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Lord of the rings location

Bobbdobalina said:
Wow you certainly love Middle Earth! I’ve owned 4 1st editions but never read them. Sure there’s 12 in total so that’s a lot of middle earth lore to take in!
I’ve got the Sauron statuette and fell beast and books are mostly 1sts of different editions lotr and hobbit not a cheap hobby in itself.

I’m going to have a good session at Nuneaton and see how I feel then.

As for affording another pinball,I’d have to sacrifice some cabs, but the core of my book collection is going nowhere. There’s nothing like the smell, history and aura of 1st editions.

Ps nice to hear from another Tolkien nerd 😊
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I'm sure you're already aware of the channel but just in case.

There are others but this is my favourite

 
David_Vi said:
Not everyone wants or needs dramatically different games.
Or we'd all have a stern and an EM?
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(Whispers) That was kinda my plan...

It's kinda the Jones' Theory of board game collecting applied to pinball machines (https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/11157/look-jones-theory). The theory is that you should only have one game of any one type because, if you have two similar games, you will always gravitate to the 'better' of the two.

Neil McRae said:
or we'd all have WPC or Sega or Gottlieb :rofl: I agree though if you like LOTR you'll love the pinball machine. Try to find one without skill posts and get LEDS, ColorDMD and upgraded speakers. Both TNG and LOTR are decent games.
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Which upgraded speakers? My LoTR arrived with LEDs and I've just added a ColorDMD.

Neil McRae said:
Yup - at Pinburgh :D I got interrupted or it would have held the tournament up.
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Okay, fine, smart **** ;) However, if @Bobbdobalina is pretty new to home ownership of pins, it's going to be a while getting to Valinor -vs- Final Frontier and the 'entry-level' play style feels pretty similar between these pins.

So, I'd branch out a little...
 
VeeMonroe said:
(Whispers) That was kinda my plan...

It's kinda the Jones' Theory of board game collecting applied to pinball machines (https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/11157/look-jones-theory). The theory is that you should only have one game of any one type because, if you have two similar games, you will always gravitate to the 'better' of the two.



Which upgraded speakers? My LoTR arrived with LEDs and I've just added a ColorDMD.



Okay, fine, smart **** ;) However, if @Bobbdobalina is pretty new to home ownership of pins, it's going to be a while getting to Valinor -vs- Final Frontier and the 'entry-level' play style feels pretty similar between these pins.

So, I'd branch out a little...
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But, they're not similiar in my opinion. Shots are different, rules are different. STTNG isn't a deep game, it's simple compared to LOTR. Plays completely different. To some people they will feel dramatically different.

People can sell a game easily if they want a change. I'm of the mindset if you want a game and have the room or money you should get it. You only live once and it'll hold value 😊.

When I discovered the hobby my grail pin was 2k, when I came to buy it it was nearly 3k and is now even more due to the covid prices... So often you should just go for it as you may not get another chance, and if you do it'll probably be more expensive!

I liken it to getting on the housing ladder😂
 
David_Vi said:
People can sell a game easily if they want a change. I'm of the mindset if you want a game and have the room or money you should get it. You only live once and it'll hold value 😊.
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Yeah, but it depends on what you're into.

If you're just into playing pinball, you're probably right :) For me, personally, I mod the blazes out of everything and, once I start doing that, I am *not* going to recoup the money :confused:

I bought my FT overpriced and I've already bought...
  • LEDs (loads of them because I didn't like the kit I bought);
  • A custom limited-edition back glass;
  • Two fish mods;
  • A colorDMD;
  • A key fob (small I know);
  • Side blades;
  • Some replacement decals, and;
  • A bunch of silicone rubbers.
I'm currently ordering the parts to make a new fish topper, but some of them are coming from the US, which makes it expensive, and I've also had to do a few minor repairs. I'm also planning to get a lighted speaker panel, re-decal the entire cabinet, and powder-coat the armour and legs. Unsure if I want to replace the playfield too - it feels like a huge waste, and a lot of work, because it's in decent condition - but I'm definitely going to re-decal all the inserts.

Even if I did all that, it's still going to be a £4k pin on the open market - if I'm lucky. So, I'd ALREADY be haemorrhaging money if I sold the FT at this point.
 
