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What would you get?

PAX

PAX

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Dec 28, 2020
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Thetford
Tentatively considering a NIB purchase (first and probably last) but with a good crop of decent pins available I'm procrastinating. Narrowed it down to:
AIQ
IM
ELVIRA HOH
ST
JP
Vallhala
Mando

And before anyone says it, I can't have one of each 😉
 
Pins are pretty subjective. People will tell you what they like but that won't necessarily align with your tastes.

What do you look for in a pin?
 
You won't be disappointed with any of the 3 Elwin games. Unless you're a Star Wars freak, would personally avoid Mando.
 
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JP, Elvira & AIQ are top games. Obviously Elvira & AIQ are easier to shoot than JP so it depends how good a player you are.

Maybe JP might compliment your Hobbit as it will be shorter games times than the others?
 
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PAX said:
Tentatively considering a NIB purchase (first and probably last) but with a good crop of decent pins available I'm procrastinating. Narrowed it down to:
AIQ
IM
ELVIRA HOH
ST
JP
Vallhala
Mando

And before anyone says it, I can't have one of each 😉
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Can you get to London? The arcade near Russell Square station has ST, JP2 and Mando, and there are multiple copies of AIQ floating around (FlipOut, Chief Coffee).

I'm sure other places have pins too - there seem to be a fair few venues dotted around the country. You can look on the Pinside.com map.
 
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Play as many as you can and play them several times. if you get lucky on a single first game you’ll fall in love with the pin forever. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what you buy, cos you’ll either love it and keep it and make room for more, or get bored and swap it for another and still make room for some more. A pinball is not a dog: it’s not for christmas and it certainly isn’t for life.
A pinball is not a wife, it’s not even a girlfriend, it’s at best a casual fleeting **** buddy, that soon turns into a 3-sum then full blown group sex—— Just decide if you like em thin or wide bodied. 😂😂😂
 
I have not played them all, but from the ones I have, I would vote Stranger Things, but of course it’s all horses for courses. However, I would recommend playing as many as you can.

Of the machines I have had (and it’s not as many as most of this forum), the ones I ones I have loved the most were the ones that I played before buying.
 
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JAG555 said:
I have not played them all, but from the ones I have, I would vote Stranger Things, but of course it’s all horses for courses can do I would recommend playing as many as you can.

Of the machines I have had (and it’s not as many as most of this forum), the ones I ones I have loved the most were the ones that played before buying.
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Yeah, it’s totally subjective.

I think Mando is mediocre, love JP2 and would like Stranger Things if I’d never played AFM or MM (which are basically the same pin). I can imagine others will swear blind that Mando is the best thing ever or that ST is nothing like AFM/MM.

So, definitely play before buying. Personally, my favourite out of the modern Sterns I’ve played is Godzilla followed by JP2.
 
I’m amazed his JP’s haven’t gone despite the £400 difference. Can’t see the end of supply chain issues- think 2022 will be the year where delays really affect distributors like PH. They effectively aren’t making any more money from pins as Coin stealer has upped the cost & they won’t get as many sales as all distributors are talking about having their orders cut by Stern
 
Go to Tilt or somewhere similar
It’s a lot of money to spend based on other people’s feedback.
Especially if you can only afford / have room for one you need to make sure you like everything about it, or at least know what you don’t like and prepare to accept it before you’re stuck with it.
Personally I just can’t get on with cartoony / comic book stuff but I know a lot of those tables play really well so if I got one I’d have to suffer the theme.
Some themes grow on you but all the ones that have I didn’t hate to begin with.
Ideally for a single pin I’d need it to tick all of my personal boxes - like the theme, like the look of it, has to have at least one exceptional shot that is rewarding to hit over and over and have a good depth of play.
The hobbit was great but games too long and no way I would ever complete it.
A lot of great pins aren’t deep enough and get old really quick, but only you will know what you like and also your ability will dictate how far you will progress on a game and how quickly.
 
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Fenny said:
Only 400 more ?
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Let’s face it- how long will it be before Stern Jack up their prices again? Stern are letting distributors set the price on Elvira 40th Anniversary editions. They’ll not be cheap!
 
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Sven Normansson said:
Elvira. Avoid elfin games unless you are a shooting god. Mando is solid as is turtles.
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Yeah, here’s what I mean about opinions :)

I’m a terrible pinball player. I love JP2 and Godzilla (both Keith Elwin designs). Can’t get into Mando and TMNT at all, despite trying and despite being a fan of both TV shows.

My just-turned-five-year-old son’s favourite modern Stern is Godzilla followed by JP2 followed by Mando. Much as I love him, he is not a pinball shooting god (yet, at least).

I find that Keith Elwin has much fresher designs than most of the old guard. Many of the other pins feel like a remake of an older (typically, cheaper) title :(
 
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PAX said:
Tentatively considering a NIB purchase (first and probably last) but with a good crop of decent pins available I'm procrastinating. Narrowed it down to:
AIQ
IM
ELVIRA HOH
ST
JP
Vallhala
Mando

And before anyone says it, I can't have one of each 😉
Click to expand...

whatever you do don't go to the London place until after the end of November otherwise you'll end up buying Thunderbirds. They also don't have EHOH or IMDN.

PAX: I've got all those games except Valhalla but honestly wouldn't pick that as a game to buy, and if you wanted to pop over to play them happy for you to come down. Its a trek but I'd really recommend you play them. Kirk has some of them in Tilt, Flip Out has some of them also or you can goto the place pinball machines go to die.

At the outset though it very much depends on what game you want to buy:

Elwin games are fantastic but JP2 is not for everyone, of all the Elwin games JP2's have been re-sold the most. I would definitely play this as much as you can before buying - its a fantastic game if you are decent at pinball and can put the effort in to get good on the shots. It can be super frustrating though.

Elvira/ST~ are very similar games both fan layout both slightly easier on the player but both fantastic to play. Elvira is more pricey though but alot of fun. if you can stretch to Elvira then AIQ Premium becomes a distinct possibility:

AIQ is a fantastic game, huge depth but (and watch all the pro owners disagree with me) but without the Captain Marvel ramp the game isn't as anywhere near as good so you really really want a premium (£ more).

IMDN another fantastic game and challenging - if you like IM then I'd consider it for sure, but you can probably pick up a decent one used and save some dough lots to do and again will keep you busy for along time.

Mando is a very different game with early code but its developing well with how you have to link the modes missions multi balls together to score big points on it
 
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