My LE has a metal apron and did not come with toys.
Make sure the Arwen plastic below the POTD is not cracked.
Look for the brass plating coming off by the buttons on LEs.

The prices you've quoted are on the low side. I've seen many of these selling for or above $5k.

Yeah, thats higher now I think. People are asking in the $5s now for HUO

I have seen NOTHING sell on Ebay lately for anywhere in the 5s, but most sales happen outside of ebay...

I know two purchased in the last month. 1 huo paid just over 5. The other was routed clean with mods for 4600. My advice is wait. If your not in a rush your chances of finding a decent deal will increase. There are deals out there. ( If the prices do keep creeping up tho, I never gave you this advice.)

Last legit home use only sold on ebay for $5200, I have tracking software, going rate is high 4 to 5k

early production models 2003-04 had much brighter better looking play fields.

A friend of mine just picked up a nice condition machine that was routed for $3200. There are deals out there if you're patient.

I purchased one 6 months ago routed 3100. I think you estimate is dead on.

Best advice I can give you is to buy mine.

This is recent:

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/lotr-good-price-for-huo-with-very-low-plays

$3,100? Wow. I have been watching these for months, and I've yet to see one in that price range anywhere within a day's drive.

Thats a nice pull Skypilot, was there any major damage? Id imagine you can get one for this price if you know the right people.

I think $4250-$4500 for a real HUO is fair.

Disclaimer: I own one.

No its not for sale & truthfully its full of so many mods I am likely the only person with negative equity in a HUO LOTR

Anyway it's a great game, I had my best round ever last night, damn I want to play it now!

Buy one!

Have you played it yet? If not, you should come over and give mine a try to see if you like it.

It was in a roller rink cabinet was scratched up on one side .it needed a few switches and sword lock rebuilt.
Traded it for a CP last month finally destroyed the ring the night before the trade.dont figure.

I just picked mine up my HUO (non LE) this past September for $4500 and I am the third owner. I found Drano a local one with less than 500 plays and HUO for $5000. It is a great game and some things to look out for are:

1. Flipper button cab wear, note that this can not be touched up and only covered with side armor plates.
2. Cracked Arwin plastic
3. Tower and Gimli VUK hole wear, again if there is minor wear it can be covered by a Cliffy
4. Balrog lights up and switch registers hits
5. Make sure all figures are present and not missing if getting the non LE version
6. Wear in the Shire area

Good luck on your search and be patient for the right deal to come your way.

I paid just over 5 for a mint HOU. I looked for 2 months and this was the least beat up one I could find. Routed one sold for 4800 in the bay area.

I bought a routed one recently for $4k, more than I wanted to, but unfortunately the price is creeping up on this title. However, the playfield has nice vibrant color and the printing was spot on. It does not matter the year for the playfield quality, they are all over the place. Definitely don't buy one sight unseen. It could be a HUO with a terrible printed playfield.

Like others have said be patient. I bought HUO machine 2 years ago for a price people told me was unrealistic. Since then I will say the price has taken off, but deals are still out there. I posted a WTB ad on Mr. Pinball and had at least 3 offers in my range. Those on the forums trend to forget there are pinball fans who don't frequent groups daily. Mr Pinball is a good way to find them.

Also when buying don't get talked into paying for modifications or upgrades someone else wanted that you don't. Just because the seller spent $200 on extra toys doesn't mean that adds $200 to the price. Same with LEDs, spending $100 doesn't automatically add that to the value. I wanted a machine that was stock. Now if it has the shaker motor installed that its an upgrade worth paying for.

I paid 3100 for mine looked and looked for months... actually found it from a guy on ebay, it wasn't listed on ebay but he hooked me up with the guy who he knew and was in the market to get rid of it.

Up until your last sentence I was going to disagree and say, "unless it has a shaker".

That should really only bring the price up about $250, though. Costs about $200 to install yourself.

I just picked up a routed machine for 3000, needed a good cleaning and a few minor repairs but other then that it is in great Shape.

I've had my eye on the market for a bit now too - not too concerned about price, more so in some of the questions OP had. What are the differences between the different runs? The original run was the only one which included the playfield toys? Anything else to note?

You can buy the play field toys on ebay and mod it up however you want! I prefer my LE without the look except for the POTD....best overall pin out there for me...!

Never gets old...

Just to clarify, there were multiple runs of the non-LE LOTR, all of which I believe had the playfield figures. It was only the LOTR LEs that came without the figures.

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Huh. I had never heard of this before. My LOTR is from 2005, playfield looks fine to me. Now I am scared at pics of different playfields as I may start to not like mine. I think I will stick to ignorance is bliss...

You said it best Paul, ignorance is bliss. I could stress myself out over which run and keep holding out for the perfect LOTR. In the end i went with the one with the least amount of use. The playfield looks clear I am not sure if it's part of the bad run of playfields, and am hoping for the best.