Welcome to Aussie Pinball!!
Games from the late 80's and especially 90's will generally have less issues overall as some of the earlier solid state games had board issues, and most will need upgrades of electronic and electrical items (such as replacements of pins/headers/connectors) unless the game comes from a collector who has done this work. An early 80's game that has been sorted can be as reliable as a later one.
As for not wanting a game that destroys you - I wouldn't worry too much. You will learn quickly enough, and things like outlanes are normally adjustable on the later games, so you can set them small (easy) until you get better, and open them up to increase the challenge as your skills improve. You can also increase things like ball save times and number of balls to give you more practice, and many other adjustments can be set to "easy" to make the game easier to master. Personally, I'd leave things at factory settings - the game will be at home and free, so just keep practicing!
Budget is usually an issue - there are a lot of less sought after games (Data East and Sega in particular), some of which are good players.
