r/pinball

Hi Everyone,

My dad is getting open heart surgery this month and also turns 70 in January. he loves pinball and I e always wanted to get him a machine, so I want to commit to getting something by January. I know nothing about pinball but I do know it can be a time consuming hobby if you have to fix them or customize them. My dad is not that guy. so…

1. Looking for advice on a cabinet to get that may be less of a headache then others or require less maintenance.
2. I’d love to keep my budget under $5k. some flexibility
3. The genre/theme of pinball matters very little
4. is there a world where a nice virtual cabinet is the better option for reliability?

My dad is not a picky person. He is a simple guy with simple pleasures and I’m sure he would enjoy any type of machine I got him. That’s why I’m a bit more concerned about maintenance and reliability.

if anyone is really passionate and patient, would love to exchange comments or messages after your first response.

thanks all!

sincerely, I don’t know what I’m doing

EDIT: the immediate pouring in of suggestions is amazing guys. Really appreciate it. My dad lives in Naples, Florida and I’m gonna see if there are any Stern Pros by sellers in the area and check marketplace and pinside as some of you suggested. If I find a really old Williams or something similar for cheap, I won’t discount it compeltelly. Thanks so much!!

I've been going to an arcade with the premium edition of Black Knight: Sword of Rage regularly. I just went to a new place with the pro edition today and couldn't believe how different it was. No upper playfield meant the ball was always coming right back to my flippers (or between them) after each shot. I found I was concentrating a lot more on fighting that dastardly black knight and his minions than I had been before. After only a few plays, I had more than doubled my old high score.

I had always thought the premium versions of Stern tables mostly just added some nice cosmetics, like maybe replacing a still picture with a moving animatronic. Sword of Rage was the first table I played where I thought each edition flowed very differently. I know Foo Fighters Premium has a small upper playfield, but I never felt like that one changed the game too much.

Are there any other Stern tables that anyone thinks have major changes between their various editions? I'd love to see people's thoughts.

Thank you in advance.

Curious to see if any of you went this route to pickup a pin? I've noticed one can save around $200 (price of some mods) by going to the shippers terminal in your city for pickup. My guess is they forklift the palleted game and place in your vehicle then you strap it down, etc. Is it a pain in the a** or worth the couple hundred bucks? Thanks for your input.