HOW DO U BUY MACHINES ? ? ?

[Caveoftreasures]

It occured to me tonight, that every single pinball machine I have purchased (25 or more pins) that i purchased every single machine without ever playing that title before, or even the machine in question, without EVER playing it. The reason i did this, was that i had a theory that you cant judge a game by only playing a few games on it. Sure, i checked out the condition, asked questions etc, but waited til i got the machine home, then played my first ever game then and there, once it was set up.

I said to someone, it was like going on 25 blind dates, and ending up with a beautiful woman, every time.

These are the titles i bought, without ever having played a game.

Batman Forever (Sega, 1995)
Bugs Bunny's Birthday Ball x 2 (Bally, 1991)
Dirty Harry (WMS, 1995)
Fish Tales (WMS, 1992)
Freddy: A Nightmare On Elm Street (GTB, 1994)
Godzilla (Sega, 1998)
Independence Day (Sega, 1996)
Jurassic Park, The Lost World (Sega, 1997)
Last Action Hero (DE, 1993)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Sega, 1995)
No Fear: Dangerous Sports (WMS, 1995)
Popeye Saves The Earth (Bally, 1994)
Space Jam (Sega, 1996)
Star Trek 25th Anniversary x 2 (DE, 1991)
Star Trek: The Next Generation x 2 (WMS, 1993)
Star Wars Trilogy (Sega, 1997)
Starship Troopers (Sega, 1997)
Tales From The Crypt (DE, 1993)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (DE, 1991)
The X Files (Sega, 1997)
Twister (Sega, 1996)
Viper Night Drivin' (Sega, 1998)
WWF Royal Rumble (DE, 1994)

There was one exception, I did play Beaky's Black Knight 2000, but had purchased one as well from Mark, before ever playing it. Based on Andy's word, i took the plunge.

How do u guys buy/choose pins. Do u play a title, or do u just pick n pray like I have.

I would be interested to see other peoples unique ways of buying pinballs.  

[Pop Bumper Pete]

I stopped playing pinballs in arcades in the mid 80’s
So, all my DMD’s were bought blind

But games earlier than that I seem to be getting games I did play in my youth
I guess I am trying to recreate my childhood


I have been to a Bumper Action auction, where you can play before the auction starts
I have also been to an open day at Mark C’s
Both times I got to have a few games, but you can only really get a feeling for the game
But it was usually enough to know that I did not like the game

And you cannot play a new Stern before you order it ;)

[Extra Ball]

I stopped playing pinballs in arcades in the mid 80’s

So did I.

I bought my blackrose without ever playing a DMD pin. The first FT I bought was the very machine I played on site.

[goodolddays]

I stopped playing pinballs in arcades in the mid 80’s

Me too. My 2 early SS (Firepower and Tri Zone) I played in my youth in the arcades, the rest are EM's from the Era I remember playing.
I'm still yet to play my 1st game on Lady Luck (1968) , hope to in the next week or so (waiting on some parts to finish the resto).

So my current collection is really about representing the years I played lots of pinball. 

[Chad]

my first pin, a Black Pyramid was brought unsighted but I played this a lot in my youth.

Twilight Zone I brought after a hand full of games, didn't play enough games on it to decide if I like it or not, got it anyway and it turned out to be a great game.

IMO if you spend enough time on a pin you will generally end up enjoying in

[Mr Pinbologist]

Most of the machines i own are the result of either stumbling across them by accident, or being told about them by other people.. and me deciding to buy them

Though lately my focus has turned more to games i played in my younger days. All but three of my games fall into that category, so its really by pure luck that most of them are games from my youth.

[63wizz]

Ive had 7 machines so far and i have never played any of them before buying.

but so far ive enjoyed every game for various reasons, and its hard to decide which machine to part with when the time comes.

Ian

[Strangeways]

Lucky for me - I've been around pins all my life, and I've played 80% of the late 60's, 70's and 80's pins. I did "inherit" 30 or so machines from the "old days" and I restored and sold around 20. I used to buy them off eBay (when they were cheap) and by word of mouth. I don't really care what the title is - although I do "target" machines I used to play. I still have a lond "wants list" - and that is reviewed every time I find a machine.

