believe it!

RBION is a good choice for sure.
It will be interesting to see how long it may take for a later Stern "Pro" title to hit the 3k range.

Believe it......or not!!

RBION is not gonna be HUO for 3k, so that makes half the responses invalid, now without that what are we looking at?

I have not seen Monopoly, Austin Powers, or NFL mentioned, and those all list in the $3,000 range.

Took me a while to sell my huo rbion with lots of nice upgrades for 3k.... had it listed for 3250 and no interest so i dropped it to 3k and had 2 people interested. I paid 2700 for it but shopped it out and added lots stuff but it wasn't that fun and the theme is just ok. Had a friend with a huo with some really nice expensive mods like new upgraded temple and backbox light board and bunch other stuff and it took a long time to get 3500 for it... id say nice rbion are 3-3500 these days.

I sold a really nice, non doc HUO, RBION for $3,600 rather quickly several months back

Agreed, that's why I voted T3. I owned a HUO RBION and it sure as shit wasn't $3K.

In the "really lucky / dream" world, if you can find either a RBION or Sopranos, grab one, grab both at $3000. WPT and Monopoly are more realistically priced in that range

RBION is not a very attractive game (google eyes help lol) but a fun game. I have not played WPT but of the other games I have played, RBION feels like a more solid, well rounded game.

Yeah the HUO part of the question by Rai really limits choices of pins. So WPT or NASCAR for me. Heck I will pick NASCAR!

I've been enjoying my WPT, it's in HUO shape. Very underrated machine IMO that seems to be getting a bit of a cult following.

Even if a HUO RBION is a $3500.00 pin, it is clearly worth the additional money vs the other pins that are being listed in this thread IMO.

WPT over nascar imho. I've owned both. I'd love to find a sopranos for $3k

True, but there is no other good answer to the original question. At $3k, you're not likely to get a good Stern in HUO condition.

Sold a HUO not too far back for $2500 if I remember correctly?

I'd buy most Stern games for $3K if they were HUO.

Funny but all the Sterns that are 3k are not worth it to me. For 3k, I would take pretty much any of the B/W classic 90s decks over the crappier Sterns.

It's less than 3K, but I've always liked T3.

Generally I'd agree with this as most of the cheaper Stern games (AP, HD, Nascar, Striker, Monopoly, RCT, etc.) don't hold a candle to most WPC games in their price range. I think the exception to the rule are the 2 Keefer games though (WPT and WOF). The primary advantage of many Stern games today over WPC is rule-sets. What Keefer and Lyman are doing now is far and above anything that was done in the 90's. There aren't any $2k-$3K WPC games that have a rule-set that's advanced or as deep as WPT. Same goes for WOF even though that code was never completed.-what's there though is great and still deeper than pretty much every 90's game. What these games lack in theme and artwork they make up for in rule-set.

Rule-set is excellent on WPT as is the unique layout. Love the drops and long shots! Flows well and has a different feel than any other game I've played. Downside of course is the art and theme. It's hard to get excited over a Card game based theme but the game has a lot of bang for the buck and is priced accordingly. I think the price will likely always stay in the $2k-$3K range because once you get over $3K you are close enough to the $4K mark where you can buy other deep Stern games with better themes and art.

I think I need an invite to come over and get a better lesson on both WPT and WoF.

Anytime man! Got the gameroom re-carpeted/painted and games are all setup and ready to go now. With the way I have WOF setup it's tough to make it very far into the rules. I actually hit a 4X Super jackpot in WOF the other night worth 10 million which was really Satisfying. The rules on WPT remind me a bit of LOTR. Quite a bit of stacking potential, multiple mini wizard modes, and you also have a 3X shot multipliers in the in-lanes similar to what is done in TWD.

