What pins are you looking at? Whats your budget? Pretty wide range on this question. If you asked me what muscle car I would buy it would be a boss 9. But my budget only puts me the mustang II range.

Tspp there are a couple in the market place and I bought that as my first pin and loved it so much so that I purchased it a second time. Very deep and fun game

It all depends on how much money you want to spend. Pin prices range from $500-$10000+ Your first pin should definitely be a theme your enjoy

LOTR or Metallica

Boss 9= dialed in le
mustang II= medusa

Id buy a game in the $1000-1500 range first to make sure you actually like owning, playing and fixing your own pinball machine.

If you're not loving it everyday, maybe get one of those cars you mentioned instead.

My choice would be AFMr LE. It's expensive but super fun.

Buy where you see value. Most of the machines I think are under priced tend to be in the sub-$1000 range or $2500 to $3000 range. If I were buying now, I'd be looking at something from the early 80s or World Cup Soccer. I also think I own some of the better bang for your buck games.

My first pin was a TZ and I don't regret it one bit. Sure TZ has a lot of things that can break, but so does almost every other pin out there.

Get something that you really like and then play it a bunch and fix it when it breaks. There are a lot of excellent technical resources on Pinside that can walk you through almost any repair and if the repair is above your abilities it is likely that you have a Pinsider nearby that would be willing to assist.

Gord

My first was in 1998 at a Super Auctions. Whirlwind.

Bang for the buck and learn to work on them yourself is the best option. THat way you can buy broken, fix and flip for profit and buy more!

I money is no object, I would get something new. One of the new Stern's like Iron Maiden, GOTG, SW; or maybe even a TNA or AFMr.

I'd go with the game/games that turned you on to pinball in the first place. Assuming that those particular games are within budget. So for me it would be Gorgar, or a Black Knight 2000.

Unfortunately, I never did buy either one of those titles. When I first starting collecting pins about 13 years ago, I couldn't find either one of those games in either reasonable condition, or close enough to go take a look personally. So that could also be a limitIng factor as well. All these years later, Id still love to get my hands on a BK2K. So if the budget allows for it, I say go for it!!

If you have the money buy a new machine. You can get demo pricing at some shows and this will get the machine dialed in and you have a warranty.Iron Maiden looks like it will keep you busy for a while.

My first pin was one that I was amazed with in my early teens.
The game was Gorgar. It’s been in my collection for 18 years now.

This is *so* subjective.. the best advice I have is to *play*.
https://www.pinballmap.com/massachusetts

Best thing is to get out and play pins. Find out what pins float your boat. Older pins can be cheap but more simple gameplay. Cheap often means needs work as well. Newer games have more advanced featutes but expensive. However, maintenance is minimal on new games. Big thing is finding a pin you really enjoy playing over and over. It may be worth it to spend a little extra to get something really enjoy.

Honestly can’t say without a either a price point or a historical time interest. Love Met, afm, bsd, f2k, space mission. Each has its merits and each could be a first choice depending on era.

Whitewater was my first pin and I still love it. Prices have gone up for a nice one. But a good pin.

My first pin: High Speed!

The game that saved pinball!

Gratifying gameplay, awesome lights and music, and simple but not the easiest. Lots of them out there and you won't blow your budget. Then save for the next pin!

This might be too obvious, but in a lot of areas you kind of have to just start with a budget and see what turns up in your area. Set a budget and look for a machine that's price fairly.

My first was a Stern Meteor. Great cheap game. Don't go overboard for your first pin. Try a Bally or Stern early solid state or a system 11. Do some research and don't forget to play!

Cheap and cheerful. An old Bally SS machine. You learn so much from your first game, and having it be something that isn't an expensive undertaking is best. Then if you love it, move up. And if not, no big deal.

Star trek Pro is a great first pin.

If your pockets are a little deeper, go with a MMR or AFMR or MBR

I also lurked around here for a long time while I was getting my money together to buy my first game. During that time I was out playing every game I could to figure out what I wanted to commit to. My goal was a NIB Metallica pro but I ended up getting a metallica premium with 150 plays on it for almost the same price as the NIB pro. As a first time owner I knew I was better off going new or almost new so I had time to start learning about the maintenance end of having a pin at home.

