Pinball Guidance Request

[Metal Ghost]

Hello all....and thanks in advance for any insight you might have.

 

I'm thinking of getting a pin for my basement in the next year or so. I know nothing really about pinballs. So for the time being I really just want to learn and do some research on what direction I want to go in. So for example, at this point I may want to go with a 30+ year old table, or the new Big Lebowski table. I'm just not sure!

 

I think in the end I'm going to try and find a balance of high-tech and advanced feature goodness with retro and value in the mix as well. So for example the pinball-2000 platform has me intrigued, though I've done no research yet on price, availability and maintainability.

 

So to start:

• Is there a Pinball-centric website and set of forums anyone would suggest I try out?
  • I may finally register on the Retro Gaming Roundup forums. I've listened to their podcasts for years and the Mike in Virginia seems to know a lot about pins, but I'm guessing there has to be an AtariAge of pinballs out there somewhere (maybe this forum is it! .
• I'm still reading through Marty and Curt's Atari book and just hit the 'Balls of Steel' chapter Any thoughts on Atari pins? Were they pretty advanced for the time, or just ho-hum?

Sorry for all the newb questions, but I appreciate getting the education I need on this. Thanks!

[Austin]

1. Pinball focused website: http://www.pinside.com/. The people there can be extremely helpful and you can find info on just about any game in existence there. The crowd can be a little.. bipolar, if you will--lots of infighting and bickering from a semi-elitist crowd (that is ironically mostly terrible at actually playing the game), but if you need tips on how to fix something, get some gameplay videos or see what the going rates are for machines, you can't really beat it.

 

2. Atari pins - I haven't actually played any myself (oh wait, Hercules! So that makes one), but I have heard Atari pins are generally kind of average compared to the popular Bally, Williams and Gottlieb machines from the same time period.

 

3. Figure out what you really want and how much you are willing to spend. Something to keep in mind is while an older game might be cheaper, it might also get boring a lot faster. For instance, I have a row of pre-1986 games right now on loan to me (I had to sell off my modern Stern machines unfortunately), and I really only play them once a week or so. And when I do, I play a few games then call it a day. When I had my Sterns (and at one point a Bally/Williams DMD, Doctor Who), I was playing nearly daily, and my gameplay sessions were pretty long. Newer games are super addictive, have big, booming sound effects, great light shows and deep rules. Older games often get repetitive after a while, so this is something to consider. They also tend to be more luck oriented and if you're just learning how to play a later game (late '80s and on) might be a better pick for your first machine. Of course, there are always exceptions and your tastes may vary.

 

4. Pin 2K machines are cool, but they might not make a great "first machine". It might be better to start off with something more traditional for troubleshooting purposes. The Pinball 2000 machines have specialized parts that are difficult to find replacements for when they go bad. Star Wars in particular is also kind of lacking from a gameplay perspective, so it might get boring. Revenge From Mars is a genuinely good game, lots of stuff to do and it has some great humor, but again, these machines might be difficult to find replacement parts for if something goes wrong with one of the computer components (or the monitor).

 

5. When looking to buy a machine, post something here before you do. Some of us have been in it for a while now so we can let you know if what you are paying is above typical market value. Don't want to get ripped off when buying a machine! These aren't console video games so you could easily end up spending more than a few hundred dollars (or more) than you need to if you don't know what you are doing!

 

6. When looking to buy something, avoid eBay. I'd recommend scoping out Craigslist, the PinSide market forum and its own Marketplace section of the site (two separate areas--not all machines are listed in both areas). Also, try the Mr. Pinball classifieds (http://www.mrpinball.com).

[Metal Ghost]

@Austin - THANK YOU! Very much appreciated. I'm going to be taking this pretty slow, but now I have the additional sources of information that I really needed. I'll definitely be sure to post here as well before I pull the trigger on anything. Your points about the pre-'86 games kind of confirms my uneducated gut feeling as well. I like the idea of having an older and/or Atari pin, but I was looking at the playfields on line and they didn't look all that interesting to me (given what I've seen on newer pins at least). So that insight too probably helps direct my attention towards the later pins.

[Austin]

@Austin - THANK YOU! Very much appreciated. I'm going to be taking this pretty slow, but now I have the additional sources of information that I really needed. I'll definitely be sure to post here as well before I pull the trigger on anything. Your points about the pre-'86 games kind of confirms my uneducated gut feeling as well. I like the idea of having an older and/or Atari pin, but I was looking at the playfields on line and they didn't look all that interesting to me (given what I've seen on newer pins at least). So that insight too probably helps direct my attention towards the later pins.

 

No problem, glad I could help. Don't get me wrong, older games are great. I just may recommend getting into them after you already have a newer one (that is, if you ever wish to eventually expand the collection to more than one game). To me they are inherently less interesting from a gameplay standpoint than newer games, but if you have a newer machine already then they balance out the collection very well. For instance, you won't always want to step up to a modern machine and have a 30 minute game, sometimes you just want to have a few games that are two or three minutes a pop and that's where the classics work really well (of course, again, there are always exceptions and it depends on tastes, I know people with dozens of machines and they are all classic early solid states or electro mechanical machines).

[+GoldenWheels]

Thanks from me too--I am also just now at a point where this is something I may get into (I finally have the room and the cash). And had no clue where to start!

[chas10e]

last year I went to "Pintastic New England" expo in Sturbridge Mass.

 

http://www.pintasticnewengland.com/

 

most all machines were for sale & on free-play ... I didn't make a purchase at the time but since then bought 3 tables (so far ) got a good idea of my likes & dis-likes , price ranges ect.

 

there is more info also at pinside for hotel reservations & whatnot should you plan a vacation around it

[S1500]

Avoid Pin2000 games for your first one. There's some locked-down technology, should it fail(or, when) is going to be difficult to get after-market parts for

 

Don't get an Atari pin. Most pin repair guys won't touch 'em due to lack of knowledge. I know. I had a broken Atari pin I eventually gave away after failing to fix.

 

pinside.com is a wealth of information. It's the atariage of pinball, but watch out for drama & excessive posting. Austin hit the nail on the head.

[Austin]

Was this thread really made in 2014? Sheesh... how time flies. Metal Ghost, did you ever get a machine?