I personally love the audio on LOTR. Awesome use of music (changes up based on what mode is running, from happy to intense). Super voice callouts (both unique and from the movies - "to WAR!", "SUPER jackpot", Frodo countdown, etc). All around, great theme integration. The sound package puts the game over the top.

Wait till you get to "there and back again," if you haven't already. Some of the best music in a pin in my opinion.

Yes, I love getting TABA, though its only been twice, maybe that's why is so exciting. I put Valinor up as a pipe dream but, my goal in this game is to get through the complete story in TABA.

I just got my LOTR last Friday, you guys are firing me up to get to the deeper levels! I am loving this game.

I 100% agree, music is amazing and definitely gets the adrenaline pumping when you get to destroy the ring. Completing the mode still illudes me, one time I had the ball trapped on a flipper with only the center ramp left to go and i bricked it, closest I've ever gotten. So fun everytime, I will definitely own this game one day.

I finally destroyed the ring for the first time last night. What a rush! I was also in the middle of my last mode when I drained my final ball. Since I was so close to TABA, I probably should have just held the ball and let the mode time out.

I agree, the music on LOTR is phenomenal. It's definitely the best all around sound package I can think of. Granner really knocked it out the park. The only music in the whole game that I don't think fits with the mood of everything else is the high score music.

My first DTR was exciting as shit, all hell breaks loose.

Playing in a pitch black room with CT LED's & the volume on 10 likely made the theatrics far more intense.

For those yet to DTR you need to play loud in the dark!

Damn I want to play right now!

Here's me playing There and Back Again, if ya want a little taste of it:

Lotr is one if not the best rule sheets outhere combined with music.

ok, maybe i exaggerate a little bit... but damn it's an amazing pin!
TABA is great, been there a few times, i almost finished that part a few times.
there is so much things to do it's like a never ending game.

I miss that mini game in lotr.

Rh...do you have the more power full coils on ur Lotr? First time I heard the music for taba...Thks for that

I think LOTR probably has the best call outs of any pin made.

And the music during TABA is amazing. It creates a completely different mood compared to the rest of the game. Perfect!

I have destroyed the ring on a few occasions. Last time two balls got stuck in the ring which kinda sucked

Yeah, I have the Pinball Life coils which are awesome but almost *too strong*...sometimes the Gandalf shot can ricochet too much when coming around and go STDM. I'm going to try to make a little plastic guide like the TSPP's right orbit or a little spring like Avatar's pops exit to keep the ball from doing that.

I can see that your shots are strong late in the game where mine are getting considerably weaker to shoot the ring. Am a bit worried that making the ball go another 20mph (?) with the stronger coils will wind up breaking things.
having said that....I also have the same sdtm on the gandlof shot. I found that after after hitting the metal edge of ramp 1000 times causes a slight (bend) not the right word on the edge. I had same issue on my ToM and used a file to smooth it out and all worked well after that. Interested to hear what mod you are actually doing as not familiar with your suggested fix

I've played this LOTR 1000's of times w/ the strong coils and the only thing that broke was one of the clear pointy posts on the upper playfield...and that has nothing to do with the flippers! LOL...it just got brittle and broke off the screw the other day.

As for my fix - if you ever look at TSPP's right orbit shot, there's a flat piece of clear plastic that acts as a guide...it's narrow in the front so shots to the orbit don't get blocked, but wide near the back so a shot coming back will be guided to the side so that it always rolls cleanly to the flipper and not down the middle. Maybe I'll just order an extra and see if I can make it work on my LOTR heh...

Lol. Sounds like Nintendo music to me. Love it.

I'm glad you brought this up. When I destroyed the ring, my game was set to 1-ball. I have since changed it to 2-ball, because it seems like it would be cooler. I'm curious to know what setting most of you use. It seems to me like 2-ball probably makes more sense for a home game, and 1-ball would be better suited for a routed machine.

2 Ball is the way to go, its really cool. Usually works just fine must have hit it just right for this to happen I think there is a chance of blowing a fuse when the ball is held in the ring for some time but so far so good.

I was just thinking about the music when DTR started for me the other day. I was having a good game and it actually made me nervous and I did not play as well. Keith did a great job integrating the music into the pin to give the senses the emotions like in the movies.

