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zapiy

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Hi all,

Forgive me if this question has been asked before but for a newbie like me what is the cheapest way to get into owning my own pinball machine, which machines are cheapest in good condition? I am an engineer and able to handle a multimeter/scope so fixing a machine up should be relatively easy for me given time lol.. So would that be a good starting point.

Just looking at options at the moment and thanks in advance of any input.

Cheers


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Cheapest is probably to buy a working project

I.E. something that works but needs fixing up, needs new plastics, bulbs or rubbers etc or even needs major work to the cabinet

that way you can enjoy it and fixit up as you go.
If you buy a complete project you would possibly lose interest before you get it working or have to throw money at it.

If your working project has a problem then you can seek advise on here on how to fix it (as you know it worked) if its a total project you might have bits missing or multiple problems etc

Cheers
Ian
 
I got my first machine last year and only found/joined this forum last week. Reading the 'EBay auctions 2015' thread has been a real eye opener and I wouldn't buy from there if I couldn't visit the machine in person first.
 
zapiy said:
Hi all,

Forgive me if this question has been asked before but for a newbie like me what is the cheapest way to get into owning my own pinball machine, which machines are cheapest in good condition? I am an engineer and able to handle a multimeter/scope so fixing a machine up should be relatively easy for me given time lol.. So would that be a good starting point.

Just looking at options at the moment and thanks in advance of any input.

Cheers


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Cheapest way would probably be an old Electro Mechanical machine, but most are more interested in the DMD games and they are more expensive. Maybe tell us your budget and what games might interest you.
 
The cheapest way would actually be to steal one. Some people on here have 10+ machines, so if you stole a 40ft artic. first, and then take along a couple of handy lads, then you could be setup with an amazing collection overnight :D.

But on a more helpful note, and assuming you don't have a particular pin in mind, try and decide on a budget and then place a wanted ad. on here suggesting a price range. I guess £750 - £1000 will get you one of the less popular (but still probably a great play) DMD era pins from the 90s. Less than that....there's been a couple of electromechanical's from the 70's on here for around the £150 mark in the last week, but most people probably aren't looking for an EM. If you still have no idea what you want, you could find your nearest league meet (listed on here somewhere) or (way better) get yourself to one of the shows - I think the next one is in Northwich and it's advertised on here - a bit of a trek for you, but the hotel is cheap and a lot of people on here will travel much further:cool:.
 
Thanks lads I probably want to spend around £1000 but that's for an arcade machine or two and a pinball machine, the garage is due to be converted early April leaving me a small game room so that's where they will go lol.

I would not be picky on the machine for my first one, I loved playing pinball as a kid and always lob some coins in them when I see them in the wild. I am thinking this needs to be a fixer upper lol from above, I could not steal a cold lol so that's out of the question.

Thanks for the advice so far I will look into EM. Sounds like that's a good start also.


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I was fortunate inheriting an SS machine from the early 80s that reflected what I remembered as a kid from the arcades. These are affordable so I guess it depends on your era to some extent.
 
Looking at EM stuff that's right up my street, retro and pinball and equipment under the hood I understand lol.


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You'll struggle to get a DMD machine for less than £900, although there are a few that do come up. EMs can be had for about half of that.
Beware of deciding to getting something too knackered as the cost of doing them up can often exceed the value of the machine in the long run.

Chris B has had a few EMs come up recently and Matt Vince is also a good source of some older machines.

The playfield is the most important thing to check as unless your very good at art touch ups there is little you can do with it.

If possible don't get too caught up in buying a "cheap" machine. Provided you don't pay through the nose for one you should be able to resell it for similar money provided it's a title other people want. Try to think of it more as renting a machine with a ****ing large deposit. No matter how good the game is you'll probably want to change it after 12 months or so.

Good luck with the garage conversion
 
Zapiy. Just beware that with pinball some spares are available, some aren't.

The standard bits like rubbers, balls, coils ..... are easy to get

Bits for certain popular games - Addams Family, Twilight Zone are literally all available as these are highly collectible. At the cheaper end, bits for games like Vector are generally available (not backglasses though) as it has very few game specific parts. But this is not the norm

Game specific parts like plastics, back glasses, unique assemblies can be hard or even impossible for many games. So there are guys who buy a machine in need of parts, add it to their collection of a dozen broken machines, and just leave it in storage waiting years for spares to become available - and it might be buying an identical machine and making two out of one

If you buy an electromechanical game, I would encourage you to get one that is complete. If not you will be posting wanted adverts on websites in the US trying to find parts that are non standard

Before I buy any game, I check to see what parts are available. Though I suspect I am more cautious than most on here.
 
also something to remember, with fixing up, often the hardest parts to replace are the ramps/plastics as quite often (title depending) reproductions or new old stock does not exist. sometimes 'that looks easy to fix' can turn into unobtanium parts required. since you said you know your way around a scope/dmm, the best thing to look for might be something cosmetically great but has broken boards or something. schematics for the boards pretty much exist too so thats helpful.

