Chris, I already wonder if your magnet in the ring isn't working. Common problem apparently. Change the 4 amp fuse to a 5 amp (can't remember 100%, but if the one in there is a 3 amp, go to 4 amp). Not at home, so can't check mine. I couldn't do much in the game while my fuse was blown.
Play all three "movie" multiballs, then Destroy the Ring is lit. Shoot ring to start Destroy mode. Shoot all (5?) lit ramps, then the ring again. This time it will hold the ball and give you a new one. Hit the ball thru the ring with your new ball and Golum will fall into the chasm with the machine going appropriately mental. In fact, the balls will drain as machine goes nuts and you have no control of the flippers. Good points, and good times. Then you have to do Valinor, which you can search on and find a good description. I don't think many have done Valinor. Very hard.
The other cool end mode is There And Back Again. You get to this by playing all 6 ring modes like Destroy the Witchking, etc. TABA is also good fun.

check this out, long but it's all there:

http://www.pinballnews.com/games/lotr/index5.html

or this:

http://www.pinball.org/rules/lordoftherings.txt

............you just need a lot of time to beat it!

Chris, I wouldn't even worry about beating it.

When I had mine i took the glass off one night and spent 45 minutes hitting switches to get there and back again. Granted you could do it faster, but there and back again has more requirements than dtr so I had to go back and do it over again.

I just hate how it takes you a while to get to DTR, then in one screwed up random SDTM have to start all over again. But it keeps you coming back.

Chris:

I have one of the 2004 runs of LOTR and the only time I got to valinor was on a mistake the game made. I am not a ranked player, but I have pretty good skills.

The thorn in my flesh with LOTR is the two towers multiball. It is impossible for me. For whatever reason I have a consistently hard time hitting the right ramp. Makes me crazy.

Enjoy what you accomplish and learn as you go. Otherwise you have a very difficult goal that the majority of times you wont get close to. Hard way to live- under the pressure of unrealistic expectations.

MrWizzo, I suggest the backhand for the right ramp. I just keep doing that to spell keep and lock the balls. Every time I trap on rt flipper, backhand the sword it is!

Thanks for the suggestion. I am probably less than 30 40 percent on backhand attempts to the right ramp. I just cannot seem to line up that left flipper and make the shot consistently, and with the speed and pressure of only the four shots in the multiball, I choke regularly. Rarely complete the twin towers.

I am a broken man.

MrWizzo, I suppose you can regularly fire it up the left ramp then. That is my Achilles heel..... we all have something to torment us!

Man, that would be a long discussion. I once started to tell someone how to do it in detail, and 15 minutes later I gave up. Haha.

Well folks, reading this thread got me fired up to give DTR another attempt. Dang! Everytime I get there I get the ball STDM. I've never destroyed the ring, but I'm getting closer. I love this game, but it really pisses me off when I get this close and lose it. Oh well, it keeps me coming back for more...

Sometimes I can hit both ramps like a pinball maestro...most of the time, I want to rip those posts right off the play field, the backhand shot is fairly easy for the right ramp....

Gotta play Lotr on 5 ball if you aren't very good like me...the only way to complete all those modes and I've gotta get lucky at that....3 ring shots light the mode start, gotta take those out..

and the lane combos rack up BIG points if you can keep it flowing for several shots....

After DTR, TABA is the coolest mode....the music after getting that far is just weird!

We would be great in a doubles competition!!

BTW, I have Johnny Bower's autograph.

Don't even worry about Finishing the game until you can do the following on a somewhat regular basis:

-destroy the ring: do all multiball modes then destroy ring. Great mode very fun.
-there and back again: complete all the ring modes, then start another ring mode and see what happens

Once you can do those 2 things on a regular basis, your next goal should be completing 2 of any 3 multiball modes in a single game. Once you get 2 complete, the third will come, 'when your ready to attempt to finish the game', which is known as Valinor.

Your next goal will be trying to light up the entire gift of the elves inserts in a single game. watch happens after you get another gift of the elves once it's already complete...secret

Once you Do all those at any given time, then you can attempt to reach valinor by doing all those things in one game. Except you'll have to complete all 3 mb's, not just 2. And you'll have to destroy the ring one final time once everything else has been done.

