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Wanted My next pin… it’s been a while!

edsr

edsr

Site Supporter
5Years
Joined
Oct 7, 2017
Messages
427
Location
Cheltenham
I’ve been silent on here for a few years after I refurbished a sega baywatch which I got from eBay as my first pin and completely shopped from scratch - the log is on this forum somewhere.

Sadly I had to sell it a few months later - I enjoyed playing it but probably enjoyed the challenge of rebuilding it and the camaraderie on this forum almost as much!

A lot of that knowledge has evaporated since I did the shop, having parked pinball for 5+yrs so I’m looking for something less labour intensive that I can just pick up and play for a bit and then maybe sell on or swap for something else without too much hassle.

My girls are older now (8 and 10) and would be up for playing it too, but as a result I now have far less time to spend fiddling with machines! Also the theme would ideally be fairly neutral and something they could relate to - boobs / gore best avoided.

We’ve just moved in and I’ve not fully signed this purchase off with the mrs but I think it’s pretty likely.

I don’t have much experience of playing pins only owning the BW rebuild for a few months after finishing it, and playing the odd coin op in my teens.

I want a really fun game with lots of ramps, rails, and stuff happening etc, possibly a white water or similar, but also something I don’t have to keep tinkering with too much. I am obviously more experienced on the SEGA DMD stuff but I can’t see it making a huge difference from a maintenance perspective.

I’d probably prefer a fully working ‘players’ machine although I don’t mind doing a *bit* of work to it.

I am looking for something around £2.5k but could possibly be tempted to take a much more valuable machine on - like a TAF - and ‘look after it’ for a bit if I knew I’d get my money back after a year or two if I needed the cash and wanted to sell it fairly quickly.

Any advice from people on here as to a good machine would be really appreciated and if you have something you think would fit the bill just let me know.

Thanks all, and good to be back!
 
I’ll be posting a fully loaded xmen pro hopefully later today after I’ve unloaded the Luton 😂
 
If you could be “tempted” up to NIB Stern Pro level then King Kong has as many ramps and rails as you can shake a stick at… genuinely just a joy to shoot and a neutral theme. You wouldn’t get all of your money back on sale in a year or two but it shouldn’t be massive a hit, and Pros are pretty bombproof.

If you want to stick to budget then Luke’s 24 mentioned earlier is a great machine for the money, though the gameplay does revolve quite strongly around killing terrorists and a nuclear bomb in a briefcase so perhaps not the most kid-friendly theme 🤣

Otherwise for a bit more than your budget you could be into the territory of a White Water or perhaps a World Cup Soccer, which is really easy for kids to understand and shooting goals never gets old
 
Jib said:
Never thought you’d sell it!
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Our 'rotator' seems to have got stuck in the house, and @MadMonzer isn't as keen on FT as I am. He's been saying for a while that he feels my main reason for keeping is that it's the first pin I ever played and that the topper is a (fully-working, LED) reproduction I made using spare Williams parts and instructions on Pinside.

I'm still considering it, but thought I'd put it out there.
 
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DAD said:
I'd recommend Fish Tales - very reliable, easy to understand, and great fun
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Yeah that was the other one alongside WW that I’d been thinking might be good. What would one of these cost in players condition? I seem to remember they were around the same sort of value.

I’ve also just realised that you can rent these too - so maybe that’s a better option for me.
Are prices appreciating or depreciating at the moment?
 
VeeMonroe said:
I have a Fish Tales that I'm considering letting go. Player's condition, but with a nice big Pin2DMD XL with speaker panel, and a limited edition Brian Allen backglass.
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Sounds great. What sort of money are you looking for? Feel free to DM me. Thanks
 
edsr said:
Yeah that was the other one alongside WW that I’d been thinking might be good. What would one of these cost in players condition? I seem to remember they were around the same sort of value.

I’ve also just realised that you can rent these too - so maybe that’s a better option for me.
Are prices appreciating or depreciating at the moment?
Click to expand...
Depreciating.

Evil dead is prob the only pin at the minute which might buck the trend. Supply vs demand.
 
I have a fish tales and I find the kids don't play it for long. It can be quite brutal. They like the theme and the big fish etc. They all migrate to Black Rose. Which I no longer have after mentioning it earlier 😂
 
Bertychewster said:
I have a fish tales and I find the kids don't play it for long. It can be quite brutal. They like the theme and the big fish etc. They all migrate to Black Rose. Which I no longer have after mentioning it earlier 😂
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When FT was our only pin, our then-five-year-old played it to death. He is going to have to have orthodontics when he gets older due to Fish Tales because he jumps about when excited and, once, he was jumping with excitement so much on his small stool that he fell off, knocking out a baby tooth on the casting trigger.

