There are going to be hundreds of different answers to this question, none of which will probably help you. The question you need to ask yourself is, "What kind of games do I like?", and start narrowing down your choices from there.

Tamoore is correct. Wrong question. But since you asked.
It was a Bally Nip-It. It was free as it was a Christmas gift back in the late 70's.

It was Who Dunnit? I got it at the local arcade auction in 2006 I believe. I paid $1,300 before fees, about $1,500 after fees.

Gottlieb's Jumping Jack, it was free from my cousin-in-law. The addiction continued from there LOL

I would say, if you were ready to buy your first pin and had a $3000 budget, you wouldn't need to ask this question. I say, take your time. Play as many as you can in the wild, find out what you like. Get the pinball arcade for your Ipad or PS3 and play a bunch of tables. Then once you have your search narrowed down to a few pins, do research on prices and wait for a good deal.

But to answer your question. It was a 1970 Dipsy Doodle in July of this year for $100.

I was in a completely different budget category than you are when I bought my first pin about 7 years ago. My first was a Space Invaders that I bought for $600. It took about 4 years before I spent $3000 or more on a game for the first time. You have a ridiculous number of choices in your price range.

Wms Indiana Jones...

However, like tamoore said, that probably doesn't help you out in this case.

If I was looking for my first pin today, and I had about $3k...I'd be looking at a DMD machine with a lot of cool stuff on it...and a theme that I liked.

First was BOP.

My first was The Getaway. Its a good first pin. Easy to work on and not problematic and easy to understand the rules. Also has staying power.

Bally Strikes and Spares. Liked it a lot, but I'm a DMD era guy so it was not a keeper. Happy now with my MB, LOTR, AC/DC and soon MMR (would buy more, but have too much respect for wife's opinion to do that).

+1 for the above, buy what you like not what others bought

Twilight Zone from Kevin at Classic Pinball in NJ. was around 2001 and I probably paid around $3,000 but not completely sure. I think I have the receipt somewhere so I will take a look later when I get home.

I had a budget under $1000 and was hoping for a Space Shuttle. Ended up finding a very sweet player's condition High Speed (thanks DJ!) and in retrospect it was the best possible first pin for me, as it is still one of my favs and I am not as in love with Space Shuttle any more.

My tastes have definitely changed over time (as I learn/research/play more), so I would also look for a pin that is popular enough that you can sell/trade it if your tastes change as you learn more.

I simply bought the first cheap solid state machine I could find that was in decent cosmetic condition for under $300. It was a relatively small investment for something I wasn't sure I could repair or enjoy repairing, so if I didn't like it or couldn't get it working, I wouldn't be out very much. Also, since I was looking for cheap, it wasn't a DMD--it seems to be hard to get a DMD for less than $1000. But, my purchase seems to have worked out so far since I'm in the process of repairing that machine, plus a second one, and am on the hunt for more (though preferably something in working order this time, since I already have two machines in various states of disassembly/assembly).

Mine was Royal Flush Deluxe which was followed quickly by T2.
T2 is sold and RFD remains.

My advice. Play a bunch of different pins. Find one that you love playing and that has enough things to do that you won't get bored with it in 6 months. Start searching for it. Buy it.
Your budget is plenty to get you started. Be patient. <--- Can't stress that enough even though it's hard.

Best of luck! Cheers!

DE Star Wars 1500.

Guns N Roses baby!

SST by Sega. Great 1st pin, easy rules (kill all the bugs), lots of fun & most Sega pins are very dependable. Good luck in your search.

Getting to the hart of the matter. Have you played a bunch of pins? If so which ones were you drawn too?

Let's say your budget ends up right in the middle - 2k.

There is a HUGE selection of really great pins in the 2k ballpark.

WCS94, HSII, JD, JM, JP, DM, BOP, T2, DrWho and many others.

Personally if you can find a nice one for 2k it's hard to beat HSII. It's also the highest rated of the above pins but that might not apply to you at all.

Pinbot. Picked it up in a trade and now I'm addicted. All others have come and gone but that Pinbot still remains.

in 2001
a Terminator2
500 euros ($640)

Mine was a 1978 Bally Playboy cause that's what I liked playing when it was new. I paid too much but at least it got my foot in the pinball door. Buy what YOU like playing (and can afford). Good luck

road kings. And it will be the last to leave. LOVE that game. Takes me back to being young. Buy what you love and you will never go wrong.

Whirlwind. Still an awesome pin.

WoZ, and I just got it last week!

Judge Dredd for me. Cool pin, decent price (2,200), win-win. Then a restored Johnny Mnemonic (2,700), then Baywatch (1400). All within the last 2 years

My first pin was Six Million Dollar Man back in 1997, I think.

It belonged to my brother's wife. Her brother ran a route years ago, but held on to that pin and a Hollywood Heat. He gave the non-working Six Million Dollar Man to her. She and my brother didn't know what to do with it, and didn't have room to keep it at their house.

I did a ton of reading on rec.games.pinball, and got it to work. I kept it at my place, and added a few pins over the years. Now they have it back, since they now have a small rec room.

If you are looking for your first pin, and have a $1000 - $1500 budget, I would be looking at System 11 games like High Speed, F14, Taxi or something along those lines. Earlier Bally games are fun, and can also be found at that price. T2, Fish Tales, or High Speed II would be great choices in the $1500 - $2000 range.

CV in 1998, $2400 USD

A POS Comet. I like the pin but this one had some issues so I traded it towards another pin. JD is an excellent first pin. No Pop bumpers but it's a fun widebody.

Xenon, $850 about 2 years ago.

EBD. Still miss the sh!t out of it.

Sega Baywatch $450
Williams no good gofers $1500
Went to get the Ngg and wound up getting both it was hard to pass up any dmd pin for $450
This was back in 2011

My first pinball game was a Judge Dredd with a gacked Deadworld and DMD flicker for $500.- This was 2001/2002 I believe. A great first game and when I play it now... I still go for the Safecracker - Turkey code!

Get the game you want and enjoy the ride!

WCS. I just parted with it after 10 years... Love that pin.

Hurricane about three years ago for $900 on craigslist. Seller didn't even know how to open the thing up, I came (semi) prepared and showed him how.

Stargate for $1,200.

Paragon, got lucky and found one locally. The first pinball machine I remember playing as a child when my Dad took me to the arcade...

Freddy, I overpaid. But learned a good lesson in patience when looking for games.

Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball, per my daughter's request.

Stargazer $100 in 1992.

EATPM about 10 years ago and I still have her. I liked her so much I bought her little sister to keep her company.

Me too..!!!.....great game...RK-$600....followed quickly by a T2 few weeks later...$1750....neither are ever going anywhere......!!!.............Joey

I got a T2 two weeks ago. Had been saving for 6 months checking local buy and sell ads like a mad man! Got a non working machine for a decent price (1500 Canadian) and have almost got it going...
Consider what condition you want your machine in. This changes what you can afford! I could have got a really nice alphanumeric game, or a dot matrix Williams that needed work. I chose the latter for my own nostalgic reasons!

All the best, good luck!

Wh20

Twilight Zone in 1997 for $900. Still have it and still my favorite.

Hook