The adventure of your first pinball purchase.

[Caveoftreasures]

I have bought from EVERY QLD dealer. Things have changed for the worse from a few years ago.

Most of the machines now are real shitters, at huge prices with lousy work done on them. A few of the Qld dealers now have ego's the size of a bus with quite a few loyal followers who fight over the contents of the arriving containers like seagulls do over chips down at the beach.    These C grade machines are tarted up for profit only, with mostly bodgy work done, then sold off to the unsuspecting general public. A shame really.

Trust me, Melbourne is still far better to buy any pinball from, not withstanding some people dont like some of the dealers down there as well. Melbourne is still the place to buy ya first or 10th pinball from. 

[wizo]

Any links to Melbourne dealers sites Cave?

cheers!

[Caveoftreasures]

mark c is www.pinballspareparts.com.au

the other guys shld be able to throw in the website for
Bumper Action
Rob from Bikecity
and Oscar who also has containers. I am rushing out the door n i am late so i will get the other adresses tonight if someone hasnt done it. 

just look around the three or 4 melb dealers, u will find a good deal 4 sure. so many pins to chose from.

brett 

[ajlaird]

I have purchased 3 container pins. The important thing with any pinball machine is to check it out, play it as much as you can within reason, and make sure the price is right.

Dealers have to make money, pay staff, probably pay rent as well, so the price has to be higher than some looking to cover the cost for their container to arrive in Australia. Sometimes dealers will let machines go cheap just to keep the cash-flow going, or just to move some on untouched, but for better quality machines you will be paying good money.

[erx400]

Well I decided I wanted to buy my first pinball back in 2001. I called up a local area op in the hope he'd have a TZ.
The op didn't have a TZ so I decided to buy an IJ which cost $1500. Back then there was very little info on how to restore/shop
a pinball but I find a txt shop out guide online someone wrote & managed to restore the IJ.
Will never forget the day when the op pulled up in the driveway with Indy sitting in the back of his ute.

[Timelord]

IJ was my first purchase as well, I picked it up about 7 years ago at the (infamous) Perth pinball auction. I remember the look on the delivery guys face when he looked at the 20 stairs we had to carry it up at home. Lucky I was trained in CPR 

[indazone gav]

IJ was my first pin too. :) Still have it but will be selling it soon.

[Jango]

I bought my 1st pin early last year.  My kids are mad Mario Bros fans and I wanted a Mario pin but the large blue ones were not really around at the time in great condition.  I ended up buying the small yellow Mushroom World pin.  It was in not bad condition and I had it serviced etc but it was just such a boring pin to play with such a tiny playfield.  For my 2nd pin, I was then referred by a forum member to a guy who was selling a Super Mario Bros pin in superb condition.  After inspecting it I bought it on the spot.  I have done quite allot of work on it (Leds, Cliffy posts and protectors, fully cleaned upside and underside etc ).  Then I sold the yellow Mushroom World for a fantastic price.  In June this year I purchased the 1st of 2 x Bally Space Invaders Machines after not seeing one in over 20 years.  It was a favourite from when I was a kid at school.  I am cleaning both up now and almost finished semi restoring these. In early January, I should be taking delivery of my fully restored T2 that Tim is doing for me from Pinball Tales (Hot Rodded Pins).  The progress thus far is just out of this world!!.  I just cannot believe that this pin is / was 20 years old.  Again the T2 is a machine I have not played in 20 years when I was a kid.  I have not had any bad experiences at all and have had a tonne of assistance from this site and members from this site.  Its a fantastic resource.

[RottyGuy]

My first pinball was bought via an ebay auction without any inspection or even knowing anything about the game. All i went by was the sellers
feedback. All worked out good in the end and i've since bought pins from dealers and private forum members. ( and as it turns out sold a pin on
ebay to a guy who is a member on this forum, didn't know that at the time ).

I've bought from Mark C, Pinball Shed, Gameworx and privately off forum members. All have been a positive experience.

