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Hello

D

DeadPin

Registered
Joined
Aug 4, 2024
Messages
18
Location
Dudley
Hi all,

I am from Dudley West Midlands and have recently joined league at Tilt in Birmingham and I am loving pinball.
Ideally would love my own machine but there's no way I could afford one yet. Is there a cheap way to have a machine?
 
Welcome to the forum :thumbs: Cheapest way into real pinball ownership is probably buy an older Electro Mechanical (EM) game, especially if it's non working but depends on your appetite for tinkering :D
 
Great you are on board and enjoying pinball!

Maybe consider renting a machine?
 
ronsplooter said:
Welcome to the forum :thumbs: Cheapest way into real pinball ownership is probably buy an older Electro Mechanical (EM) game, especially if it's non working but depends on your appetite for tinkering :D
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Hi mate, I am completely new so would not have a clue if needed any repairs!
 
You'll need to research on here first and understand the process, what's available, etc and find someone willing to rent you a machine (needs a lot of trust too!), and they may even show you some basic repairs you can do yourself pretty easily. Price varies according to machine, length of time, etc - have a search on the site.

Good luck!
 
Deano79 said:
Hi mate, I am completely new so would not have a clue if needed any repairs!
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Probably don't start with an EM then :thumbs: they can be a lot cheaper but you need to know how to look after them unless you want to pay someone to fix it. In terms of repairs in general, Phil @Pick Holder is in Brum so would be your local repair person if needed.
 
Generally Steve Pagget will only rent machines to people he knows or established members on her.

I would steer any newbie away from an EM. Keep in mind I do repairs and based in Brum but I do not repair EM's on callouts now. So much can go wrong with them.

Any machine will need maintanace. If you hire one it is usually down to the responsibility of the rentee to keep the machine going as well.

I would push you towards a 90s made game, or a mid to late 80s - but again that solid state era will need some love and attention.

If you end up renting - it is usually £100-150 pcm from what I have seen on here. Steve does do free loans if you return say a broken game fully fixed back to him, but that would not be suitable for you.

So if you spent £600 upwards to hire a machine for six months (plus transport charges will also come out of your pocket) - then that will dent your chances of buying something.

Sadly this is now a 'rich mans hobby' - gone are the days you could pick up something for £200. Don't grab a £300 marketplace old EM thinking your 'electrician friend' will get it going. Chances are it is on there because its too expensive to fix.

On occasions I get machines that are £1200 upwards but these are now getting fewer and far between. May be worth dropping me a PM.
 
Pick Holder said:
Generally Steve Pagget will only rent machines to people he knows or established members on her.

I would steer any newbie away from an EM. Keep in mind I do repairs and based in Brum but I do not repair EM's on callouts now. So much can go wrong with them.

Any machine will need maintanace. If you hire one it is usually down to the responsibility of the rentee to keep the machine going as well.

I would push you towards a 90s made game, or a mid to late 80s - but again that solid state era will need some love and attention.

If you end up renting - it is usually £100-150 pcm from what I have seen on here. Steve does do free loans if you return say a broken game fully fixed back to him, but that would not be suitable for you.

So if you spent £600 upwards to hire a machine for six months (plus transport charges will also come out of your pocket) - then that will dent your chances of buying something.

Sadly this is now a 'rich mans hobby' - gone are the days you could pick up something for £200. Don't grab a £300 marketplace old EM thinking your 'electrician friend' will get it going. Chances are it is on there because its too expensive to fix.

On occasions I get machines that are £1200 upwards but these are now getting fewer and far between. May be worth dropping me a PM.
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I think I will stay away from EM's then. I think for when ready a loan machine would be the best option. Thanks
 
Welcome along...

One of the worst thing with EM's, they lived through a time before easy access to parts and information online and can suffer from 'interesting' undocumented repair attempts.
Sub 1k 80s solid state machines do pop up from time to time, but as you can imagine, lots of us are after cheap games, so they tend to go within a few mins.

90s games and the less popular 00s era Sterns start from around 2-2.5k

Have you considered messing around with virtual pinball? Pinball FX is probably the easiest to get going as they have versions for consoles, mobile devices and PC, yeah its not the same.... but its great for learning table rules which if your in a league could be handy.
 
kev a said:
Welcome along...

One of the worst thing with EM's, they lived through a time before easy access to parts and information online and can suffer from 'interesting' undocumented repair attempts.
Sub 1k 80s solid state machines do pop up from time to time, but as you can imagine, lots of us are after cheap games, so they tend to go within a few mins.

90s games and the less popular 00s era Sterns start from around 2-2.5k

Have you considered messing around with virtual pinball? Pinball FX is probably the easiest to get going as they have versions for consoles, mobile devices and PC, yeah its not the same.... but its great for learning table rules which if your in a league could be handy.
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I will look into virtual pinball. I have Williams pinball on my mobile but can only play medieval madness (which is a good game) at the moment ha ha
 
Deano79 said:
I will look into virtual pinball. I have Williams pinball on my mobile but can only play medieval madness (which is a good game) at the moment ha ha
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Yeah that's the one, I think pinball FX is Williams Pinball on mobile, its quite confusing, I believe the latest version "pinball FX" on PC and console is the one with the most realistic physics.
 
kev a said:
Yeah that's the one, I think pinball FX is Williams Pinball on mobile, its quite confusing, I believe the latest version "pinball FX" on PC and console is the one with the most realistic physics.
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Brilliant, I just need to get some more tables unlocked then
 
kev a said:
Yeah that's the one, I think pinball FX is Williams Pinball on mobile, its quite confusing, I believe the latest version "pinball FX" on PC and console is the one with the most realistic physics.
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A good virtual pinball will cost you more than a solid state pinball. The last Vpin I built was about £4500. You can get cheaper ones that are not 4K resolution.

I would say you are best at spending a couple of thousand on a real pin. I would choose that over a vpin any day.

In the ideal world I would say get a real pin and if you can afford a second - get a vpin then.

If you are looking at a 'loan' game then usually on here you need to offer something in return. In the past @steve brum has loaned me a couple of machines but he has known me for 20+ years and they always get returned in a lot better condition than how they are loaned to me. IE cleaned up, LED'ed at my cost, re-rubbered at my cost, but I got an AC/DC pinball on loan for a few months - in trade for my knowledge, labour and £100 in parts - so we both got something out of it.

Plenty of people on here rent games (again Steve is one of them) but you are expected to do maintenance on them if anything goes wrong.

Do not forget now - machines are no longer a few hundred pounds - you are asking someone to loan you something worth thousands.

With loan games/rental games you are also expected to cover the costs of transport if you do not have a suitable vehicle yourself.
 
early 80s sold state can be under 2k. I know that is still a lot of money, but it is quite cheap in the pinball world. They have a lot less moving parts than the newer games so less to go wrong and all the boards are drop-in replaceable with brand-new ones.
 
I only rent modern sterns mainly as most reliable and at the moment everything is out. I'm also committed to having 3 screen based games in pixel bunker Milton Keynes so that also stretches availability
 
steve brum said:
I only rent modern sterns mainly as most reliable and at the moment everything is out. I'm also committed to having 3 screen based games in pixel bunker Milton Keynes so that also stretches availability
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Modern sterns would be good to rent. I would not be ready for a machine yet due to having no space but we are moving house soon so maybe sometime in the future I will look at getting a machine
 
Several sterns will be available from February. Within West Midlands delivery could be done ourselves so cheaper than using Martin
 
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