The ball lock is also very similar

LOTR !

As it stands now, LOTR is the clear winner. GOT might be better when/if code is finished.

LOTR = fan layout
GOTLE = fan layout
Tie

LOTR = two flippers
GOTLE = four flippers
Winner GOTLE

LOTR = finished code
GOTLE = who knows
Winner LOTR

LOTR = path of the dead
GOTLE = upper playfield with animated dragon
Winner GOTLE

LOTR = custom dots
GOTLE = movie clips
Winner LOTR (my opinion)

LOTR = 4 ball multiball
GOTLE = 6 ball multiball
Winner GOTLE

LOTR = balrog bash toy
GOTLE = battering ram bash toy
Winner LOTR

I could keep going on and on but it looks pretty close between them IMO.

Early comparison but lotr is better but I've done everything there needs to do in lotr and have no desire to ever play it again so I'd rather own GOTLE.

Seriously? LOTR is Stern's best pin EVER! It's the sum of the parts guys. Deep code. Great art. Callouts from the actors. Modes like There and Back Again...Destroy the Ring...come on. What mode does GOT have that gets your blood boiling? Also LOTR is a 2003 pin...GOT comes out 12 years later and where's the innovation? Damn upper playfield is not nearly as cool as Balrog.

Look, I know GOT is the pin everyone is ass kissing right now. But you have to judge it in 2015 terms. They spent 2 years making it, delivered FUGLY art and no original / innovative shots. How are people in love with this pin? It's so average considering how much time Stern spent making it.

LOTR is a classic that has stood the test of time. In a year, nobody will care about GOT.

LOTR = Theme is one of the best trilogies ever.
GOTLE = Lost interest after one season.
Winner = LOTR (my opinion)

LOTR = Average coin drops
GOTLE = Ka-Ching
Winner = GOTLE

LOTR = Long ball times
GOTLE = Short ball times
Winner = LOTR (my opinion)

LOTR = Callouts by the film actors
GOTLE = Callouts are nothing special
Winner = LOTR

LOTR = Better than average looking cab
GOTLE = ehh!
Winner = LOTR

LOTR = Unlicensed BG music
GOTLE = Series theme song
Winner = GOTLE

edit - OK the GOTLE cab looks OK, but the LOTR translight is better.

I am with you, I think LOTR is one of the greatest games ever made and I love your passion for the game. But c'mon..........LOTR great art? Ummmmmm no. Not that low res crap on the playfield anyway. And I don't understand the Innovation thing and the 12 years you keep bringing up? In 12 years stern went to a metal backbox, slanted DMD area to reduce playfield glare, board mounted LEDs from incandescents, the spike system from the whitestar, that alone is great innovation. So I don't get what you are saying?

Let me break it down. In 12 years, Stern has gone backwards, not forwards. Seriously, what modern Stern has nearly as much going on it as LOTR and TSPP? And yes, LOTR artwork is MILES ahead of GOT. Miles. I'm just saying GOT came out and it had the same old same old layout. The upper playfield is HUGE and kills the flow of the pro. Those that say it doesn't are just fooling themselves. But what really puts LOTR ahead of GOT is theme integration. When you look at the LOTR playfield, you feel like you are in Middle Earth and inside the journey. GOT? It's the worse playfield integration of all time. Yes, all time. What a huge letdown. People keep justifying it, but come on, a bunch of cogs and sand? How lame.

I own GoT pro, and I have watched the video plays of GoT LE. I don't think I want the LE any more than the pro I have. But I feel a little bored already with the pro. I wish I had a LoTR back again. I should sell my GoT and buy one

GOT LE is sterns fault, not Ritchie's. But I do feel the rules should be similar to lotr's, but it would need the excellent toys lotr brings.

LOTR all the way here. And I love GOT, and do not like the lotr movies. GOT is just so underwhelming. And the crap art on top and you just get so upset that the GOT pin came out to be toilet.

Dude, you are smoking the crack. GOT better than LOTR? Explain. What's so brilliant about the pin? I can't even get over the ugly playfield and lack of immersion with the theme.

Exactly. This two year in the making pin is so underwhelming. The only praising it are dudes buying it as a means to justify their purchase. Seriously. 2 years in production and this is the best they could do? A bunch of ugly shields and rainbow lights. Really feels like the GOT universe...not.

