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Wanted My first pinball

  • Thread starter Thread starter witchfinder
  • Start date Start date
W

witchfinder

Hi there

Looking to buy my first pin for my games room that is currently under construction in my back garden! I have a storage unit locally so can pick up at any time.

As I'm not a big pinball aficionado, I'm looking for something with a 'pop culture' theme, e.g. movies, videogames, TV or music. My budget is £700-1000 so I'm hoping to get a mid 90's DMD machine ideally.

High on my list would be the likes of Star Wars, Terminator 2, Batman, Judge Dredd, Nightmare On Elm Street, RoboCop, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Super Mario Bros, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Simpsons and The X-Files, but I know some of these would be out of my budget.

Ideally the machine would be within a 2 hour drive of Stoke, but I would travel further for the right machine.

If you have anything that may fit the bill, please get in touch! :)
 
You might be able to pick up some of those machines for even less than budget. Just make sure that you dont too pay over the odds due to nostalgia.
 
That's good to know! Is there a price guide anywhere for what to pay for these machines?
 
It's impossible to say really as price tends to be a function of condition (or potential condition) and location.

I think it would have to be the most minty fresh TMNT in the world to tempt £600 quid out of me!
 
Haha, TMNT not one of the best then I take it? That wouldn't be top of my list anyway... ;)
 
witchfinder said:
Haha, TMNT not one of the best then I take it? That wouldn't be top of my list anyway... ;)
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Hi and welcome to the forum.

You can ask 10 diff people about a game and get 10 different opinions. On the whole TMNT isn't highly rated but EVERY pinball machine has its fans so who knows it could be the game for you. Heck I love Popeye and that is almost universally despised in the pinball world :D

Price wise (for half decent condition workers)- from yr list T2 and Star Wars prob be the only ones to set you back 1K+. There aren't many Elm Streets around so you may wait a while for one of them to pop up. I assume you mean the older Data East Batman and Simpsons ?, the newer Stern ones will cost considerably more than 1K !
 
I figured as much regarding T2 and SW. I missed the chance to get a DESW for £950 fairly recently but wasn't in the position to store it at that time... :(

And yes, I did mean the DE Batman and Simpsons. Good to know that the majority of my wants list should be within my budget. I guess it's just a case of waiting now... I would also be interested in other movie-related games like Lethal Weapon 3, Demolition Man etc if they became available.

If there are any licensed games that I should be avoiding due to unreliability, scarceness of parts or just boring gameplay, it would be great to know about them.
 
Hi and welcome,

Best advice would be to go to a league meet or event and play a few machines and talk to folks there to get an idea of what you want - As @GrizZ says, every pins got its fans and detractors - Only you know which is the one for you. I really like my JD, but I know many here aren't fans. Alternately I personally don't like SW or T2, which might get me burnt at the stake in some homes :)

I can recommend keeping an eye on the "How much is this table worth?" thread in the General Discussions area and also the "eBay Auctions" thread in the "For Sale..." area is also worth browsing.

I'd be wary of making an initial purchase off eBay though as it's very hit and miss compared to buying at a meet, event or even on here. I'm not guaranteeing you'll get stiffed on eBay or that you'll get mint quality bargains on here either, but I reckon the odds of a good buy are more in your favour buying from someone active in the scene.

Rog
 
To be honest, at the moment the theme is probably more important than how the table plays. I'm pretty awful at Pinball generally so wouldn't know a good playfield layout from bad. Hopefully that'll change over time and I do get to play a few at the big events that Replay/NLP put on during the year, so can start to form an opinion about what I do or don't like.

I appreciate the advice about Ebay and would definitely rather buy from a forum or collector that is more honest about what they're selling.
 
As Grizz said a grand should be more than enough for any of them except T2 and Star Wars. Probably best to hold fire for a few weeks and check the for sale section on this forum. One of these titles should come along pretty soon.
 
There is a Freddy Nightmare up for sale that was mentioned on the yahoo group. it used to be mine but i traded it a few months back to Stuart who is now looking for something else after fitting loads of LEDs in it and playing it to death. it's in decent nick, but not immaculate (a few cracked plastics) but fully working and better than some people give it credit for.

send me a pm and i'll put you in touch with him, or just go to the yahoo group and search (if search is still a feature that works). it was a week or two ago he mentioned it.
 
