And I'd put Popeye over those titles also, but you can still get one cheaper than the price range being discussed.

About a year ago I decided to spend around $2,500 for another pin. After playing pretty much every one of these in the list multiple times at various shows, my favorite turned out to be Jack*Bot, by far. Found one local that was HUO. Absolutely love this pin. Not sure why it doesn't get more love. Oh well, if it did, I guess I would have had to pay a lot more.

JM
TS
DM
Congo (I know its more now but to me 2500 is enough for that game)
SST
StarWars Data East
BSD
JD
Pinball Magic capcom

so many more 2500 and under than are great but these would be the ones I choose first.

Lol..

I did sell it twice. But picked up my third one as a project pin. I like playing it but gets old after a few months. Still once it's gone I miss it. I guess I'll always have a SG in my collection.

PMs are pricey for sure.

Last minute addition -

Gottlieb: Freddie - Nightmare on Elm Street
Rocky and Bullwinkle

My list in order:

Tales from the Crypt
Stargate
Nightmare on Elm Street
T2
Fish Tales
Judge Dredd
Demolition Man
Indy 500
Rocky and Bullwinkle

Can't, 3 of those do not reach your price point. Using the Pinside Estimate (that is normally a bit high)

Only SST breaks the $2,300 but R&B is close. Freddy and Cue Ball don't come close.

Rocky and Bullwinkle and Nightmare on Elm Street

Pinside estimate shows Freddy at $1,200 to $1,400.

And Indy 500 is probably over your $2,800 top end.

Who Dunnit, Apollo 13 and close with NBA Fast Break are also better than many discussed.

Freddy is the worst DMD I've ever owned imo.

SST is awesome
R&B is pretty good

Another vote for NBA FB

If you're setting it up like A, B and C divisions where "A" is the best I don't see any way you could put LW3 and WWF over BSD and WCS94. Maybe a couple of other personal preferences.

Or you could just get Pinside ratings on each game and see what people have voted for over the years.

Group c is really weak

All of the groups are really weak.

Problem is pins sell for different prices depending on location and especially conditions .all this is very subjective just like the top100 . I actually enjoy many pins that are not in the top100 more than many of the top 25 . But still a cool idea ill be checking in on the results occasionally

Any group that fucking includes Freddy's Nightmare shot be taken outside and shot dead.

I mean come on people...there's "Poor", and then there's "Find another hobby."

It is in the price range. Just no one wanted BF, Godzilla or Popeye.

Yes, still pushing Popeye. $3K by Christmas

I don't see much love for Baywatch here, maybe because you don't see many around and few have played it. I recently picked one up and really like it, don't see it leaving for a good while. It's got a lot going on, variety of shots, thing shark flipper, 5 ball MB, lots of ramps and wireforms, etc. granted, theme is horrible, but if stern made a game with this layout and themed it game of thrones or something else of mass interest, it would be one of the best ever made. It's a better players game than acdc and Metallica, though it doesn't quite have the rush of those games. No surprise, Balcer designed it, Ropp wrote the software.

DH
JD
DM
WCS
JM
NBA FB
BW
DW
T2
R&B

Congo is way overrated and wouldn't make this list even if it was 2500$

I thought Baywatch was pretty amazing when I played it. I couldn't believe the designers put so much effort into a theme like Baywatch, go figure.

Unfortunately, theme and art is a showstopper for me.

1. Kind of hard for an average player.

2. Software is a bit unpolished in spots. E.g., start a mode then start a multiball, mode is paused until multiball ends. A few small bugs here and there.

3. Clint's callouts -- not a lot of emotion there.

And despite all these things, it's a great game.

What happened to FT? In your previous post you said that it was in... Would have probably voted for that over any of the others in there.

my list (more like a reminder to me how I rank them, I would always get a higher mentioned pin before the lower mention if possible), maybe someone find it useful:

Congo (great layout, left upper flipper, great volcano lock, mini playfield, long journey, 4MB modes+MM, unique: collecting diamonds
Bram Stoker's Dracula (simple but brutal, great atmosphere, sounds and dots, multiball stacking, uniquie: mist magnet)
Tommy (great layout - budget TAF, left upper flipper, lyman rules, 12 modes, multistaged MB, theme and music, unique wizard mode)
Stargate (many modes, great theme, great rules, 2 wizard modes, unique: pyramid, glider and chorus toys)
Tales from the Crypt (great layout, horror theme, good dots, plenty of modes, 4 MB modes, cool upside down ramp)
Baywatch (great layout, 4 flippers, 3 different skill shots, lots of modes, theme that's big in Europe but joke in US)
World Cup Soccer (poor man's JPOP pin, beautiful, quick, tough right ramp, fantastic goal mechanic, unique: rotating ball and goal shooting)
Johnny Mnemonic (poor man's TF in layout, fast, incredible wizard mode, midnight madness, strategy in matrix, unique: glove)
Demolition Man (fast playing widebody, flow, combos, nordman design, unique: playable with handles instead of buttons)
Judge Dredd (fast playing widebody, comic book theme, lots of flippers, good layout, good dots, great music, unique: supergame)
Jurassic Park (WW+TAF hybrid layout, upper flipper, lots of modes, good theme, new rules, unique: T-REX eating the ball)
Last Action Hero (theme, lots of estate, magnets, lots of modes, crane toy)
Getaway: High Speed II (fast and flowy)
Fish Tales (good theme, flowy mark ritchie ramps)

Ok - so step away from the crack pipe please! No way that Baywatch is close to either AC/DC or MET. LOL