It turns out that his jaw has now grown around the missing tooth, so he's going to need a brace in the next few years to allow his adult tooth to come in....

Anyway... (some) kids like Fish Tales.

He does massively prefer Stern Godzilla now (he fell madly in love with GZ the first time he played one), but the OP isn't looking for a GZ.
 
OK so I think I’ve got sign off!

At the moment the options seem to be..

1. IJ for £6500
2. 24 for ~£2-3k ballpark
3. FT for ~2-3k ballpark
4. JD mini project for £2k
5. Hold out for a WW or something else as maybe I shouldn’t be rushing to get the first thing I see??

The kids reckon they want an IJ (cos they like the film) - even the eldest won’t remember playing BW. It does look like the most fun to play of all of the above.

I’m guessing that based on a depreciating market a players machine at the £2.5k mark is likely to hold onto its value better than a collectible at £6500 just because it’s a working pin with good playability and there has to be glass floor somewhere with the prices.

Any final suggestions? And how would a WW stack up against them in terms of fun factor?

Thanks everyone for the input - I’m just feeling really happy that I should soon have another pin and be back in the game!
 
edsr said:
OK so I think I’ve got sign off!

At the moment the options seem to be..

1. IJ for £6500
2. 24 for ~£2-3k ballpark
3. FT for ~2-3k ballpark
4. JD mini project for £2k
5. Hold out for a WW or something else as maybe I shouldn’t be rushing to get the first thing I see??

The kids reckon they want an IJ (cos they like the film) - even the eldest won’t remember playing BW. It does look like the most fun to play of all of the above.

I’m guessing that based on a depreciating market a players machine at the £2.5k mark is likely to hold onto its value better than a collectible at £6500 just because it’s a working pin with good playability and there has to be glass floor somewhere with the prices.

Any final suggestions? And how would a WW stack up against them in terms of fun factor?

Thanks everyone for the input - I’m just feeling really happy that I should soon have another pin and be back in the game!
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FT and white water are both at the pinball office
www.thepinballoffice.co.uk

Our Pinball Machines | The Pinball Office

Our Pinball Club has a collection of over 30 pinball machines all set on free play.
www.thepinballoffice.co.uk www.thepinballoffice.co.uk

Maybe a daytrip with the kids albeit a bit of a drive might help.
All of the machines very clean and well maintained.
Great value day out if you want pinball fun. The cafe next it does a good lunch.

Chances are though the kids will pick the most expensive machine as their fav. :)
 
AlfonsoB said:
FT and white water are both at the pinball office
www.thepinballoffice.co.uk

Our Pinball Machines | The Pinball Office

Our Pinball Club has a collection of over 30 pinball machines all set on free play.
www.thepinballoffice.co.uk www.thepinballoffice.co.uk

Maybe a daytrip with the kids albeit a bit of a drive might help.
All of the machines very clean and well maintained.
Great value day out if you want pinball fun. The cafe next it does a good lunch.

Chances are though the kids will pick the most expensive machine as their fav. :)
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That’s a great shout! It’s a 6hr round trip for me though, but that’s a lot of pins under one roof and all look like excellent games. Are there any other places like this? I’m near the M5 between Birmingham and Bristol.
 
edsr said:
That’s a great shout! It’s a 6hr round trip for me though, but that’s a lot of pins under one roof and all look like excellent games. Are there any other places like this? I’m near the M5 between Birmingham and Bristol.
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Special when lit in Salisbury Friday evenings.
Retroids worcester.

But not many of the pins you are interested in at either.

Look on pinballmap for others. Some in Bristol but dotted around. 10 at Arkade minehead still a drive but closer than pinball office.
 
edsr said:
White water - looks like a lot of fun that one
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Ah I got ya, yeah Whitewater has a lot of fans, if it was Whirly I could tell you a lot more about it :D

Have you checked out the Williams Zen pinball app? its on all the consoles, mobiles etc, that covers a lot of the 90s B/W catalogue, not the same as the real thing, but might give you a flavour.
 
Its not always up to date. so best to contact the venue to ensure they still have pins and what ones they currently have
 
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