I went to the Fun Factory in Waikiki to play the pins they have there.  First off, parking is expensive down there.  $6/hour was the best I found near the arcade.  This store has a Lord of the Rings and a World Poker Tour.  Since I own LOTR I played WPT first.

Let’s talk about the artwork.  This has to be one of the worst backglasses I’ve seen.  I don’t watch Poker on TV so I don’t know if the 3 people are celebrities of whatnot but even if they are, the artwork is not that good.  Someone should make a backglass mod for this machine.  The classic dogs sitting around the poker table would be great.  The machine was physically in good shape but has a bad ball trough switch because it keeps loosing the ball and gets stuck searching for it, yet never finding it.  Restarting the game worked once but a couple of games later it happened again so the attendant turned off the machine.  This machine also has the Tilt set so sensitive, the machine would tilt during the multi-ball madness.  It happened twice and I wasn’t bumping the machine.  Oh, so frustrating!  From what I got to actually play, it seemed to be rather fun.  The playfield was pretty open and didn’t feel cluttered.  The upper playfield was actually useful with a ball lock and some targets and the ball would stay up there for more than one shot, unlike Elvis.  I loved the old school feel of all those drop targets.  This reminded me of Joker Poker with multiball.  And what I liked most is this machine is not a drain monster, even with the outlane posts in the widest setting.  I also didn’t have any issues with the ball rolling down a ramp straight into the center drain.  Good playfield layout on this.  I definitely want to play this game again to find out all it has to offer. 

Since they shut this machine down I moved over to play LOTR.  This is the standard model with the black legs and trim.  I think the Limited Edition’s Gold looks better IMO.  Anyway, this machine was more beat up.  The flippers weren’t set correctly, the Balrog target wouldn’t register hits, the Palintir target was loose, many of the lights didn’t work and the table was nowhere near level.  At least the tilt sensor wasn’t touchy because the cabinet was rocking like a cheap patio table.  I told the attendant they might make some money if they ever did maintenance on their machines.  He mumbled something in Gibberish and I left disgusted. 

If you are in Oahu and want to play pinball, good luck.  Elvis is the only pin I’ve found worth playing here.  It may be a drain monster but at least it is in perfect working order.