Funhouse. Wife and I played it when we were dating in high school. Many moons ago.

Cyclone because it was cheap and local; but I fell in love quick. I have owned 2 more since searching for a nice example. Currently waiting on a full restore to be finished so I can go after that one.

Mine was a Duotron. It was in great shape and I got it at a great price.

Played it for many years before I let it move on for someone else to enjoy.

I bought a KISS because that was always my Holy Grail as a Kollector, but once I had it home, I got the pinball bug and the rest is history!

Ours was Big Guns by Williams. Came across a 'route' owner that was selling his girlfriends pin (that he got for her)... Excellent shape. Even delivered it, showed how the top folds down, how to fix it, (cause they all need fixin')... and put it into service.

NOW, I paid $800 for that machine. Love it. It will never leave my house.

BUT, it is now only 1 year later, and I am in over $14,000 into this hobby after adding a couple NIB and several thousands in upgrades.

Oh, upgrades and mod's are the favorite part. It's like a motorcycle. You buy it, then take it apart and put all kinds of things on it that the aftermarket provides for you.

Xenon for me, back in '83 or so. Loved it in the arcade, but sold it a year or two later. Bought another one a few years ago and it awaits its CPR gold playfield and plastics.

Creetch just last May. My Brother and I would do best of 7, 9, 11 games on it on location in his hometown when I visited a few years back. Then the operator took it out, so I got my own! Have the bug and looking at another Pin but don't want to talk about it, don't want a jinx!

Laser ball and shortly after Pinbot..

>>>>Cyclone<<<<< I used to play it when I was a kid at the local bowling alley..... Since then I've bought 6 more!

Mine was Wild Life (1972 Gottlieb) which I got for free in 1990 as it was dead. Took me 6 weeks to get it going, then my kids and I played it to death.
Well not really, it was fine when I sold it a couple of years later. I went on to buy 4 more pins during that time.

Riverboat Gambler. Bought it at an auction. Love it and its never leaving.

chris

My first (pinball) love affair was with a Gtb Spiderman. We had just moved into
a larger house and saw this (dead) pinball machine in the classifieds and
thought that would be fun. Now at 47 pins, 25 vids and need a bigger house!
Its been a fun ride.
Steve
ps-still have Spiderman and its played regularly

Big Hurt was my first pin. I was looking for a cheaper pin that had a DMD and it had the cool glove toy. I had never played the pin before, but it looked pretty cool from the gameplay video I saw on PAPA.

I bought it off some guy on craigslist and pretty much got taken. He had told me the pin was in great condition, and it was recently shopped and everything worked perfectly. That was far from the truth. There were 2 large wear marks on the playfield near the flippers, the ramps had corrosion on them, the cabinet art was badly worn, half the flashers didn't work, a couple of the standup target were busted, and one of the opto boards was fried.

I have the pin fully functional now thanks to Tamoore and vast wealth of pinball knowledge, and it plays great. It just won't win any beauty contests.

It was a good learning experience in a few ways, but I would still love to go to that guys house and egg the place.

Jumping Jack. My cousins husband gave it to me and that's what got me started loving pinball.

No Fear was our first we been racing dirt bike and 4 wheelers for ever and #2 was World Cup 94 very short to follow kids also played soccer

F-14 Tomcat!

I'm just recently de-virginized as I bought a Batman Forever last week at TPF.

My kids and I are really digging it too.

Flash in 1983...bought from an operator warehouse for $50

Bally

My Centaur from a Bally's Alladdins Castle in '84 paid $550. I used to have to wait to play it in the mall, then one day I went in and there was a for sale sign on it. It was at my home that night. I had been a long time player but never owned a game. After that many more games came home (+ 2 more Centaur II).

Same here! It was a great first pin. I wish I didn't have to sell it because I have played several other JPs since and none of them have come close to how nice mine was to play.

Super broken Atilla the Hun.

Why? it came with a lot of 9 other arcade games.

Second machine was purposely purchased and it was a Flash Gordon. Simple but brutal game and it was cheap enough for me to get on it at the time.

I kept reading that they would multiply. I went to look at a DH near Columbus OH looking for my first, I bought it. While I was in Columbus I checked Craigslist saw a new listing for a JP. It turned out to be HUO, so I got it too. Couldnt be happier 2 great first pins.

A friend had picked up a High Speed and I loved playing it. Started watching for games on route. A Round Table pizza had a No Fear and I fell in love with it. Ended up buying one on eBay. Still have it.

Cyclone. I have loved pinball my entire life and played Cyclone in the day relentlessly. I wanted a Firepower but found Cyclone first, the rest was history.

Also the Cyclone callouts are sampled in Mr. Bungle's "Carousel", for those not in the know. Please enjoy:

About two months ago, I came across a Spy Hunter on Craigslist. We had wanted a pinball machine in the past, but never bought one. This deal we couldn't pass up. The family loved the machine. It was dirty and had a couple of minor issues, but cleaning and fixing it just hooked my wife and I on pinball ownership. Since bringing home Spy Hunter, we have added a Data East The Simpsons and X Files. Wish I could have gotten a warning about how addictive this can be...