How can you argue that the skittles light show in GOT fits the theme at all? Seriously? It's over the top and ridiculous considering the them. And no MODE in GOT will ever compete with..."TO WAR!!!!!!"

BTW I have no plans to buy a GOT I'm just trying to keep my thinking rational

LOTR is way better unless you like GOT better, then that title is better. What about LOTR LE though, now it's confusing. Just buy a RCT, will make you forget about those titles unless you get a MET premium/pro/LE, then that might be better than TRON premium unless you like STLE better than ST pro.

And a pair of hairy Internet balls <$

No way, we need a LOTR VE with LED upgrade thread to get Stern to revive that title and make hay while the sun is shining.

TRON is better than everything if you have decaled cabinet, otherwise it's toxic kindle wood from what I hear, although if you have an original roadcase without weird back box it's better than lamp.

sold my LOTR a few years ago and i miss it.
i have a GOT pro since almost 2 weeks now and i'm still gonna say LOTR.

imo, LOTR is stern's best game.

Funny how these discussions don't involve Jjp as its irrelevant when they only kick out 1 game every 7 years.

Bung!

Yup. I owned lotr for 6 years. It was my first pin and eventually Sold it. Picked up an lotrle couple years later which was this past summer. My thoughts on revisiting it...yup it's still great, yup ball times are long (and I put it on 2-ball with no eb memory, wide open outlanes), yup I've been there and back again too many times, yup my STLE next to it is way more fun, yup it's time to retire lotr. One of sterns best but when you beat the legend of Zelda, there's really no desire to go back. And now that I know everything there is to the rules, it's a bit of a grind. But shit, those first 4 years of ownership were epic!!

Yeah, but better than lotr overall? This 2015 release should of been far superior, at least that's what we hoped for, rightfully. The little ups it has here and there doesn't do a thing for it.

That's just my opinion though. If you enjoy it, than you enjoy it. But me being a huge fan, obviously I want the world... And well, I didn't get that.

Putting 2003 LOTR next to 2015 GOT and really it's only the blinding lights that make it 'appear' newer.

LOTR has stood the test of time. When Stern introduce color lcd ( soon ) , I don't think GOT will stand the test of time.

It's fun to play but not sure after 6 months I would still be wanting to play it compared to other Stern games.

In summation, Mustang is by far better unless Spidey Vault weighs in, therefore, WWE wins.

Way to early to declare a winner. The code still needs work. But sry I think the artwork on Got is much better than on lotr! In my list of cabinet artworks I would rank the got dragon painting top 3 of all sterns. Please tell me which cabinets from stern you guys think have better artwork?

Way too early for this comparison IMO and way too much GOT hating from Kaneda. The pin JUST came out dude. Chill out.

I agree I am too harsh on GOT. Just my favorite show and wanted one so badly. I just cannot see the reason to get one. It's a fun pin, but nothing about seems overly innovative or magical. We all expected more with a 2 year development time. But hey enjoy it, that's all that matters. Just don't say its better than LOTR. That's just inane.

Just give it some time. Met and TWD were both just okay at release. It was a long time and several code updates later before they became great. GOT may yet live up to the books/show and for some it already does.

Is it solid that when you make a jackpot shot on black water multiball that you are "rewarded" with the most ridiculous, seizure inducing strobing / flashing "light show" imaginable? And this is "amazing" to you? It's the worst light show I've ever seen. I'd rather have incandescents. And I own an led company. It makes me want to throw up and not just because it's sickening but because the aggressive flashing actually makes me feel sick.

The difference here is that GoT is basically completed unlike Metallica and TWD which were released about 60%.

How do we know GOT is basically complete? Has Steve or Dwight said something to that effect? I bet there's plenty more to come.

Are you serious? I haven't played GOT so I can't comment on how the playfield feels, but the artwork is among the worst I've ever seen. It looks bad even if you haven't seen the show/read the books. It's what I would except the result of a 3 hours "Beginners Guide to Photoshop" to look like. Random fire everywhere. Generic shadow figures with a white outline glow. Characters looking into random directions on the backglass. I especially love the chrome background behind the house sigils...