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Hi,

I owned a STTNG and I currently now own a LOTR. I enjoyed both, I can only have one machine and the LOTR was the one I orginally wanted but it was outside my budget.

In terms of playability in my opinion:

LOTR is a long game, which some people don't like, its not particually a drainer of balls. It makes it good for home use.

LOTR theme and gameplay seems to appeal more to non pinball players, my farther in-law spent a couple of hours on it where STTNG maybe 10 minutes. My 5 year old also likes it.

LOTR is fairly simple in its rule set, which I suppose could get boring to some. It possible to complete most modes at least once, there not particulay tricky. Yes its tricky to unlock them all as its repatitave and time consuming. Most of the LOTR modes require hitting either the sword ramp or the left wire ramp.

LOTR does rembember where you got up to when trying to unlock the movie modes, so if you get back to it by starting the destroy the ring mode and finishing it makes it easier to complete the modes. I have got one shot away from Valander, took 2 hours + ! so a loooong game

LOTR sound is one of the best of the older machines.

LOTR seems rock solid in terms of reliability unlike STTNG which took an insane amount of work to get it perfect, I believe its new owner is having zero issues, so I suppose if its well maintained and opto, parts replaced it wil lbe reilaible.

STTNG has alot of mission modes, 10 I think from memory, each with a specific simple rule set, many of them diffuclt to complete correctly due to timing of the ramp shots, This makes it a more challaging game

STTNG has toys, the cannons are great and a lot of different multiballs

The theme is realy well implemented, one of the better ones, the gameplay makes sense in relation to the TV series

STTNG is a slower more technical game, you have to be pretty good a ramp shots and shots in a particular order, whilst LOTR has eliments of this, I find it a speeder game (in flow, rather than play time on it)
 
I find LOTR can be a wood chopper with ridiculous game times but l bought it mainly for the looks in 2011 and its definitely a keeper. Completely different from ST TNG. Two great games for a small line up as so different.
 
Paul said:
Cant think of a worse machine than LOTR....

Oh... yes i can.... TZ..... Only just tho...
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I'm going to need to defend LoTR here...

It is a bit 'wood choppy' because most of the individual shots aren't super-exciting. However, it does communicate the theme of LoTR extremely well and I've had some pretty brilliant tense games on it. The ColorDMD we've just bought for ours adds a HUGE amount to the theme, and it is extremely popular with non-pinball players (and my kids), as others have mentioned. I suspect this is because it feels a lot like playing through a story - the callouts and modes are really thematic - and it has a lot of great toys, including the two towers, the ring magnet, and the balrog (or "ballrog", as I call it).

I spent at least 30 minutes playing TZ at FlipOut because it has such a reputation for being the GOAT. I don't like it especially either. It is 90% toys that slow the game down and I'm pretty sure the novelty of the various modes (e.g. ceramic ball, invisible magnetic flippers) would wear off very quickly. The playfield is deliberately confusing and the ball makes journeys below the playfield - apparently just to punk the player. I can see why some people really like it, but I'm not one of them. HOWEVER, TZ is NOT the worst pin of all time - not even close. May I draw your attention to Dr Dude, Party Zone, Harley Davidson, Bone Busters, Whoa Nellie!, and Hook...
 
cmrl9 said:
Hi,

I owned a STTNG and I currently now own a LOTR. I enjoyed both, I can only have one machine and the LOTR was the one I orginally wanted but it was outside my budget.

In terms of playability in my opinion:

LOTR is a long game, which some people don't like, its not particually a drainer of balls. It makes it good for home use.

LOTR theme and gameplay seems to appeal more to non pinball players, my farther in-law spent a couple of hours on it where STTNG maybe 10 minutes. My 5 year old also likes it.

LOTR is fairly simple in its rule set, which I suppose could get boring to some. It possible to complete most modes at least once, there not particulay tricky. Yes its tricky to unlock them all as its repatitave and time consuming. Most of the LOTR modes require hitting either the sword ramp or the left wire ramp.