Solar City, bought it in 1982.

SST. Was close by and the price was right! Turns out it is a really fun game.

ACDC pro was my first. I probably overpaid but I wanted it and I'm glad I did because it is such a fast adrenaline rushed game. I also put mods on it and it really opened my eyes to the pinball world, I'm hooked.

Williams Grand Prix. Bought it for $150 from Art's Amusements in Clovis, NM while stationed at Cannon AFB. Timeframe... 1983. The pinball was a secondary purchase; I was shopping for a jukebox and came upon the pinball. I bought a Seeburg Q-100 jukebox for $300. I still have the jukebox, but sold the pinball in 2000 when I got interested in electronic pins.
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Diner.The wife bought it herself in '91.

Space Shuttle 5 years ago. I collected arcades and always wanted a pin it was nearby, working, and dirt cheap. I guess I got lucky and got a fun machine as my first. Hooked ever since.

I never played pinball when I was younger, so my first play was actually at a local arcade a dozen years ago.

My first purchase was a container/re-imported Lethal Weapon 3; it was actually in excellent shape. It was all I could afford at the time!

mine was lah, quickly followed by around 15 pins witin a year. 11 of which i still own,1 of which i bought twice. its been a rollercoaster ride. april marks my 1yr anniversary since infected. a year in which had me land my grail pin to having to pass it on within a week. a year in which i drove 10hr rd trip west only find a beat congo , turn around drive 10 hr east to find a cherry one all within around 24 hours. ayiw i brought pins home and had to hide them in the basement cuz the wife was about to kill me. ayiw i bought a building because i couldnt help to think the first floor would be great for gameroom. ayiw i discovered a pin dosnt have to be popular to be great. ayiw i discovered pinsiders are f*<k!ng fantastic. bring on year 2ap.......thats after pin for you guys on the west coast...

WOW. LAH was my first, bought last June. Since then I've bought 18 more. And I thought I was the only one this sick.

ssssweeeeet .. can i use you as a reference when my family tries to commit me

My first was an 8 ball champ, a game that was on location at the local watering hole while i was in the navy. I jumped at the chance to make the purchase. Within 6 months, it had 4 machines on each side of it. My first dmd is still around, the no fear will never leave.

Ive since sold the EBC, but i know where it is and have been asking for it back, Im sure my wife would love to let me purchase it again.

TMNT

Would never sell.

A beat up Space Shuttle. We looked at a Jokerz (probably $800 or so) but couldn't afford it so we went with the $300 Space Shuttle.

Sold it when we bought our current house. I wouldn't buy one again but I still have a soft spot in my heart for that game and play it at every festival.

'74 Gottlieb Free Fall. Wedgehead, add-a-ball version of Sky Jump.

Bought it around Nov 2004 a few months after discovering that you could buy pinball machines on ebay. Kept it til about 2 or 3 years ago. It played great the entire time I owned it. Buying pins on ebay has changed in the past 10 years. A lot less good deals appear on ebay nowadays imho.

First played pinball in the 70's in Indiana. Pinball was not on my radar from about 1981 through 2004.
The past 3 years I have really enjoyed pinball and many of the pinball enthusiasts I have met through Pinside, pinball clubs, and at pinball festivals/expos/tournaments.

First pin(s)....Mata Hari, and Jungle Queen. I bought them together. First DMD pin was Jurassic Park, I sold it to make room for LOTR. I still own Mata Hari and LOTR. I sold my original JP and bought a minty one years later, and still own it. Long live the JP.....or until I get bored again.

The Shadow. I have great memories of watching the movie several times at the drive-in one summer. I love the art-deco design and the game is well-regarded and seemed challenging enough to hold up in a one-game collection. No regrets so far!

+1. Found it on craigslist, took it home and fixed it up. Fantastic learning experience with price, condition, all kinds of stuff. It has since moved on, but I think it has the best multiball in pinball.

My first pin was Taxi. Awesome pin and will never sell it

POTO...

Mine was STTNG. I was searching locally for my first pin for a couple months. I was hoping to find a Cyclone or Phantom of the Opera because those were the two pins I really cut my teeth on back in the arcade. This STTNG came up so I went to take a look and this thing is immaculate. It was working 100% when I got it and over 2 years later I haven't had anything more than a minor tweak here or there to worry about. Not so sure I want a POTO anymore unless the price is right but I am still hunting for that nice Cyclone someday.

wwf royal rumble, old school wrestling fan, so I thought it would be a great fit for my first pin, so I can understand the rules because I knew all the characters when I was younger, still really love it, its just getting a make-over at the moment but really want to get it up an going again by the weekend...

You never forget your first pin. I remember it like it was yesterday. She was a nice machine, fast with very little cabinet fade. I should never have sold it...sigh.

Family guy, I was searching for a late model Stern for my first pin to hopefully get more reliability, I also admired Keith Johnson and lawler a lot.