That's your problem, anything easily available, underpriced, and salvagable is going to be snapped up quickly by the people who are doing it for a living (or just diligent collectors). You can try checking the Allentown show circa a decade ago, I hear that's a good spot for cheap projects.

It helps to be in a hobby for a longer period of time. Below are photos of a FH which I took today. It is buried under avalanche of other stuff (golf equipment, bowling balls/pins, carpets ...). It belongs to a location which I occasionally do repairs for. They also have Zaccaria Moon Flight, Space Invaders, Taxi (buried next to FH) and Skateball. They do not want to sell the games for a reasonable price, but by doing service on their Scared Stiff and Congo plus other arcade equipment (10 hours plus about $30 in parts) I am entitled to choose any of the mentioned machines. They also want to trade any of those machines for a 80s wall bagatelle game which I ve got for free a while back. Too bad that I am totally full .

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in that case, how much you want for your free bagatelle????

It is not for sale and because of lack of space not for trade at the moment .

I have some machines in my garage if you'd like.

i have a Mr & Mrs pacman pin that's cheap and needs fixing up.
PM me here...

I have seen a lot of great stuff that isn't buried. Just be patient and get out there and meet people who are in the hobby in your area. You will find that there is more available out there than your originally thought.

Like others have said, patience, look in the right spots, and network. I was on my last project, and started 'beating the bushes'. In less than 3 months a half dozen games have surfaced that I was interested in and are now in my repair cue. No, it's not like it was 10 or 20 years ago. But, games are still there. You just have to look a little harder and act a little quicker.

Every pin I have bought has been a project for the most part but will agree ive seen quite a decline in the last 4 months for projects which sticks bc im poor lol

When I meet someone who is new to the hobby that's looking to tinker, as long as they're nice, I'll just give them a game. If they're aggro and impatient seeming, at all, then no dice.

I've managed to find four project games in the last 3 months without trying that hard.

I just don't really care about finding A-list titles. I find that helps.

20 years ago it was much,much easier.With the dawn of the interwebz if you are fairly lazy like myself opportunities are missed on a regular basis.But,it's only pinball.

Keep an eye on Craigslist for games fully working.

Those will be your fixer uppers.

LTG : )™

Yep, I'm in pretty much the same boat--I'll grab anything that looks restorable. I like bringing machines back from the dead. I picked up a few project machines since the weather warmed up, and I've seen a handful of others that I either missed or passed on. I'm guessing folks are going into spring cleaning mode.

If I want to pick up any more, though, I may have to get rid of a couple to make room for "better" finds. I never thought I would have that problem.

However, I haven't yet come across a DMD project. Most of what seems to pop out of the woodwork are 70s-80s pins. It makes sense though--there were thousands more of those produced than many of the DMD titles (aside from TAF, of course).

Location helps too--if you're in one of the pinball hotspots, there's all sorts of hidden treasures waiting to be found. I would imagine being close to Chicago would be a hot spot of sorts.

I'm in a pinball dead-zone unfortunately, so I usually have to end up driving a few hours each way to get anything.

Anybody know where the coinop warehouse finds their stuff? Seems like they find truckloads of pins just about every week...

A buddy has a store in town. I left an extra pin there to play with and for bait. I've turned down a couple of crazy offers that most likely would have produced remorseful buyers. A while back someone saw it and said they had a pinball too - Bailey something - only it didn't work and they wanted to get rid of it.... Bait worked.

Since you are only looking for 4 specific games, that can take time. The ones you are looking for pop up regularly though. Just be patient and enjoy what u have. Also consider broadening your horizons with other games. That will open up your options significantly.

You're looking for games that fetch a nice premium. That's got a lot to do with it.

You can find several of them in my gameroom!

The way I got started is buying anything with flippers and a ball...there's 10000 pinball machines out there...don't limit yourself to 4. You're only following the herd at that point...the biggest successes historically in most any endeavor is be a contrarian. Do what others arent.

I think you've got two things to look at...
The first is where you're looking. If you look on Pinside you just likely won't find projects, and probably not at a steal.

Your best bet is to hunt craigslist and the tops is word of mouth. Mention to your friends you like to work on machines. Word gets around and will eventually get back to you that so and so knows someone with a pinball machine that's been buried in the basement for years...

And it takes time. There is no hard and fast timetable that says if you're looking you find one good deal every 3 months. Last year I found someone with 5 machines, all of which needed work, and I got a fantastic deal. This year it's been pretty sparse.

You need to have patience and be reasonable with what you term as a project. The "dusty TAF in the corner of a bar that just needs rubbers" does exist, but it's pretty few and far between. The planked, rusty, hacked up Whitewater that needs everything restored, repaired, or replaced...they are out there too. But you gotta be creative looking and more times than not, you need to be ready with cash and truck!

Italy. There are containers of projects over there.

You gotta start somewhere. The easiest one to find on your list right now is going to be Fish Tales. It will probably be the cheapest as well. What are you looking to spend on a Fish Tales? It may sound strange but for anyone to take you seriously, you have to throw out a "willing to pay" price. You should be able to find a working one for 1800-2200. A couple sold recently on eBay for around those 2 prices. If you are looking for a broken one on CL for 1200, you are going to be looking for a while...

Here's one on Pinside but it may be more than your "non working" price that you are willing to pay:
https://pinside.com/pinball/market/ad/19369

You've got a couple things going in your favor. It's summertime and pins sell a little cheaper over the summer. Also, Kiss was just announced and that helps persuade people to sell games like FT, to possibly help fund a Kiss.

Don't limit yourself to the internet. The web may be the easiest place to find a specific title, but it is ALSO typically the most expensive. You will have to catch someone with an unrestored FT who is willing to sell it in as-is condition. Not impossible if you ask around at shows, in leagues, people that route pins still, and in pinball forum circles. Here's another hint: the best deals I ever got on pins were NOT on the internet and bought from folks that don't play or collect pins.

Networking offline or CL if you happen to spot the ad 5 minutes after it is posted and the seller actually responds. Anything found online is not going to be cheap most likely, even projects. You're competing with everyone else.

Ask your friends. You'd be surprised how often I find out people or their friends have a pin sitting in their basement. I've picked up two this way.

I have purchased two pins off CL, and the rest (I have 5, and 2 more are in the works), came from off the internet deals through people (friends and family) that know I collect.

The other thing to consider is trading up. Buy those D-list junkers, get them working and clean, and sell it as a working machine for a modest profit. Five or six of those and the next thing you know you can afford a DMD game.

Takes time and patience though.

The games will find you... Craigslist is a big waste of time.

I've found the exact opposite is true at least for me. I have found almost all of my games there. A few were killer deals too. It just takes patience and some digging.

Like the Gecko said it's word of mouth. I was picking up some paint in home depot for my Skateball. The guy at the counter commented on the colors and I told him I was repainting a pinball machine. His eyes got wide and he told me of 2 pins he has in his basement that he wants to sell but didn't know how to. While I'm giving him websites to go to to check the value of his pins the customer behind me was going to lose it. My wife had to pull me away to let the guy go back to work.

Time to close the deal...

I would've given the guy my number and asked him to call me if he was interested in getting rid of them. I never have something like that fall into my lap.

I would have gone beyond that and asked him when he got off work that I'd be happy to come look at them and evaluate them for him. Then for the next 6 hours I would have visions of a MM and BBB sitting in his basement waiting to be discovered...Of course only to find an Alive! and zizzle POTC

But networking is the best way...and among non-pinheads. Tell your neighbors, friends, the guy pumping gas next to you, the taco bell counter girl or anybody else that will listen that you buy pinball machines.

Go big, or go home, lol