*edit* I see drd above mostly said the same thing! some good advice there.
 
I did exactly what BigIan suggests.

Got my battered old Rocky & Bullwinkle from Matt Addams off eBay after people on here voucher for both him and the machine. It played fine but needed a bit of TLC and the back end of the cabinet looks like someone has been chewing on it. I think I paid around £600 for it and i've probably spent the same again on various bits and pieces for it over the last year or so. A lot of the stuff hasn't even been fitted yet and the machine is currently in bits.

I'm hoping that as the weather improves i'll manage to finally get it sanded, filled and resprayed ready for the rest of the work to continue. I've been really disappointed that I don't have a garage or workshop where I can do this stuff but to be fair even if I did I still wouldn't want to be sanding in there because of the amount of dust it kicks out. It really is a job which requires the open air and decent weather. Here's hoping I catch a break soon. :)
 
Thanks for the advice guys. Could these parts like the ramps and plastics not be manufactured in some way? Just thinking out loud and I assume these things have been tried before as I am liking the idea of a fixer now lol.
 
Older games don't tend to have ramps. The 1970s games rarely had ramps. The early 80s games tended to have robust metal ramps.

Also, games of this era often had rubber nuts holding the plastics down and I think these have more give so plastics less likely to break than in the mid 80s and later games when the plastics are tightly held down with metal nuts

The real danger zone in my opinion is the mid to late 80s games as these often had plastic ramps, metal nuts holding the plastics down and quite a few game specific parts. The games are not as playable as the 90s games so are not generally that valuable or sought after, so re-manufactured parts are rare

With the 90s games it is hit and miss. Sought after games have loads of spares available but these are outside your budget. Less popular 90s games are all over the place for game specific spares.
 
Sadly I can't get one until I have the garage done the house has became a storage area for my game consoles and computers so I guess this is my learning period, I now have a good idea what I would like, I am thinking an EM that has more onboard features like ramps, and so on so I guess I need to look at those choice of games?


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definitely get to play a few types, as EMs are a completely different kettle of fish.

this is an EM - this is pretty typical as there's no modes or ramps or multiball or toys. this is probably worth about £200-300

by contrast, this is the Flintstones, a SS (solid state) and DMD machine from the 90s, this would set you back £800-1200

check out lots of gameplay and tutorial videos here if you wonder what a game is like: http://papa.org/learning-center/video-resources/video-search/
 
zapiy said:
Sadly I can't get one until I have the garage done the house has became a storage area for my game consoles and computers so I guess this is my learning period, I now have a good idea what I would like, I am thinking an EM that has more onboard features like ramps, and so on so I guess I need to look at those choice of games?


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Click to expand...

You ain't gonna find an em with ramps and loads of features


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Looks like the hobby is out of my budget range, how much is a working SS(IS that the right term) machine that needs a lot of work, but preferably working. I am looking preferably for a late 70's 80's machine.

I am new to all this and just want to dip my toes to some extent and being somewhat short of cash I am looking for pointers.
 
Looks like the hobby is out of my budget range, how much is a working SS(IS that the right term) machine that needs a lot of work, but preferably working. I am looking preferably for a late 70's 80's machine.
Click to expand...

Different games go for different prices so a working but rough early 80's game can be anywhere from £300 all the way up to £1500 and more depending on the title. Popularity and rarity can have a significant effect on the price. Electro Mechanical games can be had for cheaper if that's something you'd be interested in?
 
ronsplooter said:
Different games go for different prices so a working but rough early 80's game can be anywhere from £300 all the way up to £1500 and more depending on the title. Popularity and rarity can have a significant effect on the price. Electro Mechanical games can be had for cheaper if that's something you'd be interested in?
Click to expand...

I am not sure about EM machines tbh. I like the early SS ones, supose it was what I grew up with but I would definately be down the lower end of the prices you mention, if not even below, lol.
 
I am not sure about EM machines tbh. I like the early SS ones, supose it was what I grew up with but I would definately be down the lower end of the prices you mention, if not even below, lol.
Click to expand...

You'll be struggling to find a complete SS machine for under £300. EM's can be had from £50 up to £300 for most although there are some rarer and more collectible ones that go for more. The repair work required to fix an EM is different to a SS game though.
 
i hope you like EMs cos they're cheap - you can pick one up for £100-200. unfortunately they're not to everyone's tastes. i don't like the things, those bastards just chime and then drain and they bore me tbh, but if i'd grown up with them i might feel differently i suppose.

Solid State is everything with a computer in it, so basically everything with a display rather than a reel that goes round with a number on it. SS machines include the numeric displays, alphanumeric, and dot matrix displays (DMDs). You can pick up a solid state machine for £500 and up (don't say a SS, as that gets confused with Scared Stiff or sometimes Space Shuttle or Space Station but usually the former).