But like I said earlier, start with some goals: destroy the ring and there and back again should be your first goals. The rest will come naturally.

I think I have that problem in my game. Sometimes the ball flys into the ring then just kinda drops out. Will the fuse correct this problem entirely. Thanks!!

I play my LOTR every night after work. I DTR a lot. My high score is 203 mil. Still did not get TABA in a game (just being honest) im always have 1 mode left. A tip is always try and have golem MB ready. This is a good thing to use between MB to keep it going. Hit the back tower for your extra ball and try to pick up the other completing RF or is it in ring multiball? hmm. If you cant back had the right ramp or hit it from the left flipper, this is your killer. TTMB is where i score the most points. I always complete this and get my victory laps. This to me, is the most satisfying thing in the game "SUPER JACKPOT WHOOO WHOOO WHOOO". Hitting the back tower during the MB will light the palinter and normally will give you that add a ball. This makes progression through the MB quicker. ROTKMB I dont even try to rack up souls bc The Ents will give you the opp to do that. Well I guess I skill shot that on every ball also. I know the X is better but that how I roll. Fellowship is easy. Im sure you dont need help on that. Except wax between your pop bumpers and keep it clean...u know y if you own this game. You need many hits to collect Boromir. Does anyone else have this problem or is my pops weak? It never seem to get more then a few hits.

Pinnation, I bet your fuse is blown. Upgrade to 1 amp more (not more than 5) and carry on. I could do very little til ring was sucking the balls in and holding them with the magnet.

Eskaybee, I like the fact that there are more secrets for me to discover!

LOTR is a GREAT game because of the ruleset!

Remember; if you don't have all 3 elf rings for mode start, the ring will catch the ball but intentionally spit it back and say "I see you" or something. If it's catching and then dropping during a mode start or DTR, then there's another problem. I have seen this on my machine several times. I don't think the fuse has anything to do with this part, but I could be wrong?
When mine was doing it to me, a screw was out on the backside of the ring ramp behind the ring. I readjusted it, and used compressed air can on the opto and it helped drastically. I also heard a bad switch on the ring ramp can cause this problem too. I'm open to more ideas as I'm a hack, not a tech

I played my friend's LOTR and he has stronger coils than mine in the flippers and it was soooo much easier to hit that right hand ramp!

The key thing to remember about LOTR is you MUST collect all the Gifts from the elves or you will never come near Valinor.You did this by completing modes,DTR,etc.

The base LOTR is 4amp slo blo,The LE is 5 amp slo blo..This is very important to remember and also if you put in a new Rottendog driver board it is labeled 3 amp directly on that board.Make sure you put in a 4 amp or you'll blow the Transistor that runs the magnet.

Ball control is the key in LOTR. Other games don't seem to have the slings aiming at the side drains as accurately as LOTR. So many shots in LOTR return the ball to the flipper. Flailing aimlessly will not generate the long game.

Also, what difficulty do you have the game set to for all the modes?

Im interested in this question also.

I must admit I am very tempted to go to 5 balls on my LOTR. While the games would last FOREVER, it is intriguing to go for Valinor.....
And I am now sure there several other treats that I haven't discovered yet.
Would I be ridiculed by the Pinsiders for digging deep via 5 balls?
Does anyone know what happens if you reach Valinor??? Don't tell me.... ok, tell me....

5 balls is a bit crazy but do what you like. I play on a 3 ball game (i think most ppl do). Valinor mode...never got there yet. Never even got TABA with the glass on that is lol. Valinor mode does not make this game any more exciting to me. But it would be nice to visit it 1x. Im going to put my modes on easy when I get home tonight just to check it out.

I play 5 ball with modes on medium difficulty which is just about the right challenge for me now...

Gotta clear the modes and start another one to get to TABA, it's tough to do and impossible for me on 3 ball unless you get a few extra balls...

Baaaah, 5 ball settings causes males to experience an overdose in estrogen, leading to bitch tits – be warned.

...

I have 3 ball, medium difficulty and have reached TABA twice - then... pretty much SDTM both times