LOTR does rembember where you got up to when trying to unlock the movie modes, so if you get back to it by starting the destroy the ring mode and finishing it makes it easier to complete the modes. I have got one shot away from Valander, took 2 hours + ! so a loooong game

LOTR sound is one of the best of the older machines.

LOTR seems rock solid in terms of reliability unlike STTNG which took an insane amount of work to get it perfect, I believe its new owner is having zero issues, so I suppose if its well maintained and opto, parts replaced it wil lbe reilaible.

STTNG has alot of mission modes, 10 I think from memory, each with a specific simple rule set, many of them diffuclt to complete correctly due to timing of the ramp shots, This makes it a more challaging game

STTNG has toys, the cannons are great and a lot of different multiballs

The theme is realy well implemented, one of the better ones, the gameplay makes sense in relation to the TV series

STTNG is a slower more technical game, you have to be pretty good a ramp shots and shots in a particular order, whilst LOTR has eliments of this, I find it a speeder game (in flow, rather than play time on it)
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Seems you’ve had good experiences with both. I beginning to understand about the Maintainence side of sttng. There’s a slot going on underneath the pf and as mine was a garage find it’s never been maintained. But to be honest I’m quite enjoying reading up, on here and other sites about the ins and out and I’m learning all the time.

Can’t wait to have a go on a lotr I really can’t!
Thanks for sharing your experiences with both pinballs, it’s shed some more light 👍
 
Just to defend Paul I'm sure he was being flippant. He doesn't like LOTR but would he rank it lowest of the 365 odd pinball machines listed? I doubt it.

My daughter has just watched the Chronicles of Narnia and apparently it's 'The best film ever'. . . . it's clearly not 😂

That being said you're unlikely to change Paul's mind because he clearly doesn't enjoy the game which is really what it's all about. Just the same as nobody can dissuade me that I do enjoy the game . . . it's just personal preference in much the same way as music.

Some people like watching Coronation Street and eat prawn cocktail crisps 😬 . .. . the really odd folk do both together😉 .

Incidentally I don't like Twilight Zone either. The worst game of all time? No, but ranked about 50 too high on Pinside.
 
Bobbdobalina said:
Quick noob question…. ‘Wood chopper’?
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It's a @Neil McRae term. From what I gather, it means that getting through the game involves a lot of repetitive shots.

So, with my FT, you can get a jackpot by shooting the Caster's Club three times, getting a multi-ball, shooting the Caster's Club a fourth time and then firing a ball up the left orbit. That's six shots. You can get massive jackpots by keeping the balls in play and shooting the Caster's Club again, and then the left orbit again - so 'winning' the game involves a handful of fast, challenging shots. The Caster's Club is a notoriously challenging shot because it's literally a small 'box' off to the right-hand-side of the playfield, and it's intrinsically enjoyable to shoot.

If you want a Fellowship multi-ball on LoTR, you have to shoot every fellowship member's shot, then you need to shoot the black tower. Then, you need to shoot the balrog, shoot a fellowship shot, shoot the balrog, shoot a fellowship shot, shoot the balrog, for every member of the fellowship. Then, you might want to start a mode and, again, it's going to be alternating between making a bunch of fellowship shots. So, to get to Destroy the Ring (which requires three multiballs completed), you're making a lot of not individually interesting shots, and that's before you start completing modes (again, all about shooting a succession of fellowship shots). Most players need to get through all the modes, destroy the ring, go through all the modes again, then destroy the ring again to get to Valinor. So, if you're a good player, it's a really long laborious process that feels, presumably, like hacking through a pile of wood with an axe. Personally, for LoTR, that long process is somewhat thematic, as it's rather like the quest to get to Mount Doom, but I can see why opinions would vary!

I'm nowhere near good enough to Destroy the Ring consistently, never mind get to Valinor, but getting to Valinor is an aspiration of mine - rather like a Hobbit vanquishing Sauron by destroying his ring of power*

[*NOTE: I'm also a huge fan of LoTR. So much so that my husband and I have One Ring wedding rings, although I had to cut mine off when I became pregnant with my older boy. My older boy, who I call Flipper Beast on here, is currently having The Illustriated Hobbit serialised as his bedtime story - inspired by his enjoyment of the pin!].
 
