Arcade Collecting > Pinball

Asking for advice from the pinball gurus

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garnerb350:
Hey everybody....I'm almost completed my mame cab and during the times since i have started...I've been slowly more and more interested into buying a pinball machine. I've always played them when i was a child...and now a days you just dont see them anymore...I was hoping if anyone who has experenince in pinball collecting can give me some pointers on what, where, how to begin aon searching and what to look for when it comes to buying a pinball cab. I've checked craigslist and ive seen some sellers , but I couldnt tell ya if the machines are worth the price....I like to get more into this hobbie, but like before , I am new to this....I feel like an orphan 16 year old trying to find and buy a new car after being stranded on deserted island for 15 years...Any advice would help...Thanks

shardian:
There are 2 ways into the pin hobby, and you have to decide which one you want to start with. There are those that enter to learn from the start how to work on them, and those who just want to play - and don't give a crap about what is under the hood.

Which one are you? I decided to buy a junker and force myself to learn everything before I could enjoy my machine. Would I do it again if given a do-over? Darn right I would. Fixing/maintaining a pin can be much more of a time investment than a vid.

ChadTower:

You also have to decide if you just want a game that plays well or if you want a game that looks mint too.  Two different grades of acquisition.

OTTOgd:
I'm pretty much in the same boat as you, garnerb350, except I don`t even have a MAME cab ... yet. I`m getting the pinhead bug too.

I got hooked after I noticed pincabs being built and seeing Hyperspins new HyperPin FE (check out this thread: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=89651.40). I tried some Visual Pinball tables (www.vpforums.net) and started to reminisce. I wanted to find out what tables were highly rated since there are tons of VP tables and ended up on Internet Pinball Database`s Top 300 list (www.ipdb.org). Then I started reading individual ratings/opinions on the pinball machines. I must have played over 75 Visual pinball machines and now I want a real pinball machine ... I think. I haven`t played a `real`pinball in years and was planning on finding one today and even waiting to hear back about a pinball someone has for sale that I could play-test tomorrow. 

If money was no object then I would buy something mint ... or three. But I`m not wealthy and I do enjoy tinkering and a mediocre conditioned table sounds like fun. But a mini-pin like this: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=91235.0 might be uber-cool too.

So much neat stuff and so little time and money.

garnerb350:

--- Quote from: shardian on April 17, 2009, 01:16:00 pm ---Which one are you?
--- End quote ---

I want to be both...greasemonkey and player...When I was in high school back in 90,  I worked at an arcade and I loved to tinker with the shooting gallery and machines when i would collect the money...I was blown away by the old 1950 baseball pinball machines that were there and wondered how they worked... 4 years ago a guy gave me an old pacinko machine and I ended up taking it apart because I wanted to know ....Something about pinball machines make me nostasgic....Plus, just to have Haunted House or Black Lagoon or 6 million $ man sitting in my house would be awesome....

On my mame cab...I have FPinball and VPinball...I loved how people recreated the classic machines...but it is nothing compared to the times hanging out at Pizza Hut and jamming quarters in...



--- Quote from: OTTOgd on April 17, 2009, 03:59:27 pm ---If money was no object then I would buy something mint ... or three. But I`m not wealthy...
--- End quote ---

Yeap OTTOgd...you and me are in the same boat...

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