Up to 3k Shadow
Up to 4k Congo
Up to 5k Addams if you can find it.

Up to 3k Whirlwind
Up to 4k ???
Up to 5k LOTR

Up to 3k T3
Up to 4k JD + DM
Up to 5k LOTR

Up to 3k - Bram Stoker's Dracula
Up to 4k - X-Men Pro
Up to 5k - LOTR

Up to 3k - Roadshow
Up to 4k - X-Men Pro
Up to 5k - any NIB Stern that you love the theme of.

Later,
EV

1k - SF2
2k - Jurassic Park
3k - RBION if only machine / FH if you have multiple machines
4K - LOTR
5k - Pass

The price kind of depends on whether you want a decent players quality or immaculate machine
3K: Dr. Who & Whirlwind
4K: ???
5K: POTC, TAF, Stern Star Trek

3k - shadow
4k - Congo, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Star Trek The Next Gen., Simpsons Pinball Party
5k - Twilight Zone, LOTR, The Addams Family, Iron Man

Some of these may go over budget a little, but are in the ballpark.

Maybe get some early SS machines? People need more variety in their collections.

3k WPT
4k ACDC or ST (pro)
5k LOTR

Add a Fireball EM and a Centaur and that's a very, very good lineup...

Up to 2k on unemployment
2k-3k working part time
3k-5k after a small windfall
0 after winning the lottery. Won't need them!

Depending on space I think the smart move is several machines under $1000 if you have the room. Pick on titles that are not as popular and you can grab some fun machines reasonable. Some off the top of my head are: for under about $750 to $900 you can likely buy --- Spring Break, Shaq Attack, Firepower, Gold Wings, a lot of Williams system 6 & 7 machines and most Gottlieb System one and eighty machines. If you step it up to $1200 to $1500 you can get a good many of the William's System 11 titles as well as a good many Data East titles.

Why buy just one machine for $3000 to $5000 when you can own 4 or 5 for the same money? That is providing you have the space for them.

I don't care what you buy if you only own one or two machines you will get sick of playing them. If you own a half a dozen to 10 machines there is always something different to pay.

Just my 2 cents on things

If you don't mind a bit of a drive and you are not in a huge rush we will have a dozen (or more) shopped & serviced machines for sale in the Spring. We are selling off some of our collection getting ready to remodel the basement. We are in Carlisle PA about one mile from exit 45. We will have mostly machines in the price range of about $650 to around $3000

I like depth in a small collection so here is my list:
2K - Stargate
3K - too many to choose but RBION/WPT/Shadow
4K - Simpsons Pinball Party
5K - Lord of The Rings / Addams Family

Under $1k ....... Alien Poker

$1k to $2k........ Jackbot

$2k to $3k ........ a Mint Mint SMB

$3k to $4k ....... Ripleys BION

$4k to $5k ....... Ironman

put Roadshow next to your NGG...