Just watched this. It was so good. Amazing how they can get right into character so quickly. Thanks for posting. I knew Josh did this but your post made it easy to find.

Loved it! Made me tear up when Billy sang. Such an amazing group, no wonder the movies turned out so great.

I'm surprised Elrond wasn't there and it was great to see Theoden at the end funny as hell, speaking of which I see that John "Gimili" never lost his sense of humor. What a great and magical cast.

Need some help. I have had troubles with my machine once i get into a long game or it has been running awhile. At first it was my sword lock. In the middle of a long game the post would eventually not come down but seems like it was trying. So i replace the coil and it now has worked 100%. Once that was fixed the shire switch started faulting out. In the middle of a long game where it is working perfectly it started delaying the kick out. 5 seconds then 10 seconds before it would kick out. Eventually it stops and only will kick out if a ball search is done. Replaced the switch and its doing the same thing. The replaced switch is new and i hear it click every time whether by finger or placing the ball on it. I also lifted the forks on the switch with a leaf blade tool to make sure it has good up/down motion. I can go into switch test and roll the ball onto about 20 times perfectly fine with ejection then it starts delaying 5 seconds then 10 seconds before ball is ejected. Then after that it doesn't register the switch at all. If I go into coil test the left vuk will eject no matter how many times I hit it so i dont think its the coil.

I'm at a loss here and any help will be much appreciated. I've only had the game for a month now, paid a hefty premium because it was local distributor, and have had to diagnose and tinker on the machine more than I have been able to play it. I really love the game but I can't stand having a machine that I can't play more than I have to work on.

I'm hoping someone can help with an lotr issue I'm having. Recently added the 10.0 CPU and display chips along with the le pal chip to eventually add a shaker to the game. Everything seemed to be working good except I noticed the ring wasn't grabbing the ball. Blown fuse, so replaced it, turned the game on, and heard the magnet lock on.

Checked the transistor and it was shorted. So replaced that. Checked the magnet and magnet diode and they appeared fine. Put it all back together and first time the magnet grabbed the ball it wouldn't let it go so I killed the game. Turned it on and magnet locked on, so transistor is toast.

I'm wondering if anyone else has had problems with the ring after adding the 10.0 ROMs. The chips are all firmly seated, the notches are all correct, everything works except the transistor that keeps blowing. Not sure how those chips could affect only a single magnet/transistor

I'm thinking the magnet and ROM replacement are unrelated. I have seen a Whitestar (Monopoly) with a locked on transistor caused by the driver chip. In this case the magnet is driven by Q6 which is driven by U1 which is an HCT273. They are 45 cents at GPE.

https://www.greatplainselectronics.com/search.asp

Thanks, I'll try to replace that just to rule that out as well

What is this post for please? (Guess is so the tower doesn’t smack the side of the game when destroyed?)

9C3BF6C6-01BD-4DD2-AE82-DA50556F8480 (resized).jpeg

Stops ball traps also.

95% of the time this type of question is asked about any game, the answer is "to prevent a ball traps". I pretty much now assume that until I hear otherwise.

My ring magnet stopped working, where to look first?
Is it normal that they work for a while and suddenly stop working?

Check fuse

If fuse is blown, make sure to upgrade from a 3amp to a 4 amp fuse.

Fuse F20 was blown.
Replaced the 3amp with a new 4amp slow blow.
Thank you both!

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-53110391?fbclid=IwAR3xyuck1-4K-Vfn_havL53LB_GZnZ-iUmQ5Wga_s8HoJxcxUKRmYa9EAXY

Screenshot_20200619-225559~2 (resized).png

RIP Ian Holm .

RIP Bilbo Baggins

RIP Bilbo (resized).png

May you rest in peace in Valinor Bilbo!

Having a strange issue with Balrog. I'll sometimes start Fellowship MB and no hits to him register, and the following game it will work fine. It seems completely random.

I also noticed tonight, that no hits were registering, but when the ball went into the Shire, a hit registered.