VeeMonroe said:
It's a @Neil McRae term. From what I gather, it means that getting through the game involves a lot of repetitive shots.

So, with my FT, you can get a jackpot by shooting the Caster's Club three times, getting a multi-ball, shooting the Caster's Club a fourth time and then firing a ball up the left orbit. That's six shots. You can get massive jackpots by keeping the balls in play and shooting the Caster's Club again, and then the left orbit again - so 'winning' the game involves a handful of fast, challenging shots. The Caster's Club is a notoriously challenging shot because it's literally a small 'box' off to the right-hand-side of the playfield, and it's intrinsically enjoyable to shoot.

If you want a Fellowship multi-ball on LoTR, you have to shoot every fellowship member's shot, then you need to shoot the black tower. Then, you need to shoot the balrog, shoot a fellowship shot, shoot the balrog, shoot a fellowship shot, shoot the balrog, for every member of the fellowship. Then, you might want to start a mode and, again, it's going to be alternating between making a bunch of fellowship shots. So, to get to Destroy the Ring (which requires three multiballs completed), you're making a lot of not individually interesting shots, and that's before you start completing modes (again, all about shooting a succession of fellowship shots). Most players need to get through all the modes, destroy the ring, go through all the modes again, then destroy the ring again to get to Valinor. So, if you're a good player, it's a really long laborious process that feels, presumably, like hacking through a pile of wood with an axe. Personally, for LoTR, that long process is somewhat thematic, as it's rather like the quest to get to Mount Doom, but I can see why opinions would vary!

I'm nowhere near good enough to Destroy the Ring consistently, never mind get to Valinor, but getting to Valinor is an aspiration of mine - rather like a Hobbit vanquishing Sauron by destroying his ring of power*

[*NOTE: I'm also a huge fan of LoTR. So much so that my husband and I have One Ring wedding rings, although I had to cut mine off when I became pregnant with my older boy. My older boy, who I call Flipper Beast on here, is currently having The Illustriated Hobbit serialised as his bedtime story - inspired by his enjoyment of the pin!].
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Ahh a reasonable term, I like it 😆
I’ll find out soon, but like you the theme is the main draw for me, although my other half can’t stand it and she won’t even give the films a go let alone read the books! 😆
 
Bobbdobalina said:
Seems you’ve had good experiences with both. I beginning to understand about the Maintainence side of sttng. There’s a slot going on underneath the pf and as mine was a garage find it’s never been maintained. But to be honest I’m quite enjoying reading up, on here and other sites about the ins and out and I’m learning all the time.

Can’t wait to have a go on a lotr I really can’t!
Thanks for sharing your experiences with both pinballs, it’s shed some more light 👍
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A lot going on underneath is an understatement! 🙂

You can see what's involved from my shop log if your planning on taking it apart


Complete - STTNG - Flipper Rebuild, left, Right, Upper Right - First time using a soildering Iron! Subway clean and Ball Popper, Opto Rebuild and other things:)

Was wondering, I have a box of all the parts I took of the machine, nearly all worked, Selonoids, optos and indecent bulbs, is there a second hand market for this? Seems a shame to chuck them, ifyou had a williams machine you just wanted to get working without spending.
www.pinballinfo.com www.pinballinfo.com

If you have any issues let me know I might be able to help, people on here where super helpful when fixing mine and I came across most things, not necessarily fixable without help and guidance. It's one of those machines that's very difficult to work on if you have no pinball knowledge Luke I did
 
cmrl9 said:
A lot going on underneath is an understatement! 🙂

You can see what's involved from my shop log if your planning on taking it apart


Complete - STTNG - Flipper Rebuild, left, Right, Upper Right - First time using a soildering Iron! Subway clean and Ball Popper, Opto Rebuild and other things:)

Was wondering, I have a box of all the parts I took of the machine, nearly all worked, Selonoids, optos and indecent bulbs, is there a second hand market for this? Seems a shame to chuck them, ifyou had a williams machine you just wanted to get working without spending.
www.pinballinfo.com www.pinballinfo.com

If you have any issues let me know I might be able to help, people on here where super helpful when fixing mine and I came across most things, not necessarily fixable without help and guidance. It's one of those machines that's very difficult to work on if you have no pinball knowledge Luke I did
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I’ll check your log out, will need all the help I can get 😆
I’m going through one thing at a time and it’s making sense so far.
Started with a faulty flipper button opto, just swapped them over to prove one was faulty.
Then the trough opto because it wasn’t setting the balls out properly when turned on.
New cpu because of battery damage.
Lastest is top flipper weak and not working intermittently, think it’s a faulty coil as I’ve an open circuit on the stronger coil.
It’s going to go on and on, but I’m enjoying it…..so far!
 
