My late Mum bought me my first game when I was 13 in 1978 for getting good grades in school.

That was a mint non running Buckaroo for $30

Still in the hobby and probably had at least 500 games go through the collection in that time.

Yep...except I played at a local pizza joint....loved that freakin game!!

Mine was Road Kings. I wanted a pinball machine but never researched any. I found a road kings in 2018ish for $800 and the rest is history

Well,I was given my Stern"Galaxy" in 2011 for my retirement! Played it for about 6 Months,and bought a "Diner",and so forth and so on

I remember 3 games when I was a kid in the early 90s. Whirlwind at Chuck E. Cheese, Addams and Slug Fest at the bowling alley. I reconnected w pinball around 2007-09 where I bought a fully working Super Mario Bros at an auction for $625.

Rode my bike to the Pensupreme mini market in the early 80s to play Gorgar. I just remember hearing the game talk. It seemed amazing at the time. A couple years after I played high speed in the local bowling alley. I knew then I would own a HS. I picked up a HS in 2002. I still have a HS in my collection.

Mike

Bought my Paragon in 1985-6 for $300-350. I can't quite remember the details now but I remember the joy of opening that freight elevator door and seeing all the glory that is Paragon!! I knew right then and there I had to own that pin. Decades later and she's still kicking my ass. I used to turn that fucker over 5 times when I was 18,(with liberal settings of course.) Now I'm lucky if I turn it over.

Just about any pinball I could find as a kid. Most were System 11's. But, F-14 stood out amongst the pack. Later on in my teen years.. Addams changed everything!! I couldn't play it enough in any arcade or bowling alley I could find.

As far back as I can remember... I just loved everything pinball. I was amazed by it.

It turned into a great career as an adult. Best of all... a fantastic hobby (even though my back and wallet would disagree).

I remember pumping a lot of quarters in-between Attack From Mars and Crusin’ USA at our local bowling alley. I had no idea how to play AFM, I just assumed we needed to destroy the mothership for each country listed. The first experience of destroying the mothership was very satisfying.

The 90’s were great.

What bowling alley??

Twilight Zone for me

Game of thrones

The bowling alley was in the basement of Apache Plaza in St. Anthony.

Original name was Bowl-O-Mat, then changed to Fair Lanes I believe.

My neighbors in Hawaii bought a Mata Hari. I was over there non stop so my parents bought me a meteor for Christmas shortly afterwards in 1982. I "blame" those two!

Bride of Pinbot and Funhouse. Played them @Putt Putt golf and games.

I don't know if I could stick it to one single pin but the one I always remembered was Medieval Madness.

Bride of Pinbot.

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Road Show. I went to buy a video game off of craigslist but all the seller wanted to talk about was his Road Show restoration, and my daughter loved playing it. Fast forward a few months and I found a Road Show so I figured "well, if I'm going to get a pinball machine, might as well be one my daughter likes to play"

When I bought it I didn't even had a clue how to lift the playfield, but after a few months with the game Roadshow taught me 90% of what I needed to evaluate and repair machines as it seemingly had one of every issue a game can encounter.

My Aunt had a Roller Coaster Tycoon when I was growing up and I loved playing it every time I went over there. I thought it was awesome to have one in your own home. Once I finally got to a place to buy one the first three modern machines I played on location to try some out were Star Wars, Deadpool, and Iron Maiden and I have been hooked ever since. Technically don't know if you would call it Roller Coaster Tycoon or Iron Maiden which I could not get off of that day but they each both get a little bit of the credit in my book.

ROLLERGAMES! DON'T FLIP!!!

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Aztec - about 1977 in Tuncurry, NSW

The first machines I ever “popped” were Flash and then Harlem Globetrotters. The latter was the first I owned, in 1989

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The first 3 games I were exposed to are Hi-Diver ,#klondike ,#charlies-angels this one had to almost new no wear ,planking or swirl marks as to the others. Many of hours in my life playing those in basements of relatives.

Same! It was the machine that got me into playing pinball when I was a kid and it was the first machine I bought (back in 2018).

Scorpion and the actual game is for sale on Pinside currently. Second pin I owned but the first to hook me with a spectacular lightshow and sound effects during multiball.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/156258

I got rid of mine recently after 13 years I miss it sometimes.

When I was a kid in the 90s, I played hockey and one summer I did a hockey camp at a rink that had an arcade. The fact that I have fond memories of the arcade but don't really remember anything about the hockey shows you how good of a hockey player I was. But they had Addams Family, and I loved it, which sowed the seeds for me.

As an adult, I always wanted a pinball machine. The thing that pushed me over was my brother, who was given an old EM (a #monte-carlo-bally-1973) by his ex-fiance. It had complicated memories attached to it, but he liked it, so rather than selling it, he asked me if I wanted it. That's what started me off, and it actually needed a bit of work, so it taught me about that side of pinball ownership. It also kindled it in my wife, who had fun memories of playing pinball at bars in her early 20s.

I was 15 or so, in Boy Scouts. It was a brutally hot summer weekend camping trip at some lake. There was a big shipping container at the campground that was turned into a makeshift arcade. Inside was a Pac Man, couple of gumball machines, maybe a crane game, and a Whirlwind. I played that Whirlwind to death, and the backbox fan was amazing to feel on that hot day. Everything else about it was so cool to me: The music, the art (Tornado fingers?! Rad.), and the game had this mystique about it. It always kept me wondering "what would happen if I did this."

That game sorta sealed my future fate.

You know this was probably my first pinball experience too, but it didn't drag me into the hobby. Super fun game though. I would love love LOVE if this were made into a real game. It's a lot deeper than you think.

Yea Wh20 was at a AMC bowling center-used to ditch class or take long lunch breaks in high school to go play

STTNG was in the lobby of Red Robin and that is another one that I got hooked on

Adams, TZ, and Tommy at Tilt arcade also notable cherry poppers

Volley, Atlantis and Grand Prix followed by black knight. We lived close to the shore in NJ growing up so I had a lot of exposure to games in the 70s and 80s. I lost interest in pins for a while, particularly when vids starting coming into arcades, Pac-Man, asteroids, defender, etc. got bit again in the early 2000s when I saw a tspp in a rehobeth beach arcade and had to have one being a huge Simpsons fan. Still have that game today.

Gateway drug for me was TAF, 2003. Never played a pin before, let alone owned one. Still have it, and will be the last to go.

Stern Metor.

Great fun and still here!

Shane

EM wise was Strange World (wish i still have it),SS & after: Jurassic Park Home Pin,cant wait to get it,first (and probably not the last) NIB

HSII then bought one in ‘98 still have it.

Hokus Pokus got me into EMs

Black Knight

Centaur/Gamatron/Comet I think we're the first games I played.

Gottlieb Spiderman. Advertised in the local classifieds (long before internet).
Project, not working. Learned not only the joy of the hobby but how to fix
them with this pin. Still have it 35 years later and still enjoy playing it.
Probably the reason I still have a soft spot for Gottlieb series 1 & 80 pins
of which many are here.

Sure Shot

The pin that got me into the hobby is 1987 Williams FIRE!
My friend had the game. We were in his game room having a beer and I started playing it. A lot of time went by (and a few beers) and I was hooked. The game was simple ye very challenging. The music was great. The flashers got your attention. I kept going back to play it every time I visited. A few months later, I ended up buying the game from him. I still have it and never consider selling it even when I have had several offers (really good offers too) from people to buy it. I enjoy it every bit as much today as i did back then.