Not sure if it was a phantom hit, or something else.

Anyone?

Would suggest manually checking your Balrog switch as well as by rolling some balls against it without the glass off and in switch test. Your switch might need to readjust inside the Balrog or replaced if worn out.
Mine does register pretty good, only some weird angles or when the ball just touches him slightly do not register. But thats pretty rare.

Shire hits registering Balrog could be a phantom so best to check in switch test. Another reason could be that the vibration from the Shire VUK caused the Balrog switch to register but that would result in your Balrog switch being too sensitive. Thats the opposite of the first behaviour.

So best to test both issues in switch test and see what results you get.

I ordered some new balls from pinballlife and installed them. in the first game, the balls got stuck on the sword ramp. So, having read about this issue several times, I realized I didn't order carbon steel balls, and they magnetized in the ring. So I went back to pinballlife website and looked at the balls I ordered. The description says: "Pinballs are made of carbon steel and work great in games with magnets!". So what's the deal? This is the first time I've changed the balls on the machine, and I've never had this issue before.
Are the pinballs from pinballlife not the right kind?

I've always only ordered my balls in bulk (usually 50 at a time) from Terry and never had an issue. Have you tried them outside of the game with something metallic to test whether they had actually been magnetized and are not getting stuck for another reason?

no, I didn't. I pulled the first ball off the ramp and I could feel it pulling to the other ball. However, once I got them out of the machine, they didn't seem magnetized. I guess it could have been something else?? I'll put the balls back in a play a few games this evening.

Sounds to me like broken wires in the harness. Very common because of the Balrog's movement back and forth and eventually the wires break. You'll need to remove the Balrog and harness(very easy) and work at a table. I had to cut away the protective sheath to find the broken wires on mine. I was able to just cut, strip, twist, and solder and it has worked fine for over ten years.

Well the ramp is metal. It's possible that the magnetism is coming from there. If there were the wrong balls in there for long enough sitting on the ramp, I suppose it's possible. Have you looked at that?

I'm not sure I follow. I only had the new balls in for 1 game and they got stuck on the ramp. If the old balls were not carbon steel and they got magnetized by the ring shot, I would assume THEY would have started sticking to the ramp. However, I never had any problems until I put the new balls in.

Correct me if I'm wrong, please!

edit: I can see how it would appear that the sword lock area is magnetized, since the balls seemed to stick until they were removed from the ramp. I'm just not sure how the ramp would have been magnetized without seeing the effects before I installed new balls.

If your old balls (hehe) were played for long enough that they magnetized the metal sword ramp, the magnetism would be coming form the ramp and not your balls.

Define "getting stuck on the ramp", can you elaborate? Any Video or photos?

Sword ramp insulator no problems again, for 4.00 its worth it.

http://pinbits2.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13_48&products_id=463

after I locked the 3rd ball in for TT mb, the post drops to release the balls, but the balls don't move.

And what I meant about the old balls is that if the old balls were magnetized enough to where they were magnetizing the sword lock, wouldn't the balls have stuck to the ramp at that point? the old balls never showed a sign of magnetization

Even magnetized, the pitch of the game should be a sufficient slope for round balls to roll down at least a little, not stay completely stationary. Normally what I've seen happen is they would roll slower and the post would pop up in the middle of a ball and knock it off the ramp. I would play it with the glass off and look for anything else that might be causing the issue as well as the aforementioned insulator. Either it's a ramp magnetization issue or it isn't and you'll find it through additional testing.

yep, I'm counting the minutes til the end of the workday so I can do a little testing. Thanks for the help!

Yep, this is likely your issue. I had the same behavior and did exactly as recommended above; removed harness from game and rebuilt it on the bench. I soldered the wires at a 90deg angle from the switch solder tabs. This helps eliminate the hard kink the stock wires have against the metal backing plate. This is what eventually leads to the wire failures.