Bobbdobalina said:
Ahh a reasonable term, I like it 😆
I’ll find out soon, but like you the theme is the main draw for me, although my other half can’t stand it and she won’t even give the films a go let alone read the books! 😆
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Just to complicate things and confuse you even further I quite like wood chopping. Hitting the same shot over and over is possibly the only thing I can do half competently. 😬
 
@Bobbdobalina if your quest to play one at The Electric Circus fails (I'd recommend a stop there anyway for the myriad of other machines you can play as well) I have a rather tidy example and 2 other games to play. I'm a bit further south from Nottingham but if you're ever in the Kettering area send me a DM and you're welcome to pop round for a play or several. The other two games get chopped and changed but I've had LOTR for around 5 years and have no intention of moving it on :thumbs:
 
Sam C said:
@Bobbdobalina if your quest to play one at The Electric Circus fails (I'd recommend a stop there anyway for the myriad of other machines you can play as well) I have a rather tidy example and 2 other games to play. I'm a bit further south from Nottingham but if you're ever in the Kettering area send me a DM and you're welcome to pop round for a play or several. The other two games get chopped and changed but I've had LOTR for around 5 years and have no intention of moving it on :thumbs:
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Thank you for your kind offer,Kettering isn’t too much further and I’ll certainly take you up on it if I fail to find it at Nuneaton 👍
 
Neil McRae said:
or we'd all have WPC or Sega or Gottlieb :rofl: I agree though if you like LOTR you'll love the pinball machine. Try to find one without skill posts and get LEDS, ColorDMD and upgraded speakers. Both TNG and LOTR are decent games.
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Does having skill posts devalue it? Or would you expect to pay the same with or without?
 
Bobbdobalina said:
Does having skill posts devalue it? Or would you expect to pay the same with or without?
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People crack on and on about non-skill post games and while I agree cosmetically it looks cleaner (no extra buttons or 3 holes cut into the actual playfield) it doesn't make a lick of difference to gameplay because you can just turn that all off. If I was selling mine I'd probably say 'It's a non-skill post version' just to let people know but I wouldn't expect to get more or less money for it than a skill post one if it was just as nice.

Also RE Neil's comment if you put LED's in a LOTR you MUST get a LEDOCD board to go with them, seen them without and the LED's look particularly bad in a LOTR without the board. Most games you can generally get away with not bothering with said board but I dunno, like I say seen LOTR with LED's with/without it and when I put one in mine it made such a huge difference to the light show when I see one LED'd up without an OCD board in it just looks wrong.
 
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Bobbdobalina said:
Does having skill posts devalue it? Or would you expect to pay the same with or without?
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On here yes, in the real world no 🤭

I have them on mine, there very useful for home use the kids and wife enjoy them.

I don't really get the obsession with people to cover them, you can just switch them off in the menu.

It seems to me pointless to cover the buttons when you still have have the skill posts and holes in the playfield 😏

The machines originally where invented to take our money in arcades and to get us off them as quickly as possible, hence the drains, that can be really bad on some machines, avatar I'm thinking of you 🤪

The UK skill posts had to be implemented due to fruit machine laws changing mainly to do with larger jackpots and to get them out of cafes and newsagents that required a gaming licence to have on premise. Unfortunately pinball machine s fell under this due to the chance element, there no way of preventing the ball going down the drain. Yes world class players bang and nudge the machine to avoid this but the average player doesn't have the skill. These post where introduced to allow pins on sites without a gambling licence. They did change the law later I think around 2005 to exclude pins.

I personally quite like them, I'm not playing in competitions and like a longer game, some of the sterns benefited in play from them. But I know I'm in the minority with this.
 
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