I was never really into DMDs, but I still enjoy working on them and of course, playing them.

These days - "word of mouth" usually lands a few titles every year, and I'm "sitting on" quite a few that I will "one day" buy. I have not bought an eBay pin for 5-6 years.

[ajlaird]

Good question.

Multiple answers for me:-

Remembering machines from my past;
Playing machines in the present at meets (you can really get stuck into a machine for a reasonable period of time if you so choose);
Playing machines on Virtual Pinball;
What other people tell me is good.

[Daring33]

ajlaird mentioned Virtual Pinball, I think that Visual Pinball can be really valuable with regard to rules and especially Sounds/Music.  There has been games that I just wouldn't be able to have in a small collection because the music would drive me nuts, of course in a giant collection it wouldn't matter so much. This program alone, got me back into playing pinball and into buying real machines, and it's what I used to figure out what I liked and didn't like of the DMD era that I missed out on playing in the wild.

[ddstoys]

I buy whatever projects pinballs i can get my hands on

[Retropin]

Most of my machines come to me instead of going to the dump.. its how i started restoration. Once fixed up i either keep em for a bit or move them on. Some ive had for almost 10 years or so, but none of them are absolute keepers.. there is always something on the wish list and thats always changing, so i move one on to gain another, or i just make more room.
So no - most of mine are unsighted and unplayed by myself before i buy, but very few i keep for too long.

Pins i want are a balance of artwork and game play.. also "feel"... i have  a few woodrails.. can honestly say that im not old enough to have played these when they were sited... but i know what i want... i dont need to have played them previously.
Then again.... learn to read a playfield layout .. youd be 80% correct as to whether its a good player or not

[Pop Bumper Pete]

Another thing you can do is ask somebody who owns a game that you are looking to buy

When I got LOTR, I was a bit afraid that it was a long and dreary game to play (Like the movies)
So I asked on RGP about ‘if it was a ‘fun’ title to play?’
Still bought it anyway ;)

When I heard someone was bringing in a bunch of Sys11, I narrowed down their selection to Whirlwind or Earthshaker
Once again I posted on RGP and another forum I use, over which game to choose
The verdict was both games are winners

Curious about Fathom, same deal, posted here to find out if it was a good title, or was it over-hyped?
I will get one, one day


Also, I know the game play that appeals to me.
If a game has a reputation for a ‘deep rule-set’ then I am not interested
I do not want to play one game that lasts more than half an hour

I like pop bumpers, I like it when the ball is bouncing around in a group of them
So if a title has no pops, then it goes from the top of my list

Another thing that will bump a game down the list is if it was designed by Pat Lawlor
Yes, the guy knows how to make a great game, but most of his titles are the same layout, just tweaked a little to make it a bit different

[Pop Bumper Pete]

ajlaird mentioned Virtual Pinball,

I said it before, Visual Pinball sucks ;)

[pinnies4me]

Another thing that will bump a game down the list is if it was designed by Pat Lawlor
Yes, the guy knows how to make a great game, but most of his titles are the same layout, just tweaked a little to make it a bit different

Yeah, somebody else noticed!! I have FH which has all the best of his shots IMO, and ditched TZ a long time ago.. ..

I originally bought the game I played the most during one year of school that was spent more in the pinny parlour than in class. Then I stumbled across an AFM in the local theatre and had to have one, then I bought a project game purely to learn something about them as I had to that date had no issues but was starting to wonder what I'd do if something broke.

After that I started looking for other games I liked in my youth, first being BH (and then following pinrepair.com for all the mods) which lead to interest in system 1 and 80 games, and after that I started just finding games at dealers that seemed interesting and giving them a bit of time to see if they seemed worth having.

Aside from that, I fell in love with BBB on pinmame, which as mentioned is a great way to get a feel for the theme & sounds of a game.