DMD is the other main division, and these start at about £600 i suppose if you're lucky, but more realistically about £1000, and go up to the skies. the more popular titles go for 2K and up, the most popular for 4K and up, but NIB games (new in box) are anything from £4500 i think, for the basic model.

the good news is that they all hold their value (except for NIBs of course, like new cars) and slowly go up in value, so we all use this argument to our wives that it's better than money in the bank. most people want DMD games.

what are your favourites?
 
MrSpireite said:
Looks like the hobby is out of my budget range, how much is a working SS(IS that the right term) machine that needs a lot of work, but preferably working. I am looking preferably for a late 70's 80's machine.

I am new to all this and just want to dip my toes to some extent and being somewhat short of cash I am looking for pointers.
Click to expand...
Late 70s, early 80s SS pins are my speciality! Yes, SS is the right term for this era of "Solid State" machines. After Electro-Mechanicals (EM) at around the mid-70s but before the DMD (Dot Matrix Display) games starting in the early 90s.

I've got 3 SS games, all Bally: PARAGON '79, VECTOR '82 and GOLD BALL '83. Both PARAGON and VECTOR were bought as non-working projects from members of this forum for £150 and £125 respectively. Neither worked at all when first powered-up except a few static lights, but it took just a couple of weeks doing a few hours an evening to get both working again. PARAGON is now the subject of a total strip-down restoration and GOLD BALL is having a "flash makeover" to get it into fully playable condition. VECTOR is the only pin I've bought in working condition and I still think it was an absolute bargain for £350 (not sure the seller is a member on here but he's friends with people here and is on the Yahoo ukpinball group). I've fiddled and tweaked a few things on VECTOR (all pins require TLC, even brand new ones) such as flippers, tightening loose screws and nuts, broken wires, lamps, rubbers, bit of polish, etc.

(If you want to see the sort of effort involved have a read through of my Shop Logs linked in my signature below)

Basically, I'd pay around £100-150 for non-worker but where I could see things can be fixed. Ideally a working SS that needs some extra TLC around £200-400, and a good worker around £300-500. But it also depends on the game. VECTOR and GOLD BALL are not classic titles; no one is going to shell out for either of those no matter how good the condition. PARAGON is considered a classic (it narrowly missed be Pinball Arcade's next table) so a good one could be £1,000. Expect to pay silly money for some of the classics though. I've seen a totally trashed project CENTAUR fetch £600!

But one thing I've learnt since getting into pinball less than two years ago is that games are full of surprises. Lesser known titles are still a whole lot of fun to play. And you can use any machine to learn your flipper and nudging skills.
 
ronsplooter said:
You'll be struggling to find a complete SS machine for under £300. EM's can be had from £50 up to £300 for most although there are some rarer and more collectible ones that go for more. The repair work required to fix an EM is different to a SS game though.
Click to expand...

I know I will struggle that's the point, finances dictate plus I am a cheap bastard....
 
Nedreud said:
Late 70s, early 80s SS pins are my speciality! Yes, SS is the right term for this era of "Solid State" machines. After Electro-Mechanicals (EM) at around the mid-70s but before the DMD (Dot Matrix Display) games starting in the early 90s.

I've got 3 SS games, all Bally: PARAGON '79, VECTOR '82 and GOLD BALL '83. Both PARAGON and VECTOR were bought as non-working projects from members of this forum for £150 and £125 respectively. Neither worked at all when first powered-up except a few static lights, but it took just a couple of weeks doing a few hours an evening to get both working again. PARAGON is now the subject of a total strip-down restoration and GOLD BALL is having a "flash makeover" to get it into fully playable condition. VECTOR is the only pin I've bought in working condition and I still think it was an absolute bargain for £350 (not sure the seller is a member on here but he's friends with people here and is on the Yahoo ukpinball group). I've fiddled and tweaked a few things on VECTOR (all pins require TLC, even brand new ones) such as flippers, tightening loose screws and nuts, broken wires, lamps, rubbers, bit of polish, etc.

(If you want to see the sort of effort involved have a read through of my Shop Logs linked in my signature below)

Basically, I'd pay around £100-150 for non-worker but where I could see things can be fixed. Ideally a working SS that needs some extra TLC around £200-400, and a good worker around £300-500. But it also depends on the game. VECTOR and GOLD BALL are not classic titles; no one is going to shell out for either of those no matter how good the condition. PARAGON is considered a classic (it narrowly missed be Pinball Arcade's next table) so a good one could be £1,000. Expect to pay silly money for some of the classics though. I've seen a totally trashed project CENTAUR fetch £600!

But one thing I've learnt since getting into pinball less than two years ago is that games are full of surprises. Lesser known titles are still a whole lot of fun to play. And you can use any machine to learn your flipper and nudging skills.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, a lot of information.

I do like watching a lot of the youtube restore videos.

Really liked the Jungle Lord one that is there

I am sort of looking for a working machine that needs repair a first time, a starter, something to work on and learn the trade.

Hope that sort of makes sense.
 
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