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Buying my first machine

dvdgrdnr

Registered
Joined
Jun 22, 2020
Messages
8
Location
Uk
Hi
this is my first post. Thanks for having me. I am considering buying my first machine in the next few months.
so far i'm drawn to:
- Elvira and the Party Monsters
- Scared Stiff
- Creature from the Black Lagoon
- Addams Family

As you can tell, I like the horror / spooky stuff. Has anyone here played / owned these machines and would argue for one over the others. At the moment i'm leaning towards Elvira and Party Monsters, mostly for aesthetic reasons, with CFTBL in 2nd place.

Also, i've seen a few of these machines for sale on ebay. What would be a reasonable price for Elvira / Creature etc and what things should i be looking out for before i buy please?

thanks!
 
Where are you located? We have three of these at Flip Out London (along with another 57 or so machines!) so you could come to the club when it reopens and play them to see which suits you best. http://flipoutlondon.com/
Thanks Mike. I live in Essex, so it's a bit out of the way for me. Do you have any preference for any of those machines please?
 
welcome.gifto Pinball Info @dvdgrdnr , all your choices are great games and all play totally different.
I'd do what Mike has suggested and try to get down to play them before buying, that way you can find out which ones you prefer. We all like different things so what one person likes you may like another.
My personal favorit is Creature, but you can't go wrong with Elvira.
 
thanks guys will do.
i've seen a few elviras and CFTBL on ebay. Ranging from £6.5k - £3200. What would you say is a fair price for them, assuming they are in good working order?
 
Elvira Party Monsters, £1400 to £2000.
Creature £2400 to £3600.
Super mint / Restored a lot more.
 
Elvira Party Monsters, £1400 to £2000.
Creature £2400 to £3600.
Super mint / Restored a lot more.

thank you - so those ebay prices are super inflated aren't they? might be able to afford one sooner than i thought!
 
It’s not so much if you can afford one it’s more if you can find one for sale. They are all nice games - I have an Elvira. I’d slss Sr p say Elvira is a better game that scared stiff but each to there own
 
I'd have CFBTL, SS, TAF, and EATPM in that order from that selection, but they are all good games.

eBAY prices are always inflated, even more so at the moment and you're taking a risk on condition based on a description and some ropey pics
Get one from someone on here, haven't seen SS or EATPM turn up here for a while though.

Very rough ballparks

CFTBL - £2.4-3.4K
SS - £3-4K
TAF - £4.5K and up
EATPM - £1.5 - 2K

But you'd be looking more if they were real minters, especially with TAF.

Get yourself to flipout and try them out though
 
Welcome to the forum! Im currently doing what I hope to turn out to be a mint restoration on a CFTBL which will be finished in a few months time and may be available (somebody already had first refusal) currently prepping the cab ready for new decals. Let me know if interested and i can keep you informed. 👍

EDIT: I'm also based in Essex and host an annual Essex boys meetup, you're more than welcome to come over for a few flips at anytime though as there probably won't be another meet until January. Would give you an opportunity to have a go on some of the less commonly seen machines 👍
 
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I'm in Essex (Colchester) and Flip out is not too far! Used to go once or twice a month. It's well worth the journey if you're spending 5-6 hours there and believe me, you can spend that time there easily!

I just secured my first pin only yesterday after dreaming of it for nearly a year now. A lot of it thanks to this great community and regular visits to Flip out. This forum is definitely the best way to go about getting into pinball as a hobby and potentially owning your own.
 
Hello
You are in the right place and the right time. I had already bought my first pin before joining so didn’t have the collected experience of this group. That meant I have spent more on my TAF (Addams) than I would have needed. But I love the game and enjoyed learning to fix it.

Next came CFTBL (Creech), boy is that machine fun and so pretty. That is the game where I think my heart stopped when I got 4x jackpot the first time. Took a mediocre score of 80m to 1.2b. Both games still make me laugh.

Go play some games and wait for one to come up for sale here. You might like something else too. I was going to collect the monster themes but Monster Bash was out of my pocket but White Water has Bigfoot, but he isn’t exactly scary.

Half the excitement is the chase.
 
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Horror and pinball are a match made in heaven. They go together so well and the list of horror themed pinball machines is almost endless (a slight exaggeration). I wouldn't limit yourself to just those you've listed; have a look at other titles like:

The Walking Dead
Phantom of the Opera
Nightmare on Elm street
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Sega's Frankenstein
Monster Bash
Alien
Ghostbusters

Granted some of these titles aren't the best but it would be a good opener to start with.

You could add Funhouse and Road Show to the list as those talking heads are just as creepy as any nightmare.
 
The Walking Dead is the best game ever made, apart from maybe Iron Maiden, also pretty horror led. TWD is tough as balls though. Maybe not a newby game, gorgeous code though.

Tales From The Crypt is a +1 from me as a starter pin, I enjoyed owning it.
 
Got myself a EATPM as a project, think all in it cost me about 2k to get it nice.

It's not the most complex game but still to this day the most replayable pin I've played. Thought about offering it up but, a compliment to the game, it's a keeper.

Hope you find one. If you have any EATPM related question then I'd be happy to help.
 
I know I'd be more than happy with any of those games on that list, maybe you'll end up owning all 4 eventually!
 
I love TWD and TZ, think TWD has become my all time favourite.
Going off my TAF at the moment, nice piece of art/history though!
 
The Walking Dead is the best game ever made, apart from maybe Iron Maiden, also pretty horror led. TWD is tough as balls though. Maybe not a newby game, gorgeous code though.

I guess it depends if you like a massive challenge when starting out and are committed to learn and improve, without worrying too much about your scores/ball times for a while.

If you play TWD a lot as a newbie and learn to keep the ball in play, you'll be good on most other machines!

That is, unless the constant kicking it gives you turns you off pinball entirely...
 
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