Now I’m ready to start scraping cash together to get the next one but still down to buy NIB for the general ease of not dealing with a testy older game . I’m looking at Iron Maiden but my wife has her heart set on Houdini after playing it at this years MGC.

Try the Pinball Arcade app, which is Free to play format.
The physics are not that great, but you can see the game styles, learn rule sets, get a taste for themes which suit you.
Then definitely move to on something real.

Maiden is good. I really like it but I don’t know if I’d swap my Metallica for one.

Iron Maiden Premium is my first pin purchase ever.

100% agree with this post above. DO NOT spend a lot on your first machine. I bought my first pin last year which was NBA Fastbreak. I knew NOTHING about the hobby or how to fix anything. When the seller showed me the miles of wires under the playfield I said to myself, "Why the hell am I buying this? What if it breaks?!?!" It can be very intimidating when looking at the guts of these machines. With that said, fast forward to today and now I know how to rebuild flippers, solder wiring, replace fuses, etc., etc., etc. Oh and I purchased three more machines since then.

Here would be my advice to you:

1. Spend what you can afford. You can get some good machines for around $2000. As the poster above said, if you end up not liking it, you're not out of a lot of money.

2. Buy a theme that you like. I loved the NBA in the 90's and this theme was perfect for me. And before you buy, play quite a few games on the machine before you make the actual purchase.

3. After you purchase your pin, use Pinside to ask any questions you may have. This site was a savior for me and there are a lot of great people on here willing to share sound advice.

4. Have fun! It was an exciting and memorable day when I brought that machine home.

Good luck with your purchase!

My first machines were the ones I grew up playing at the bowling alley in High School, I got them to rekindle my childhood memories-Wh20, and STTNG.

If I did not have any nostalgic memories of those as a kid I may have started with a Spiderman, or Metallica for my first pin.

You can also get this on a Playstation 3 if you have one. Much nicer playing this app. on a big screen T.V than on your phone.

My first nib pin was Metallica but was not my first pin. It really depends on your budget and what you want out of pinball. I love playing pinball and the first pin I had was a bit of a project and ended up working on it quite a bit. My advice is to ask yourself if I want to play more or work on my pin more. If you want to work on one to pass time that’s cool but like I said I’d rather play, but even if you buy nib you still have upkeep but nothing more then cleaning most of the time. Metallica is still in my line up.

Who still plays PS3?? Lol

1st pin? I always like to start with "bang for your buck" no matter what hobby I'm getting into...and then ramp up from there if I love it.

In pinball my first was a $500 F-14 Tomcat. Later I picked up a Getaway (HSII) and WCS94...both great games and were going for under 2k when I got them.

Now I have the pins I liked the most...and one complete gamble that I got really lucky to even get.

Some good suggestions here.

I would add to start with a game that works. It's way too easy to let a basket case sit in the corner, assuming that "someday" you'll get to it.

When you've got something that works, two things happen:

1) You and your family/roommates/cohabitor(s)/whatever will get used to the reallity of a pin in the house. This is a big deal. If the novelty wears off after a few weeks, you can sell it and move on. Otherwise, you've gotten everyone else invested in the concept, or at least understanding it.

2) When (not if) something stops working, you're not wandering in the dark. In my experience, it's a whole lot easier to learn a little bit at a time, and solve problems as they come up, rather than making an educated guess as to what needs to be done, and which tasks to do in what order. That can be pretty intimidating when you're looking at one or more plywood boxes full of weird parts. You may not even have all the pieces you need, and how would you even know?

I think I lucked into doing it just right: I got a smoking deal on an EM with a theme I really like, and took it to a local repair guy who did a great job of getting it working. Over the next couple of years, I learned all kinds of things about coils, switches, relays, fuse holders, etc. I didn't have to do it all at once before I even got to figure out if a pin was truly going to fit into my life. If I had it to do over again, I'd do it just like I did.