SM is better. LOTR has clunky shots. SM is smoooooth. Both have great rules.

Ok, LOTR clunkiness...on the left you have the Shire saucer, or rather: large gaping cutout/area, not saucer. A shot here will clunk and slop about when hit directly. Also, shots dropping here from the POTD will clunk rather ungracefully off the Arwen plastic and into the area. Next we have the Pippen loop...its not too bad except for the 50% clunk and rejection rate of the saucer at the base of the tower that it dead ends at. Then you have the frodo/ring ramp...if you are lucky, the magnet grabs the ball. Most of the time it doesn't matter because the mode starts anyways, but when you are destroying the ring and you get hosed over and over by that f*cking magnet it gets frustrating. The Galdalf loop is one of the clunkiest shots in pinball which requires no explanation. A direct hit to the Gimli saucer will clunkily bounce through most times robbing you of the award. When you do get it into Gimli it often takes a couple tries of the VUK to get it onto the habitrail. Ugghhh. Aragorn's sword ramp runs into a dead end stand-up target and sloppily rolls down into the sword lock. I do love the look and idea of the sword though. The Merry loop is nice when it sails all the way through the loop, however if its going to the Orthanc tower get ready to hear an awful sounding clunk. Frequently, when being sent to the POTD, the ball ricochets off the SIDE OF THE CABINET and either drops back into Orthanc or falls off the back of the POTD. I owned two LOTRs because I had thought my first one may have been a lemon. Nope. They both had these issues. A lot of these can be tweaked and remedied somewhat, but not all. Anyways, I'd still buy a VE if it came out. The rules and theme are that good!

Nope. Not factory. Imagine yours without that deflector. That's how it came from the factory.

You do realize you're losing souls by not falling into the shire from the POTD, right?

^ 100% accurate.

The other thing that annoyed me after a while was the spinner sound and VUK sound. They grate. Oh, and Gimli saying "Get ahold of yourself" every trip to the POTD! Everything else is brilliant in the sound/music department though.

There is nothing you can do about the shire, Gandalf loop, Gimli saucer, and sword ramp being clunky. I'll say it again...it doesn't hinder my desire to own one again someday (VE please) because the game is that good. People who say it's a smooth game are in denial.

Agree on Avengers saucer...double shudder.

Not sure why? I mean, this is a pinball forum, Stern is going to announce the next VE in a few months so the discussion is relevant, and it will be LOTRVE.