The rules on wpt are what make it. The rules are definitely in the neighborhood of lotr and tspp. If you can appreciate and enjoy rules and strategy (which is what I tend to prefer) then it's a great game. If that's not your thing then it's pretty terrible. It lacks in fun and excitement in music, callouts, general theme and play. It's not really a game anyone could enjoy after just a couple games. It's a game you need to "get" after playing it a lot and building a game plan before it becomes great.

I agree. I actually liked my csi till it would not clear ball jams at the ball lock shot....drove me nuts had to sell it.

Local arcade had that issue, skull kept going up and down constantly too. Knock on wood, no issues yet.

WOF doesn't go for $3000 and under HUO...

I'd go the opposite way personally between wpt and nascar.

"......it seems to have a lot going on for reasonable price"

Yes it does

You don't have to like the theme to get into this pin imo. It's a different layout by Ritchie, deep, with difficult shots and drop heaven. A fun pin for the $$$. Very underrated by most because of the art and the theme.

For my money, I'd go with HRC, NASCAR, or something from the 80s like Stars, Galaxy, or Nine Ball.

No

WPT and a RBION at a bargain price with Monopoly in 3rd (though I don't know many people besides me that likes Monopoly a lot)

sure it does.

regionally there was one for 2800 and another for 2700 in the past 3 months.

Can't get Ripleys or Sopranos for $3k HUO. My Ripleys was $3200 or $3300 I think, can't remember...but the guy who sold it to me could have got more for it easily. I am lucky to know him. Show me a $3k HUO Sopranos and I'll buy it so fast you wouldn't know what happened. I'm looking for a nice one actually. It's pretty tough to find one.

Best sub $3k Stern is WPT.

Sold my Elvis for 3K a little over a year ago.
Not HUO but was extremely nice.
Under rated pin. Hated to see it go, but I have a large collection and space is tight.

I got a HUO Sopranos and Monopoly with about 250 plays each FS for 4k and 3k if anyone is inrerested (seriously)

Good luck! Haha.

It's a very dense ruleset imo. Fun thing about this game 's the multiple strategies you can use to rack up points

The depth of WPT is comparable to LOTR but requires even more strategy. Here is a decent summary of the rules.
http://www.pinballnews.com/games/worldpokertour/index7.html

I've had mine for about 2 months and it's pretty much all I've played. I'll try.

Key thing is to advance through the 6 cities. You do this by completing poker hands (Advance Hold Em'). This is done via making a skill shot, the right ramp, or the left VUK. Completing all the cities gets you to the WPT World Championship, the wizard mode.

There are also 6 modes, modes are lit after completing a poker hand. Completing all modes gets Poker Wizard, a mini wizard mode.

4 different multiballs in the game as well. Then there's the Keefer Invitational, the extreme wizard mode.

All sorts of strategies to stack/prioritize/etc. Lots of long, challenging shots. Nice color DMD available for it.

The only drawback IMO is the art package. It took me a long time to find one and prices steadily went up as I was looking. They used to be pretty easy to find under 2K. Now they are getting scarce under 3K.

whats that you are saying?

ebay.com link: Stern Huo Wheel Of Fortune Pinball Machine

yup and that seller ended up with

Stern pins in the 3k range are all good but not great. That's what keeps them in the 3k range.

I have a very nice example of WPT for sale willing to ship.

Looking at your collection, I would go with WoF. It is going to be in the same range as IM with ball times if setup properly. It will teach you to nudge and also teach you dead flipper pass, whether you want to learn those things or not. With the unique outlanes and wide flippers, it is going to play completely different than anything else you have. The rules are super deep, but wont matter on WoF, because you will never get through all of them.

WPT is great, but since you have TSPP, it is going to feel very similar, but with far less inspiration.

RBION is a great game, but you sort of have to be in the mood to play it, unless the theme really grabs you. It is super easy to have long games on it (thus my- have to be in the mood for it), as there aren't a lot of shots that punish you for missing them.

A true HUO WoF will most likely be around the 3200-3400 mark, but with patience you should be able to find a nice one in your price range.

I think the best way to describe WoF is that it is like a modern day EM on steroids.