Stern could sell 1000 or more LOTRv easy. Copy the original design and price it as a premium for $7k. Anybody seriously interested in LOTRv has no reason not to buy a huo LOTR when one pops up. Add the color dmd and you are all set.

Until a poser plops down cash for this one, everybody saying they would buy LOTRv are full of shit imo.

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Hate to bring up the Beatles, but I think it was partially intended to reset pricing in our minds. $7.6k for an updated Seawitch that is nowhere near as good as a LOTRv. On # of mechanisms, # of ramps, quality of final code and best game basis, who would buy a Beatles over LOTR for $7.5k? Who thinks Beatles is a better value, and yet Stern made/sold 1000 of them in short order (maybe 400 have been resold to end buyers, while the balance sit in boxes in warehouses, ready to be adopted).

Stern can take a dump on a cracker and sell 1000 of them. LOTRv is a no brainer, make it and they will come. Ironically few in this thread would buy one. LOTRv threads tend to attract two types of people - those who know it would sell but don’t want one and those who think it should be updated and enhanced and priced at $5.5k. Stern needs 1000 buyers wanting a guaranteed great pin with complete code, high end trim finishes and a color screen to compete with AFMr, MMr and MBr.

One thing all top 10 pins have .... real toys. When was the last Stern pin released with cool toys? Not DP, not SW, not Primus not Beatles, but the entry level LOTR has Balrog bash toy, Ring ramp, sword lock ramp and a well integrated shaker. Price for entry into this exclusive club is $7.5k. Stern could release it next year to coincide with the 42nd anniversary celebration of episode 4. Any pin license under 50 years old is considered a “recent” theme.

Star Wars and Star Trek are evergreen themes/pinball machines. Stern has a nice comic book SW premium available and now Mandalorian. So Star Wars is covered but Stern needs to offer Star Trek games again. So I propose they spend some time improving the code and then vault it. Currently there are six named modes with three levels each and eighteen (?) away modes BUT the general consensus is that level modes are too similar to level one and they are a bit boring. So by totally rewriting the 36 modes to make them better would make the game feel new. So anybody agree? Rewrite ST modes and vault it.