Buying Your First Pinball Machine

This presentation will tell you everything you need to know before buying your first pinball machine!
Created by Tim Showalter and produced by MarcoTV for California Extreme Digital 2020
Shop Marco Pinball, your one-stop everything pinball shop!
www.marcopinball.com

[@tomdryan]

Great info. Thanks guys (and girl). Wish I would have watched this prior to jumping in with both feet -- buying 2 pinball machines (and an arcade machine) at once. Still trying to get them all working 100% six months later.

[@jaydestone54]

I probably won't be able to afford my first machine for a couple more years, but thank you so much for all this information. I loved this video.

[@jonbrantleymusic]

I am so glad I watched this video. My comfort level with my purchase is way up after watching this. Thank you very much!

[@jeremiahm1413]

Being in the hobby 10 years now, this was a VERY informative video and a pleasure to watch. Thank you for making this; it was very well done!

[@Mo_Ketchups]

Invaluable information well conveyed. This should have thousands of likes. It’s funny to see these prices spoken of here TODAY. 😅 Addam’s Family for $6k 👀 If only I had a time machine. 🤦‍♂️ Marco’s ROOLZ!!! 😄🤟🤟

[@magsblack8344]

This is simply an outstanding video. Educational, interesting for novice through advanced pinheads. I’ve watched the whole thing twice today alone. Just bought my second machine, a Lethal Weapon 3 (it’s okay to laugh). All info is spot on. Thank you!

[@MarcoPinball]

thank you for the great review!! Congrats on getting a LW3! What was your first pin?

[@magsblack8344]

@@MarcoPinball You’re welcome! Well deserved. My first pin has been in my family since 1976. It’s a 1956 Gottlieb wood rail called Auto Race. Suffice to say the rule set isn’t exactly complicated.

[@magsblack8344]

@marco pinball Well, as much as I really enjoyed the mesmerizing eyes of Mel Gibson, I decided to trade it for a Dr. Dude (I added some cash). After that, I had a chance to pickup a World Poker Tour for under $3k, and absolutely LOVE IT. I wanted a deep ruleset and LOTR was out of my budget (and TBH, not a big fan of the theme). When Tim mentioned his “addiction”, that really resonated. I know I’m addicted!

[@buncho64]

Very good and useful video, thanks.

[@paulmcphillips48]

Thanks for the great info, I’m in search of my first pinball machine and stumbled across this video . I live in the north bay so I will definitely be checking out pirate pinball, ideally I’d like the new Led Zeppelin Premium despite the mixed reviews I love the theme and it seems to have very smooth gameplay. Not sure I’ll be able to convince my wife of investing this much in my new found passion project so may need to find something used that I can lean into my engineering background to work on, seems fun!

[@redraccoondog7821]

Noob here, when you replace a playfield, does that also mean disconnecting and removing all the electronics underneath the table?

[@milesbennetdyson5]

I've seen closing businesses sell games as well.

[@RetroCarsForever]

Awesome info, thank you.

[@808zhu]

Thanks. I'm on my 4th already

[@ryaninSartell]

I had no idea the batteries should be changed annually. Battery acid leaks would be expensive. Thank you!

[@freddierodriguez2608]

Great, great informative video guys. My first played pin machine was Evil Knievel and I never thought I'd own one but recently I purchased 6 brand new pins ( remake attack from mars and monster bash, stern deadpool pro, avengers IQ premium, JJ guns & roses LE and jerasic par) but I have no idea how I'm going to service them lol although I'm not scared me being an aircraft technician (military helicopters' tech now). Now after acquiring this new machines I'm going to start collecting a couple of older versions due to nostalgia and lower costs to grow the collection and my goal is to have a total of 20 machines. In the end learn to service them on my own.

[@MarcoPinball]

Welcome to the club! As far as we know, pinball machines are basically helicopters without turbine engines, so you should be OK. We are excited to be part of your pinball journey!

[@freddierodriguez2608]

@@MarcoPinball yeah. Thank you.

[@vita-girl4345]

This video was fun and educational:)

[@michaelj.kastner5165]

Buy a DEADPOOL!!!!!! You can thank me later

[@julz19]

Do people/companies still make pinball machines? Or are they like old consoles? Where it's only available on 2nd hand markets?

[@Roadsurfer2k11]

astonishing nobody answered this. Stern is the major supplier out of the original big names. Chicago is back to making new remakes of classics. A few 3rd party players like Jersey Jack, Pinballs Bros and Spooky create their own. American Pinballs makes some good ones. Price is high now, but that's cost of new tech now

[@tyriedle2658]

I play pinball on xboxs

[@cpalmermn]

And...3 years later, can't find an Addams for less than 10K!

[@frostyjim2633]

This probably has a lot of information since it's an hour and a half long. I wonder what any of it is

[@MarcoPinball]

watch it and find out! :D

[@joshowens2219]

Wanting to buy a NEW pinball machine but seems like every youtuber has something bad to say about everyone out there.

[@ts4z]

Never read the comments (except this one). A lot of the new games are good -- try playing them and pick favorites!

[@moobutt]

BUY NEW! Don’t buy a cheap 40 year old pin that WILL break! Unless you’re really good at electrical work. I made that mistake. Luckily I was told about a local guy that helped me out. If wanna constantly fix stuff, buy old. If you actually want to play pinball, buy new.

[@Roadsurfer2k11]

doing both lol, restoring a 1984 bally . I can tell you though learning to repair old makes you very familiar when something goes bad on new. Zero experience on pins but mechatronics background. Just wish they were affordable lol