I have a number of machines available within your budget, including Robocop. If you want a 90's DMD game for under a grand, I have a Fish Tales just out of a site available. I am not very near to Stoke (Surrey) but I am in the north a fair amount, including a trip to Preston tomorrow!!
 
witchfinder said:
Is that because of the price, or because it's a horrible game?
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Arguably the worst playing DMD pinball machine ever made. However, your preference to tables may be different to others, just make sure you don't over pay for it.

There are lots of highly regarded tables I find to be a bit 'gash', but equally lots of tables that most find to be mediocre that I absolutely love. Another couple of things to consider is hype and the 'Bally/Williams' bonus. If you take for examples Medieval Madness, it will be higher rated simple because it's a Williams table and if you read reviews you tend to find that people either love it or think it's ok. Don't get sucked into the hype because you want to follow the herd, make your own mind up.
 
Every time I hear the hatred for X Files it just makes me want to play one. How bad can it be? Are we talking "24" levels of dreadfulness? Don't think I've ever seen one go for less than £750 so it's got to be better than some other titles surely? Who's X-files is it that is coming to the SCS and how long before he says "**** you.." and keeps it at home? (Or will it have a for sale sign on it?) Maybe it's a grower? Surely someone must feel the love for this title.
 
johnwhitfield said:
Every time I hear the hatred for X Files it just makes me want to play one. How bad can it be? Are we talking "24" levels of dreadfulness? Don't think I've ever seen one go for less than £750 so it's got to be better than some other titles surely? Who's X-files is it that is coming to the SCS and how long before he says "**** you.." and keeps it at home? (Or will it have a for sale sign on it?) Maybe it's a grower? Surely someone must feel the love for this title.
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Why is 24 bad?
 
Haha, I can already see how opinionated people are about certain machines! ;)
 
I have PM'd Matt for a list of games he has for sale. As I said originally, I'd prefer a licensed game based on a classic movie or TV show ideally, but I'd never say never! ;)
 
johnwhitfield said:
Every time I hear the hatred for X Files it just makes me want to play one. How bad can it be? Are we talking "24" levels of dreadfulness? Don't think I've ever seen one go for less than £750 so it's got to be better than some other titles surely? Who's X-files is it that is coming to the SCS and how long before he says "**** you.." and keeps it at home? (Or will it have a for sale sign on it?) Maybe it's a grower? Surely someone must feel the love for this title.
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It's Ravs coming to the Slam - a nice one too, all LED'd and stuff. He likes it and is well aware of the hatred for it so I doubt very much he will have a hissy fit and not bring it :) And you know what after playing it a bit it's not *that* bad. And I can certainly see that if you were an XFiles fan you'd be very happy.
 
I spent about 20 minutes playing an X Files at the UK Pinball Party. It was the only machine that was free at the time and the whole time I was playing it nobody queued up behind me to play. (Hence the 20 minutes!)
I don't really pay too much attention to what other people think about games as I often find myself loving games that are generally hated. But I must say, I would not be bothered if I never played this one again. But there will definitely be some people out there that love it.

(Bear in mind that I love Maverick & Roller Coaster Tycoon so my opinion will be invalid to many people!)
 
Fintan Stack said:
I spent about 20 minutes playing an X Files at the UK Pinball Party. It was the only machine that was free at the time and the whole time I was playing it nobody queued up behind me to play. (Hence the 20 minutes!)
I don't really pay too much attention to what other people think about games as I often find myself loving games that are generally hated. But I must say, I would not be bothered if I never played this one again. But there will definitely be some people out there that love it.
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there's honesty for you. i went to the Daventry pinball party a couple of years ago, and there were TWO xfiles, and neither of them was getting played even though people were playing all sorts of games around them to either side. even Demo man.

i was the same, i thought - well, i love the TV programme, and i love pinball, so this is gonna be epic. and i played it. and i played it again. then i played it and had a pretty good game, with multiball and jackpots and stuff, the sort of game that makes anyone into a fan. after my multiball drained i played another lacklustre ball, then moved away. the rest of the weekend the game stayed mainly uinplayed, or occasionally with a ball left in the shooter lane unplayed, or even a 4-player started and unfinished (kids probably).

make your own mind up. if you love it, you are quids in.
 
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