A really nice TOM the day after Christmas 2014. The owner couldn't have been nicer and had an amazing collection. I still have the game!

My first was my Diner. Back in 2007. Still have the game!

Best regards,

Tom

A 1971 Gottlieb "2001" project game in spring 2008. The first of many games purchased off of Craigslist (and elsewhere) in my re-entry into the hobby.

I still have it today, but will likely sell it once I complete an in-progress Gottlieb Dimension (AAB version of 2001) restoration.

Time Warp was my first and was lucky enough to have a great seller from a CL ad. No regrets and still own and play it.
-Mike

About 5 years back - bought an EM Mata Hari - nice folks, nice price, and easy pick up... ever since then I'm late to the party, or never hear back from sellers.

Almost 4 years ago...(wow that was quick)...RK...little beat up but plays 100% to this day...best $550 I ever spent...it was a true case of "my kids went off to college"...real nice guy............Joey

A great playing and well/loved TAF, only a year ago! I sold it to make room for a MB but I still miss "SHOWTIME!!"

The first CL machine I got was a Pinbot project, but it was free so it doesn't qualify.

My first CL purchase was a Fire two years ago. I was trying to add more games because my clubhouse was about to open, and running the state championship for the first time. Fire turned out to be a great deal -- not because the price was great, but because the seller is now a solid pinball friend.

Guns N Roses for $500 from a garage sale 10 years ago. The Craigslist ad just listed "pinball machine." I couldn't load the game into my truck fast enough. It just needed a good cleaning and some switches fixed and I had it playing 100%. Those days are long gone, but I don't miss that game.

terminator 2. got me addicted to pinball about 3 years ago

I first heard about CL from a guy here in town that I bought a Space Invaders pin from back in June 2007. So I kept checking it out and it was a GOLDMINE for buying pins back then. Cheap games were rolling in faster then I could grab them. My first were both bought on the same day which was January 1st, 2008. I bought a Batman Forever for $650 and a Roller games also for $650. Both games were working and in great shape. Man those were the good old days. Since then I've bought and sold hundreds of games on CL but I rarely look at it now I'm sad to say. It's just not like it used to be.

John

I purchased Striker Xtreme pinball. I paid 1400.00 and was very happy with my purchase. A week later I purchased a brand new 60-1 arcade for 600.00 from the same seller

Some pinball backglass title, but it has been so long ago I cannot remember which one. Craiglist has been around for over 20+ years. It was cheap, however $20-25, in excellent condition back in the mid '90s.

I do remember buying an Embryon that essentially was "new out of box" that had premature MPU failure after being routed for less than 3 months for $450. The operator put the game back in the shipping box. That was sometime in the early 2000s. Still had $$$ in the cashbox.

My first CL pin was in late 2011. Ended up buying a Count-Down and a Solar Ride both in need of some love for I think $350 for both. Seller ended up being Garry (Trident here on Pinside) -- became good buds with him and remember thinking how crazy it was that he had owned over 20 games at the time. One of the first pin people I got to know, crazy to think I met through a CL ad like that.

A $500.00 Space Shuttle that i ended up fully restoring.

$300 Grand Lizard in 2007.

Somehow a ball fell into the cabinet. Owner replaced with wrong size ball and therefore the trough couldn't recognize all balls. I think this made it non-functional. Guy moved out of their group house and the remaining roommate dumped the game onto CL.

Fixed it up, cleaned it up and sold it at York in 2010 for $650.

my first Craigslist purchase was about 3 years ago for a beautiful Creature from the black lagoon! I had been hunting for a nice one and luckily one popped up, bright green original hologram, no cabinet fade, nice play field and 100% working. Ended up driving a 7 hour round trip and on the way home the snow started coming down like crazy. Still have the game today!

My first was a Gold Wings for $400 3 years ago. Super nice guy that bought it back in the late 80s for his grand son to play when he was over. Could not have asked for a nicer transaction, he even helped me load it.