If you have read the books or a fan of a show you will see that it doesn't fit the theme at all. It's like the they only watched the intro (which is amazing btw) and then were like "yep, this show is all about cogs and gears".

Considering the general color scheme: Yes, Westeros and Essos have few sandy areas here and there, but only a small part of the story takes place in them.

LOTR cabinet artwork is direct stenciled and looks like complete shit.......LOTR LE has a huge penis on the back glass.

LOTR play field art was so off register they took sharpies to the inserts and just hand circled them to try and make them look decent.

Total hack job all the way around.

I'm not sure who said it but "stern" said so and it appears to all be there. There could be some tweaks here and there but I don't expect any sort of changes like Metallica and TWD had. The labor time for some really cool modes was wasted on a video mode

I agree, but except for the unfortunate penis, that is more of a problem with the printing process than with the artwork itself.

Neither of the translites are very good, but I don't see how anyone could prefer the GOT Pro art over the LOTR art:

Couldn't find a better pic, sorry

LOTR_BACKGLASS_50.jpg

Just wanted to let you know that discussion is always relative. I had LOTR and did not like it at all. I played GoT about 15 times and I orderder an LE that will arrive soon. The discussion will aways be a discussion because I personally really do not think that LOTR has any good art on it. It is just one pixelated mess when you look up close.

I did see GoT in person and the playfield is not bad at all, not so much as on the pictures here and the cabinet has a far better resolution than what is used on LOTR.

The sound of the GoT is also much better. Only thing it lacks are a few updates to make the game deeper and to add more sounds and stuff. I am sure they will do it as Steve will not stop pushing until everything that can be done is done.

Saying that the upper playfield kills the flow is just a very strange remark. It adds to the gameplay. Of course if nothing is there, nothing can kill the flow. By the way: if anything is a flowkiller it is about everything you hit on LOTR. But that is just part of the game, just as it is in the Premium/LE of GoT.

Also saw a HUO TSPP next to a GOT Pro and the TSPP looked more cutting edge and a higher BOM!

Also LOTR has a much better display than latest Sterns as those blocky pinled things suck.

The title here was Lotr vs Got LE. LE!!!!! And yes I am sure, that I think the GoT LE! cabinet artwork is better than on the lotr. The LE is a beautiful pinball machine, that was my first impression and I still think this. I hate when so called fans of the show think they know everything about this theme. I still know nothing of this show cause I am still clueless what will come and how it will end. I watched every episode many times, read the first book in english when it came out long ago, read every comicbook and played every pc game. And what we have now is only that the key players are getting in position for the big story. But all I see is a beautiful big GoT Dragon on the side in high res and from a very talented good artist and it's breathtaking awesome! Month ago I wrote here on pinside, it's to early for a GoT pinball game, cause nobody can say what will come, the show has a lot left to show us. And how could you make a game around a story you still don't know? There were a lot people here that wanted a GoT game. So Stern made one and I give them credit for trying to make one that perhaps can hold the test of time of this show without knowing what will come, in taking a step away from the actual story so far to a game play that let you battle your own game for the iron throne. I don't know if this game will in the end be considered better than lotr but there are not many games like lotr And all I want to say is it has a lot of potential to become a good game.
Bob Stevlic awesome sideart:
GoT_Dragon.jpg

This shouldn't surprise you. The GoT Pro doesn't compare to TSPP. Put a Pre/LE next to Simpsons and then compare them.

Dude. You didn't even read the previous person's post. He said that GOTLE's cabinet art was possibly sterns best. Then you go on to site how bad the playfield Art is and how bad the backglass Art is on the PRO. Haha.

I agree about the GOTLE artwork. I think it looks fantastic. LOTR's is nothing special at all.

Comparing these two titles is ridiculous! GOT will be lucky if it ends up half as good as LOTR! That being said, it's fun to play new games and sometimes you have to sell the old to get the new!

I agree. Surprised there has been a single vote for GOTLE to be honest.

I think its too early. A great pulling of someone's chain though. What if? GOT's games code is years away from being completed? What if? Stern will be adding new code to add even more depth as the show, characters and books continue to come out? How cool would it be do have different game play added to an existing game that makes it seem fresh and new? What if I'm not thinking properly due to no sleep?