I see three also.

I just voted and it showed 3 to 3.

It shows 3 to 3.

I also just voted and I'm able to see the results thus far: AFM 6 - LOTR 5

Geaux LOTR!!!! 10-9 up by a point.

Easy for me on this one.

Housekeeping - When this is all over, i would go back and edit the title of all of these and put the year in.

I just voted and it’s like 18-17. I can see the votes.

How anyone could pick the clunky stop and go LOTR over the flow dream that is AFM...

Hopefully this will boost a vault edition chance! Used market prices show demand is there.

Gomez 4 life!!

TO WAAAAARRRR!

AFM SHALL NOT PASS!

voted and following!

Second that! Lord of the rings is a good game, AFM is a great game @

Will add to the smack talk, a lot of this is in jest as these are two great pins.

AFM is an amazing pin but it isn't better than LOTR's as it has one of the most repetitive rulesets in pinball. Shoot the middle shot 5x to save the first country, then 10x, 20x, etc. Ugh, talk about a monotonous task. Now it's a fun monotonous task but after a while it gets very old. Of course AFM plays faster, any game would with such a wide open playfield and little to stop the ball. Also, the points system in AFM is joke. 10 million points for hitting a standup target? That's probably the all time highest score on WOZ lol.

LOTR is still a fast pinball machine and offers stop and go moments with plenty of variety that keeps players coming back for more. Then there's all the layered multiballs with multiple stages, progressive based main modes that tie into the Gift of the Elves feature for beating them, and multiple wizard modes including one of the best ever created with that being Destroy the Ring.

LOTR is a great game but it is so complex trying to work out how to get to Valinor.

What is so great about a deep game when hardly any owners get to the end?!

That's the great thing about LOTR, in a way it has multiple games within it. You can focus on beating modes to unlock Gift of the Elves awards, attempt to get through the various stages in the 3 main movie multiballs to then get to Destroy the Ring, then There and Back Again, and finally Valinor. Those last 3 items, the games wizard modes, give it legs for years of ownership after thousands of plays. Damn it I may need buy this game again lol.

Keith Johnson, the games programmer, put it perfect when he said a mode like Destroy the Ring is for a great game while a mode like Valinor is for a game of a lifetime. A cousin of mine has owned a LOTR since new back in 2005 and has 6,000+ plays on it. A few years ago, around 12 years or so after owning it, he told me how he was amazed to unlock this new mode called Valinor after thousands of plays. That was another moment that cemented LOTR for me as one of the best pins ever created.

Really tough to decide here.
In the end it’s clear there are a lot of good pins out there that provide fun for many with different tastes. Going to have to put some time on both of them this weekend to decide.

However when I go down to my basement the majority of the time JJPOTC gets played first/most often. Can a honeymoon phase last 1 yr...I guess it can. It’s amazing LOTR knocked off so many great pins and it’s 17 years old.

AFM....no doubt, the best pin for non regular pin players. Yet it keeps you coming back ...working to Rule the Universe doesn’t get old. It’s pure fun....if the vote was fun factor alone (ie no immersion factor, no last-ability, etc) then it takes the cake.

LOTR is fantastic, but best played when in the mood for the adventure, etc. Mine is very fast with a relatively new clearcoated playfield so I don’t have as many marathon games. Yeah when you are having a really good game... it’s like there’s nothing better then this. The modes and multiballs are top notch. DTR is amazing...the center ramp shot to the ring is one of the best and doesn’t get old. Yet when I look to the left I see TZ and AFMr. And I have said the same for them too.

In the end there are many times I am playing games (A few of my own and a few others...including DILE and JP2) where I say now this is the best game. They all have something great to offer and it’s pretty clear their “faults” get magnified for the sake of comparisons.

Who gives two shits about art work. If a game is fun its fun. Both of these games are great in their own way. That being said I would be surprised if its even close....AFM should win easily (and yes I own both games)

Well said!

Yes you can still see the votes , there's normally a setting in the pole to view results but I'm sure you know that too . Both great games , that's like asking who's better looking Elle Macpherson or Claudia Schiffer . If I was on a desert island and could only have one game to play out of these two I would have to , go Lord of the Rings .

So many subjective aspects will show up in this round. Flow vs stop go, designers, programmers, Stern or B/W.

What is cool is both are pretty complete for fans of moderns in licensed or unlicensed themes.

This is a great match up. Classic B/W against THE classic Stern. Lyman verses Keefer. Sci-Fi fun versus epic fantasy. One whimsical, one intense. Both with outstanding elements of humor.

AFM was basically a rarity. I mean, everyone had played it, but to own one was an investment and maybe a matter of luck. Prices were in the 5 figures for very nice or restored original. The game was reimagined after 23 years and remade new! That’s the legacy LOTR has to beat here, and it’s stout.

I really, really, really like AFM. But I freaking love Lord of the Rings!

I have been lucky to own both, totally agree with both of these machines in the finals. They are so different from each other almost polar opposites so it will just come down to personal preferences. Either way you can’t lose as both are worthy of the title.

I think this is going to come down to what type of game each voter likes to play - more straightforward, or depth and wood chopping.

If you play AFM as a city attack only, you're playing it wrong That's like playing MM as castles only.

They both have lots of campy humor although in the case of LOTR, I think it was unintentional - which makes it even funnier.

These are truly the two greatest games of all time.

If I could only have a two game collection, this would be it.

What's better, getting to a made up place, or ruling the freaking universe?

Depends on what I am drinking that day!

Sensing just a little bit of sarcasm..
44660508-1567-4C10-B4CC-0272706FE1F7 (resized).jpeg

I'm still seeing votes (?)....this one isn't even close for me......

This is a toss up for me. Having owned LOTR for eight years, I've had countless hours of fun playing that masterpiece. As others have said, it's a storied adventure everytime you hit start.

AFM to me is just a perfect example of great classic pinball. It has fantastic flow, funny callouts, with just enough depth and features to keep it interesting. You don't have to take a course on how to play it and it's still plenty challenging. I've owned mine for around 2.5 years now, and it's still far from getting old. I've only made it to RTU twice and and not "ruled it" yet.

I need more time to think on this...

No, I have decided to become one with the mob and will be selling several machines to buy both of these.

Who cares if I won't be playing them, at least I'll be cool.

Stepping back and looking at the playfield for LotR......yup, gotta say, it's probably the the GoaT

LotR (resized).jpg

There are probably cooler machines out there. I would wait for the next tournament to determine what’s best to buy just for show and to look at. How about TBL. That one is really cool and beautiful too.

Very well said! Remember when AFM was the most talked about game Pinside? I was lucky to find a beater AFM, in the day, up near Boston. Guy advertised it and the pinside buzz was it had to be fake. Drove 5 hours to pick it up and drove home with this big smile on my face. Felt like I got away with a big Heist . Spent money on restoring it and it still sits in the game room today right next to LOTR.

I used to play the heck out of AFM at several locations. It was one of the better flowing games from the mid 90s. Several friends had one, but for some reason it never made my collection. Probably because I already saw that space ship blow up enough times for a lifetime.

Thx for doing this. It's been fun playing along.

LOTR is far, far from the greatest pin every made, but it kills ATM easily. Thank god it wasn't AFM vs MM. Absolute snoozefest.

Great movie, but after playing the game, it is just a big barge of a boat anchor.

What game is ATM?

However AFM would be a completely different story!!

See them all the time!

Put side by side, AFM is just plain fun at any time. For LOTR, I have to be in the right mood and have enough time to commit to a game on it.