2010, Embryon - non working for $300
In nice shape. Use Clay's guide to troubleshoot & repair. Replaced bridge rectifier & put an acid damage repair kit on the -35 board. Also added a capacitor in place of battery. First pin, first boardwork of any kind-- still working fine & still my favorite pin.

First Craigslist pin transaction for me was about 5 years ago I think. 2 pins for $300 EDBLE and Stellar Wars. The location ended up being literally 1 block from where I was living at the time and the seller turned out to being A former co worker of mine who was downsizing a storage space from his TV repair business that he had closed. Did not know he collected pins all the while I worked with him. After chatting a bit he then says do you want a pole position for $50? Heck yea I do lol.
I told him where I lived and he said let me go get the delivery truck and ill load them up with the fork lift we have and drop them off for you.

About 8 years ago, I bought 3 vids from Craigslist (Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe and Jr. Pac Man). They had issues and with the help of PMWolf I was able to get all 3 running. Now granted, these were not pins, but they did start the flood of my collecting days.

I will say that my seller was top-notch for holding to his amazing price no matter how many others wanted to out-bid me. I now know that I got one of the few good sellers on CL and nowadays I would have lost the sale.

4 free-bees followed by me paying for a game.

Mouse nest infested Grand slam summer of 2k11- Free from a craigslist tag sale ad about 50 miles away from me. (I still remember the address)... Sold for 76 bucks on ebay to a guy who ended up becoming a GREAT pinball friend.

Klondike, Belle Star, zig zag the same day I sold the Grand slam - Picked up in the morning.

That afternoon I bought Counterforce for 175.

Mine was JP in 2012, second game ever owned. It was in great shape, I made it better. I enjoyed it a lot, saw everything I needed to see and now it's gone.

My first CL pickup was my Pinbot.
Answered the ad and the guy seemed OK. Ended up dealing with Joe (Mr. Laseriffic). Saw his laser setup and some products when the whole business was still in his garage. And I love my Pinbot.
Great guy to deal with and a very fair deal on the game. Really encouraged me to know that there are great pinball people around.
Thanks Joe!

It was also my first pinball machine, a Firepower for $100, back in 2013. It was a rusted mess but I learned a ton about fixing & cleaning. Firepower was my "gateway drug".

Space Mission... $400. Paid way too much

Mata Hari in 2012. No issues w/seller or machine.

My very first game, a TAF for 3500 bucks. I over paid from a dbag in Iowa. Picked up up on the way back from CO as it was on the way home. I knew something was up when there were a few small issues when I was at his house, but I was a noob and he knew it. I was excited and figured what the hell, I would find someone to fix it once I got it home. Ended up hiring a tech when I got home and he was worthless, charged me $150 and did not fix crap.

Probably the best thing that happened to me. I realized if I was going to own a pin then I needed to learn how to work on them. I now like working on them more than pretty much anything.

Thanks craigslist and BDag form Iowa that took advantage of noob me!

Close encounters.. I still have it and played often...

IMG_20160723_230518 (resized).jpg

Comet, $400, back in the early 2000's. Around 2002 I think, when CL was still in its infancy in my area.

2015 in my hard CL hustling days - basically searching every 30 minutes killing time at work. A pretty nice JD in Madison. DMD looked messed up and the game was pretty dirty but looked legit! Dude hand built motorcycles and bought it for the theme and to have a fun toy. It worked 100% and paid $1600. His phone was ringing off the hook but he was kind and honored my first contact.

Fixed the DMD board with a rebuild kit. A year later I saw him at a bar in Madison and said hi to him. He didn't remember me at first but I saw it click in his eyes and it was great!

My first and only...
a BBB from two bit pinball.
12500 dollar back in 2008.
The dollar was cheap...the price was 8000 euros.

Bally 'Amigo' about 7 years ago. Still goin strong!

In 2004 I went to see a local Laser War advertised as working for $800. When I arrived the owner disclosed it has not been played in years. We could not get it working so I left with it for $400. After some easy repairs we played the crap out of it for about 9 years. Sold it for $1300.
It was my first pin and a great buy.