The There and Back Again music is really special and much more relaxed, like a reward for making it that far in the game.

Isn't the There and Back Again just a midi version of the end of Return of the King?

Yes but happier.

lol ok

Probably because there's more reward to making it to There and Back Again than just making it through 10 hours of movie

some of the best stern musical composition out there. BK2K is still my all time sound favorite, But I would hardly compare these two games.

My favorite LOTR music is actually when the bonus is tabulating between balls.

LOTR will always have a special place in my heart. I played my "best game ever" on a LOTR. I don't consider myself a very good player, but I destroyed the ring on location after only playing the game 7-8 times.

It may be possible that the machine was set up 'easier' but please don't tell me that. I'll just live in my own little fantasy world.

I'm sure I looked really cool jumping up and down by myself in an empty bar in the middle of the afternoon ...

I've had my LoTR for 6 years and still do a victory celebration when I DTR.

actually, there and back again comes from some of the background music from fellowship of the ring, in hobbit town in the beginning of the movies.

Finishing Fellowship multiball gives me a rush every time.

I've played one on location my first time with no working magnet which was really easy to play. Except it had no GI and that made it harder to play.

I got to DTR the next week on a different routed lotr and couldn't get the 2nd ball past the magnet.

Now I don't know if normal default games are set like this, but it seems like both of the on location pins spot you a lot in the way of FOTR, TT, and ROTK modes. It seemed like if I didn't get one first ball, it would give me one at the start of ball 2 and so on. So basically, I just had so spam the ent shot to get ROTK multiball and the DTR was ready on ball 3. I figured this out right before I left and when I went back, they replaced the game with something else.

Great game, Greg.

That invisiglass is so clear, it almost looks like...(gulp)...the glass is removed.

I also have the stronger flipper coils, and consider them a required upgrade. But still, every time I've gotten to TABA, somehow the ring shot transforms into the most impossible shot on the game to me. wtf.

In five years, I've only completed all the required shots once before time ran out.

it most certainly is NOT a required upgrade. I have a 5th run, with original coils. Put the "upgrade" in and took them right back out. They are not needed. Plays fine for hours without. With the coils in, it's too strong and ball airballs like crazy. If you want broken plastics and stuff in your game, put them in, but play it normal so you can see how good of a player you really are. Upgrade coils are a crutch for half assed shots. If you get used to playing on a game like that, then play a tournament, you'll fail like no tomorrow. I even have mine set to directors cut and can knock the ball out no problem with a direct shot.

I don;t even remember the music during it...just Smiegal's cries hanging over the edge!

Then I dont think you have the problem coils. The coils in question would noticeably degrade to the point where you could not make the ring shot anymore, no matter if it was a perfect clean shot.

For the record, I don't get airballs and no plastics are broken.

Here's a cool little story:
My 11 yr old nephew never liked LoTR. Then I sat down with him and we shared one player games for a day and I showed him all the rules to each of the 3 main mb's and showed him the DTR rules but I did not DTR, just showed him the shot sequence.

Now, when he comes over, I set the game on 5ball and he plays almost nonstop and usually gets 2 chances to DTR in his couple hours of play. He has not done it yet, but has been one shot away. I refuse to help him and I make sure i don't DTR when he's over. Can't wait to see his face when he finally DTR.

When did you get a lotr?

Not true. That's like saying correctly working parts are a crutch for those who can't play with crappy parts.

The upgrade coils were a fix for the original coils that would get ridiculously weak during prolonged play. It was a commonly reported issue which apparently your game didn't have. The flippers became just too weak to make the ramp no matter how perfectly lined up. If your game had the problem, you would never make any ring shots after about 20 minutes of play.

Stern acknowledged the problem and responded with service bulletin #151 which described the problem as "Flippers feel weaker after extreme amount of use." Their fix was to add Flipper Adjustment 53-55 in the Standard Adjustment Menu. This fix made little noticeable improvement. The stronger coils fixed the problem.

No airballs or broken plastics on my game with the upgrade either.

I appreciate it, but Chris also did a great job in creating the music with hooks for increasing intensity.

The music got me to screw up every time :p really one of the best out there!