[oldskool1969]

It was August 1995 and I had finally taken the biggest plunge of my life  , i had just bought my humble abode and invited many guests to come and break in my man cave .
As luck would have it it coincided with finding a real EM gem . I was travelling around a fairly new Perth suburb ( I was a sparky then ) when a  glimpse of a fairly familiar shape caught my eye and instantly drew me to her . She was unloved and laying under a dirty stained sheet in the corner of a carport screaming to be fondled . Well I knocked and knocked and no one was home , undeterred I left my number in the letterbox hoping that the abusive owner might want to part ways . A few days had passed and no avail ! It was getting closer to my home open and I new I needed a toy or gimmick to get things swinging and was not confident of getting her . Then it rang , I picked it up and a bloke said $150 bucks mate if ya keen . Hell yeah and I was around that night . A bit of rubbing and cleaning is all it need to get her going , it is a 1971 - EM 2001 Gottlieb BEWDY !
Well a few years have passed now and I hope to restore her soon and get her as close to new as I can go . Have nought a few more pinnies since then when the $$$ permits but looking forward to playing her again with 2 inch flippers and 20 , yes 20 drop targets and a so called futuristic theme , look it up some time as it will give you a chuckle .

boy did I draw that out ha ha

[Flynnyfalcon]

  Great read.

[Retropin]

1st pin was back in about '92. Used to play plenty of pinball in my favourite pub in south London. Im sitting there talking crap with this guy and off the top of my head say " id love to own a pinball".
His reply was.." ive got one in the shed.. it doesnt work, but its yours if you want it.. just come and pick it up and you can have it for free".
Within an hour i had me and a mate with a van at this guys shed...loaded up the pinny... carried it up 3 flights of stairs to my 1 bed flat and plugged her in... fuse blew.
20 mins later i had fixed my first EM game and we were flipping.
As soon as the guy heard i had it running he demanded 100 quid off me... told him to piss off.. it was free.
I ended up importing the machine after i emigrated and had it for a few years.. was an immaculate machine. Eventually sold it off which was hard and cannot for the life of me remember what i bought in its place... been too many machines since then.
Machine  can be seen here..

http://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?any=travel+time&search=Search+Database&searchtype=quick#2637

[vinito]

I'll start with my first exposure to a pin in a home instead of an arcade because that was where the seed was sown.

I friend of mine used to do auto-body work and he took a pin in on trade for labor from his boss. It was an EM with some kind of card theme but I don't remember which one it was. I'm pretty sure it was a Gottlieb. I am a machinist and he needed a post. This was about '94 so internet parts sources didn't exist. So I turned a match for him on the lathe - an easy project. I guess that's all it needed because we played tons of games on it for several weeks afterward. Anyways, I always thought it would be cool to have a pin at home after that.

So a decade or so later I was driving home from a visit to see Mom the day before trash pickup and a guy had a pin and old vid out at the curb. I got out and looked at it and it was all there even though it was dirty and didn't work. It was a Game Plan "Sharpshooter" which was a game I remembered playing back when they were new. I figured I could give a stab at making it work or just haul it out to my curb if I failed. So I get home and immediately find that Clay's repair guides (R.I.P.) showed detailed methods of fixing them and there was even a Game Plan pinball site of its own. The interwebs is handy after all ! Then I found some parts sources and started making lists of what I needed. Long story short, it was up and running after a while despite myself. That pin is now at a cousin's house and still being enjoyed.

This is it (my actual machine - not lifted from the web)

See more here:

p.s. By the way, I left the vid there that day. It was more "gone", I had no clue how to start figuring it out, and I enjoy pins more anyway.

[ktm450]

Great stories 

[Crashramp]

I purchased my first machine from a melbourne container importer only a matter of weeks ago, over the phone, site unseen and with no clue as to what to expect condition wise for my money (pretty smart hey!). Like Swinks it was an early 40th present from my wife. Anyway i was on ebay saw the DE Starwars that my mates and I use to give a caning to back in the early 90's and sentimentality got the better of me and I had to have it. Although it's had acouple of problems, I have no regrets, I've got the game I loved, the problems can be fixed and more importantly my wife loves it too! She's even said it looks alittle lonely and we need acouple more. 
 My future pinball plans  involve getting this one working properly, then get it back to new or better condition and in the mean time play some more machines and take my time purchasing my next one.