In July 2011 I picked up a STTNG for $1490, it lasted on craigslist for almost 24 hours back then

A project Stars for $150 in 2015. It was on CL for awhile and after watching Bowen's tutorial I decided I had to have it. I didn't have a vehicle to haul it so I took a road trip with my parents to Fort Wayne. I remember being really excited when I brought it home.

Stern Monopoly bought in 2011 that was barely used in a bar that closed and had been sitting in a garage for several years. Paid 1400 sold for 2750 and had it several months but hated the stop and go game play so sold it.

You were the one that bought that Star Trek? I was so annoyed because I offered her $1,300 and she wouldn't take it. It was my Grail game at the time it was less than 5 miles from my house. I was thinking about that game the other day we all think about the games that get away LOL

I picked up a thrashed Genie for $300. My first machine. Bit off way more than I could chew. It took me over a year to restore. I bought a Genesis off of CL for $250. A Waterworld for $1000. Come to think of it every machine except STTNG was off of CL.

Bally Hokus Pokus from CL in Michigan. Brought it to Pinball Expo. Shopped it. Put it into Classic tourney and then sold it to PAPA.

Future Spa. It was in great shape. Perfect BG. Decent PF. Needed board work of course.

My first game was Taxi. Found it on Craigslist about 1.5 hours from me. The ad was posted in the middle of the day and I was unfortunately stuck at work. Luckily my dad (the man who got me into the hobby) is in sales and works from home, and is able to get away for an afternoon from time to time. I told him about the ad and he immediately contacted the seller and drove to get it for me. That night I drove home and repaid him as soon as I walked in the door.

But maybe that doesn't count, since I wasn't really there in person to pick it up. If we're talking about getting a game yourself from start to finish, I think Al's Garage Band was my "first". Again, saw the ad posted about 1.5 hours from me, contacted the guy, went and picked it up the next day.

The Taxi was in ok shape, flaking paint on the cabinet, wear around the pop bumpers, but it's an awesome game. Al's Garage Band only needed a few things to fine tune but was otherwise working.

Not sure if I remember right Chad, but are you in Salt Lake? I'm either never fast enough or just haven't seen sh!tall on salt lake's craigslist for years.

LOL no, believe it or not it wasn't the same one. I swear! This one was in Waterveliet, NY. And it was a kinda weird non-sober older man that was selling it.

My best story was a garage sale ad in rural St. Louis. It mentioned some random crap and a pinball. Figured it was a junker of an EM but worth a shot. The woman who had the pinball was a friend of the poster. Got in touch with her and she had a T3, ES, and STTNG!!!

I get there, beautiful huge new house in the middle of nowhere. Chick got divorced and had to move out of the house, T3 and ES had to go. They were all hers! She loved STTNG and was keeping it!

I only had enough money for ES. Translite peeling, TONS of ball swirl and filthy but it worked 100%! Some moderate flirting and I think I got it for like $550? Best part is she had a walkout basement so I pulled my truck down and loaded it all by myself!

She aired some laundry and said they used to have a TAF that she loved, got in a fight with ex-husband and he took an axe to it

I did a major overhaul on it, cleared the playfield and it looked incredible!

$300.00 Blackout, sorta worked

Five years ago, a TZ for $3400, about two blocks from where I work. Had to wait for someone to flake on showing up to buy it(I think it was a fellow Pinsider, too ), but the guy was a standup seller and held it for me over the weekend(after I gave him a deposit, of course) until the banks opened so I could get the rest of the cash to him. He had a TOM for the same price, but I wasn't as interested in it at the time. I was so jazzed to be getting a TZ, I didn't think to make an offer for both. The TOM was in amazing shape, too! Oh, well.

My TZ ended up needing a bit of work, more than I was prepared for and stranger than most had ever seen. But with the help of Pinside and its great detectives, she's been solid for years now. It was my first pin purchase of any kind. A great experience, a great deal, and I still have it to this day.