[kriskrunch]

Get new machines if you can afford them. Stern or Jersey Jack.

90s machines are great, I love them, but they are 30 years old and are not where I recommend anyone to start... My first pin was a fixer upper Twilight Zone. Learn from my mistake! Haha

The most challenging part is the maintenance, especially the classics. Owning several machines taught me to fix them. My newer machines broke less often...

Every time I threw a decent party I'd end up buying minimum $200 in parts and spending half a day fixing them.

Lord of the Rings is one of my all time favorites. I highly recommend it. It's not ancient, and the game is really deep. It's pretty easy to work on and fix. Make sure you protect the plastics, I couldn't find after market ones. The Wizard mode is extremely satisfying because it is super difficult to achieve... There are a couple fun special modes you can unlock.

On modern solid state pins, you can adjust the difficulty settings to make the game more fun for friends.

[goldenjm]

Thanks for the great advice. LotR is actually my single favorite pinball game and I've played it a ton, mostly at Pinball Pete's in Ann Arbor. But, I've played it so much that I would probably get bored of it quickly if I purchased it. Twilight Zone is great too! I'm in Seattle now, and so lots of places have the new Foo Fighters pin which I'm enjoying a lot.