What's new

new member looking for advice

oltarmac

oltarmac

Registered
Joined
Jan 7, 2014
Messages
7
Location
blackburn lancs
hi everybody,
ive just joined this forum, im new to pinball and havent really played since i was a kid. im looking for advice on what table and where to buy and obviously what to look out for.
i need something that is nice to the eye as well because it will be kept in the house.
i hope you can help.
 
Welcome to the best pinball forum in the UK!

before buying any machine I would suggest you try to play as many tables as you can to get a feel for whats available. If you can't find any in the wild, maybe a local pinhead would be happy to let you play on their machines. I'm in Essex but would be happy to let a newbie try out my machines.

DMD machines (early 1990's to 2000) are very popular and hold their price well. they are easy(ish) to maintain and spares are readily available for most titles.
If you buy wisely you should be able to have fun for a while and sell without too much of a loss.

Ask lots of questions as all the guys on here are very friendly and will encourage you to buy a machine, but be warned it's very addictive!
 
Welcome to the forum,
You are pretty lucky as your local to a few forum members, from who all would be happy to let you play there machines and also give you advice on all things pinball.
There are members in the following areas, Chorley, Leyland, Burnley, Blackpool and Bolton.
Let me know if you are interested and I could set something up for you.
D.
 
thanks guys, fantastic response already. im not sure what my budget is really, i need to get this month out of the way and am hoping to be back on my feet by the middle of february. as a first machine i would guess around £700 would be nice, but i may go as high as £1200-1500.
ive seen one, indianapolis 500 and also "corvette" i quite like the car theme, although nightmare on elm st also looked good.
im not looking for anything rough in appearence neither,
 
You can get an old 'EM' (electromechanical) one for about 3-400, maybe even less. They look fantastic but they're a bit slow compared to the modern ones so they're not everyone's cup of tea.

For about 500-800 you can either get an early 'solid state' one (uses a computer) or even one of the early or less popular DMD (dot matrix display) ones. Anything by Data East is cheap apart from Guns N Roses.

The most popular are the most expensive- DMD games from 1990 on, by Bally Williams. These start at about 7-800 and go all the way up to about £6K.

Indy500 and Corvette should both be obtainable for about a grand, maybe 1100 or so these days. Great games. Welcome dude. Definitely take Dazza's advice (replicas) and get over to someone's house for a look see and meet some peeps.
 
Don't get too hung up on what machine to buy. You'll love it, play it to death and then get bored of it.;)

The good news is that it shouldn't depreciate massively, so when you're bored change it to something else.

When the time comes buy from this forum or the Yahoo group. That way you shouldn't get stung.

ebay can be risky and whatever you do don't buy from Pinball Paradise........

Have you checked out the Northern League yet? Good place to start and play a range of machines.
 
this is the exact reason ive joined this forum. ideally this is the place i would like to buy from. i definatley dont want an old em machine. the dmd ones sound the best. although those others by data east might be ok, the theme is also quite important.
 
oltarmac said:
hi everybody,
ive just joined this forum, im new to pinball and havent really played since i was a kid. im looking for advice on what table and where to buy and obviously what to look out for.
i need something that is nice to the eye as well because it will be kept in the house.
i hope you can help.
Click to expand...

Hi and welcome.

Everyones going to have different favourites - I'd personally recommend looking for ones you particularly liked back in the day and start off with either one that was your favourite or one thats in your price range at least. There may be some people nearby that you can visit to try before you buy on their machines as well.

If you have any in mind everyone here will be happy to advise on the price you should be looking at (There's a particularly helpful thread for advice on prices to pay/ ask for tables in this very section http://www.pinballinfo.com/community/threads/the-how-much-is-this-table-worth-thread.5286/).

On the car theme there's also The Getaway, which is a well-liked machine that can be got for around 1k in decent condition.

As has already been said there's always the Northern league for meeting the local pinheads and playing a few machines (if not actually buying one - There's been at least one sale agreed at each one so far this year) - UK league schedules are here :

http://www.ukpinballleague.co.uk/schedule.php

Its got the next Northern meet as being in Leeds, but I'm pretty sure its actually in Barnton (nr J19 M6/ J10 M56). I'm sure someone else can confirm for sure though
 
johnwhitfield said:
Don't get too hung up on what machine to buy. You'll love it, play it to death and then get bored of it.;)

The good news is that it shouldn't depreciate massively, so when you're bored change it to something else.

When the time comes buy from this forum or the Yahoo group. That way you shouldn't get stung.

ebay can be risky and whatever you do don't buy from Pinball Paradise........

Have you checked out the Northern League yet? Good place to start and play a range of machines.
Click to expand...
whats the northern leauge?
 
cooldan said:
You can get an old 'EM' (electromechanical) one for about 3-400, maybe even less. They look fantastic but they're a bit slow compared to the modern ones so they're not everyone's cup of tea.

For about 500-800 you can either get an early 'solid state' one (uses a computer) or even one of the early or less popular DMD (dot matrix display) ones. Anything by Data East is cheap apart from Guns N Roses.

The most popular are the most expensive- DMD games from 1990 on, by Bally Williams. These start at about 7-800 and go all the way up to about £6K.

Indy500 and Corvette should both be obtainable for about a grand, maybe 1100 or so these days. Great games. Welcome dude. Definitely take Dazza's advice (replicas) and get over to someone's house for a look see and meet some peeps.
Click to expand...

Cooo, look at Dan giving out the good advice.:p
 
Getaway aka HS2 is fab and should be waaaay under a grand. 800 if you buy off someone that's not looking to make money.

Data East made loads of fantastic DMD games but for some reason remain less popular (maybe because the spare parts cost more and are less available) so they are a great place to start in the hobby.
 
Providing someone in the know tagged along to check out that DH it may be worth a punt even if the guy has established a bad rep on here.
 
Last edited:
Yep, The Getaway High Speed 2 or Judge Dread would be good starter machines IMO for your budget. As Replicas said, get over this way and play some machines to get a feel for what you like. I'm between Preston and Blackpool. It's a slippery slope buying pinball machines y'know ! :). Hope you have room to expand.....
 
Judge Dreads said:
Providing someone in the know tagged along to check out that DH it may be worth a punt even if the guy has established a bad rep on here.
Click to expand...

Indeed - as has been discussed in much depth on here, some members have had a very poor buying experience with this seller, others have been fine. Viewing before buying always recommended.
 
This list might be useful if you are just starting out: http://pinside.com/pinball/top-100.

Don't pay too much attention to the ranking (it's obviously people's opinions, and new pins tend to go to the top of the list because they have an average rating equal to whatever the first person to review it entered - like 10/10). It's also far from exhaustive, and doesn't contain many data east games, but gives you an idea and some other people's comments to read.

Like John said earlier though, the pin you choose doesn't matter that much really, because you'll most likely swap it for another in a few months irrespective of whether you love it or hate it. :)
 
Fish Tales is a good starter machine, fairly easy to maintain, and quite cheap for a classic. Usually go for around 800-1100 depending on condition. Quite a few about although not seen any for sale for a bit.
 
Hi, im prety new to the world of pinball and got my first table bought for me back in November for my birthday. I got an Operation Thunder by Gottlieb which doesnt seem to common over here but seem popular in the states, personally i love it, i have played loads of pins before and some of the top pins i didnt like as much as the one i have now. So i would definetly recommend playing afew and take what people say as just a rough guide, how you take to a certain pin theme in my opinion can mean alot (i dont like Adams family whenever i have played that, granted i have only played it on 3 occassions but i never liked the films and so it all just grates on me).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom