The post having the large washer should be where I circled it in red:
1c61bf094c8475243a74335dceae38c0077ed2da (resized).jpg

There also should be a washer under the post to contain the wireform (in other words: post then washer then wireform).

Thanks very much for the suggestion regarding the repositioning of the lock mechanism. TBH my wife mentioned this when she looked at the game herself . So, anyways, took it apart repositioned it and now the ball is going straight down the sword, no problems. Also took the balls out and they do have a very slight tendency to stick. I'm buying those other ones. Thanks again!

Ahhhhh. Makes sense now, I guess the previous owner put the tall post on the wrong spot when he replaced the palantir? Thanks, everybody!!

My post is on the threaded rod behind the Palatir. You can see the threads on the post in the picture.

So I should be joining the club this weekend if everything goes well. Very excited to say the least since it seems like a great game. Only paid it a handful of times but it was fun the times I did play it

I have a chance to buy a BEAUTIFUL HUO LOTR....I mean it is pristine. The seller seems amazing, just trying to decide. His machine is completely stock; does anyone know if there are any POtD mods or Jays palantir mods kicking around for sale?

A good deal on an immaculate HUO LOTR > Mods

Find the mods or don't later, you've still got a great example of one of the best games out there.

Awesome! Happy to help.

Same game we talked about?

I have three I am looking at currently.....
What worries me is that I may buy, then Stern announces a Vault. That is why I sold mine 4 years ago. I mean, they HAVE TO make a vault right?

LotR comes with it heavy licensing and one must imagine that JJP potentially has a lock on the LotR/Hobbit/Tolkien license at the moment. It's possible that the Hobbit and LotR are licensed separately, but nobody really knows. Also, you can find some pretty nice LotR's for sub 6k and I'm rather confident than a vault edition will cost more than that.

I have the same concern with a vault but one popped up local and at a decent price so I just took the plunge. If a vault comes, oh well.

Can't live your life saying "what if"....

You have to ask yourself, how would a vault even change your game IF they did make it? If it's an immaculate HUO example, then a vault would not be of greater quality. And no way they'd add figures to a vault, so if yours has those, you're ahead with an original. Only thing I can think of would be a possible upgrade to the audio quality, but would stern really spend the time to re-master all the original clips? Or could they even do this with licensing issues? Maybe it'd end up being like a SMVE with new audio callouts that everyone complains about. The jackpot callout alone is worth it's weight in gold (wait, do callouts really weigh anything? oh well, you get my point). I personally don't think they'll do a vault because finding an original is not very tough... you said it yourself that you're considering three separate ones. Sells would be lackluster at best for a vault. Now, a tron VE is more likely I think (if they can get disney licensing to agree) because of the difficulty in finding these. I'm not worried about that either, because my LE will still be way better than any vault they can release (unless they put Daft punk multiball in the vault, and then I'm gonna go ballistic).

TL;DR - Get the original LOTR now... you won't regret it.

They did, and it was sold as an LE in 2009.....

Pinzap nailed it......

Pinzap hit it right on the head. You can't make a perfect game better.

If they remade this one, and as said by Pinzap they are very unlikely to reuse or remaster the original audio as it was pretty low quality. They would have a very very difficult time recreating or reimagining the epic callouts. Audio is a huuuuuuuge part of what makes this game such a classic.

I recently purchased a Spidey original because although the art package might be better on the SMVE, the audio is well worth sticking to the original.

I also let go of a Medieval Madness remake to hold on to an original, so at least as far as I'm concerned, originals will always be better.

They will also hold a place in pinball history.

I would pick an original LOTR playfield in good condition over Stern's current crop every time.

I dunno. I love my LotR but even with a perfect quality playfield the art is pretty atrocious. I'd take a high res version with correct colors any day.

EDIT: And I supposedly have one of the "good" playfields with Frodo's eyes correctly colored.

I wasn't considering art rather durability. I own a lot of Stern's and the quality has dropped considerably in my opinion.

Word. I was thinking purely the playfield and not playfield parts or anything.

What batches were correctly coloured? What’s the difference?

I'm no expert on the subject, I've just heard that there are certain early playfields where the color pallette is off -- apparently it makes Frodo's eyes look red. Someone else will have to chime in to give details.

Thanks.
Something to keep my eyes out for.
You know, I have to admit, I really don’t mind the art on LOTR. I always felt it looked middle earthy.
As for the potential Vault, it would be pretty sweet if they made the POTD more interactive....that’s the kind of updates/upgrades I’m worried about.

I've owned two LOTRs. I don't know it was so much colour as it was resolution. The current one I have is noticeably clearer than the previous one where the art was fuzzy. It doesn't really matter to me, but there definitely were changes in the production in later games. I see that with my TSPP as well. It's also why I now never buy a game at launch. I like to wait 1-2 years for them to work out all the bugs. Perfect example would be BM66.

And on the topic of LOTR, I decided to have a quick game of pinball this afternoon while working at home (terrible idea, since "quick" and "LOTR" don't often go together).

Pissed away ball 1 and 2, and on the third ball, I finished FOTR, and TT multiball. I also got to level 6 on ROTK. Finished DTR and looked at the clock and decided to walk away and finish the game at some point tonight. I have 2 extra balls waiting for me, so maybe this is the Valinor game

Playing this afternoon, I also reminded myself why this game will always be bolted to my floor, and why in my opinion, this is the perfect game of pinball.

LOTR is just a great game. My interest in pinball has been waning. I've played maybe ~80 total games over the last 8 months (when I used to do that in a week or even a night!). I almost sold my LOTR a few months ago. I am so glad I didn't. I've starting play more again this week and LOTR is the perfect package. I twice gotten to destroy the ring and missed the last shot on ball 3. I love it!

The issue on some(many) LOTR playfields was color registration. In order to create colors correctly, the Y,M,C,K have to lay EXACTLY on top of each other. When they don't, you get a magenta halo effect around the images. That is why my Frodo looks stoned out of his gourd. It also doesn't bother me because so many of them are like that and it still looks and plays great!

Do you happen to have a pic for comparison?
You know....those hobbits had a propensity for weed....maybe yours is accurate!

Yeah I put a shaker in mine not long ago and it's such great integration. On my Star Wars, the shaker is way over-the-top and rattles loudly. On LotR I can't hear it unless I'm paying attention, only feel it -- which is perfect.

x2 on that, I just installed one last week and works very well with the game.

How do you walk away and restart the game where you left off?

Between balls, either a drain or a lock. As long as you don't have auto plunge on, it will sit there until you play.

You don't restart. You just leave it there in that state for so many hours and come back to it.

You can pop the door open when the ball is resting somewhere like the Gimli hole, Orthanic or the Shire as well. Just don't close it until you're ready to go again

Ok. I get it. Not a bad idea. I got very close to valinor yesterday. Took me almost an hour... would have been nice to take a break. I got to "there and back again" for the first time, had FOTR and TT completed, but still needed 2 gifts and ROTK. 121M was my new high score. Still refining my strategy... what modes do you guys typically stack with which multiballs, and which modes do you try to tackle by themselves. I've found attack from shallob, Gandalf vs Saruman, and Warg Battle to be achievable in their own, but I find it hard to focus on modes when in multiballs (except for maybe ent battle).

ROTK is the biggest obstacle. I've had many games where everything is checked off except that. When you have a good game going, and you finish ROTK, you know that could potentially be your Valinor game.

I had level 6 on ball 3 with 2 extra balls left, and when I got back to my game, I just wasn't in the zone and I pissed it all away.

I've been one final shot away from Valinor, and only failed because the flipper coils were all fizzed out.

I rarely play LOTR as it's such a time commitment, but I feel confident I'll get to the end of of these days.

Such a fantastic game!

Hey guys.
Anyone know who sells the POtD mod? I bought from Hemi years ago but I’m sure he is out. Are there any instructions how to make one? I have a ton of extra figures I purchased in the event of a remake/vault that are sitting waiting to be used....

Why wait to play a great game? Why don't you pick up the original HUO that you've been looking at and if a remake ever happens (unlikely) you can always sell to an enthusiast like me that would take an original over a vault any day.

Bumping my own question.

jsm172 -- You'll love it! I'm playing some of my last games on her, and she's she's still solid as a rock. Is it too late to raise my price?

I made mine very easily. I just took off the POTD mini PF and used a pattern trim router bit with a bearing in my router table to cut the plastic down to the exact size of the POTD. A few holes drilled for screw access, some stand offs and I was good to go.

Some have also reported a green tint to the faces on their their playfield, like this post:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-lord-of-the-rings-journey-begins-members-club/page/55#post-4361525

Not discounting this at all, but you can get the plastic from Pinbits for like $20. I found the figurines brand new in the box on mercari.com for $20 as well. Also found a Gandalf on Shadowfax there.

I hear ya, definitely would be easier. I could pay to get my oil changed too, but I'm a DIY guy for good or for bad. I happened to have everything I needed to do it and enjoy working in my shop.

Ok, installed the shaker in my non LE LOTR following the directions here:

http://homepinballrepair.com/index.php/install-a-shaker-on-a-lord-of-the-rings-lotr-pinball-machine/

Fairly straight forward, new PAL, new 10.02 rom, piggy back the red/white wire, and hook up #5 on the J9. All that but no shaking still. what solenoid is the shaker? #24 "optional"?

Do you have the transistor at Q12? Mine didn't and I had to add it. See post #27 of: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/how-to-install-shaker-motor-in-lotr-standard-edition

Yep, sure does.

I also put a shaker in a non LE LOTR. Mine would not work until I reset pin to factory settings. After it is working you can change the settings.