Ok I put the balls back in the game and played around a bit. I had the exact results you described - the ball not rolling far enough, and the post knocking it off.

So I took a small metal screw I had and put it on the ball, and it sticks to the ball. So the ball is def magnetized. I tried sticking the small screw on the ramp in various places, and it didn't appear magnetized at all.

So how is this possible? Did pinballlife just send me a bad batch of balls or something?

I actually have a harness replacement, so would it be as easy as disconnect the old, reconnect the new?

And what the easiest way to access the harness?

Lastly, I noticed that I have Two Towers ready to go, and just needed to make the sword shot to start it, and hitting something else in the game actually started it (not mystery).

Is this likely due to vibration?

to add to this...I took one of the extra (carbon steel) balls I bought from pinballlife and tested it before using it - no magnetization. I set it on the ramp and let it sit for a minute - no magnetization. I checked the trough - no magnetization. I put the ball through the ring shot once - instant magnetization.

Carbon steel balls should resist megnatizing much longer than that. Is your ring catch magnet firing for too long and not going to the hold setting (much less power)? Might also be worth a quick email to Terry at PBL just to double check the balls.

I sent an email over to Margaret. We'll see what she says. I'm not exactly sure how to check whether the ring is switching to "hold", but I'll look into it. I would think that would have affected the old balls as well, tho.

When you shoot the ring shot it will come on full strength to stop the ball's momentum. Then it will kick down in strength to hold it and the ball will still shake a little before it releases completely and drops out the front or back. You can also see this is the ring magnet test as well. You would think so yea unless they're indeed not CS balls but they generally buy huge lots and they are all the same balls.

Sounds to me like they sent the wrong type of balls by mistake. Pinballlife is very good but they have on occasion sent me the wrong items.

I’m having the same issue with Balrog not always registering and phantom hits when there’s no balls near him. Also have the occasional Two Towers mb starting during play without hitting the last sword lock or mystery rewarding it. So possibly these two are connected somehow.

Guess it's comforting to know we're not alone

Anyone know if these switches are somehow connected in the matrix, or if perhaps these are phantom hits?

Kind of weird that we're both having exactly the same issue with Balrog and TTT MB.

Finally ordered the full protective set from Cliffy and also 2 switch slot protectors. My game really needed them..

When they arrive, it is time for a full teardown, clean, a few new plastics and the Arwen ramp I got from TimeBandit

In the middle of restoring my LOTR. (Ramps and wireforms are off to Pinball plating for brass) and I noticed my #6 plastic (far back left corner) is broken and missing. (This machine was heavily routed before I got it) Anyone know where I can pick up a spare #6 and maybe an Arwen (even a repro is fine) plastic? I'd like to exhaust other options without dropping crazy prices for a full set. If anyone has spares I could probably use the extra thick plastics and a backboard decal, but now I'm just being picky about mine. More than happy to pay if anyone has spares!

So, went it to switch test, and there were 4 switches active for the trough, and one active for Balrog open, and one for Balrog hit.

Should those switches be showing as active in test?

They are overseas I have dealt with them in the past without any issues.

https://www.pinball.center/en/shop/pinball-parts/playfield-parts/plastics/7205/arwen-plastic-for-the-lord-of-the-rings

update on this: I dug one of my old balls out of the trash and ran it through the ring shot - no magentization.

Pinballlife is going to refund me the money for the pinballs.

I did buy the Arwen plastic from Pinball Center because mine was broken and repaired very badly.
I must say the printing quality is not as good as the original one.
Ofcourse it is still better then a broken Arwen plastic, and the price is pretty good

FYI...My NOS full plastic set I purchased at the same time I pre-ordered my NIB LOTR in 2003 did NOT have an Arwen plastic, it came with an alternate plastic for that spot instead. If you can find an Arwen anywhere I would just buy it.

I thought pinball center stopped delivering to the USA

And on that note, if there IS anyone able to get a pinball center shipment delivered to me in the US, I'd be happy to pay for the hassle.