That's similar to what I was going to say. If it plays OK, then $4500-$5000 would be a fair price. Some TLC would make it look much better. I think working LOTR won't go much lower as long as it's not trashed.

But, you could wait for a better one and not have to put as much work into it. And also pay $5500-$6000 (or more).

Double contact it was, so this issue is solved. Thanks for the help!

Now on to the next question:
Don't think my magnet is working. Went to the tests; spinned/opto/switch are all ok but I don't see any magnet kickin' in.
What's the correct way to test it?
If it is not trigering, how can I pinpoint the issue?

Check the magnet fuse. (F20) If blown, try a 4A slow blow fuse.

I agree on the price. I paid 6300 for a gem with 230 plays on it so 5k doesn’t seem abnormal. On a side note while at Pinfest this year I was able to grab Jays palantir mod straight from Jay!! Looks awesome and the best mod so far.

If it were me, I’d avoid dealing with sellers that are clearly lying (unless you can negotiate a killer deal to pay for the dishonesty).

I'm pretty bad at this game, but love it.

Most of the regular modes I can sometimes clear, but not with any real consistency.

I have never come close on Destroy the Witch King. I hit one of the first shots, and it seems like the timer runs out on the ramp shot before the ball even makes it back to the flippers. In the few instances when I've hit the ramp shot in time, it seemingly wants me to restart and manage the impossible again!

My sister made this custom key rack for my birthday. Not sure I've seen anything like this before.

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Destroy the Witch King is the one I struggle with the most... you really get one shot at making the Aragon ramp once you've made either the Legolas ramp or Merry orbit, you miss it and you're done... only time i've gotten a quick second chance is if I brick a shot into the plantir and it comes right back to my flipper and I make the Aragon shot...

What works for me is the Legolas ramp over the Merry orbit as I'm better at making the Aargon shot from the left flipper... if I do the Merry orbit, I let it bounce form the left flipper to the right one and time it right to fire it into the Aargon shot.

The *best* strategy for me making Witch King though is really to pair it Fellowship Multi-Ball, you are aiming for those two shots through the multi-ball so you can pretty much luck your way into it. I haven't owned LOTR for long, a couple of months now, and I'd say I've completed Witch King maybe twice while not in Fellowship Multiball.

Easiest mode for me would be Ents for sure.

I stared at the first image for way too long trying to figure out what the relevance of all the other icon's were to LOTR... then scrolled down and saw your other games! <facepalm>. Very cool of her, looks good!

That, it was my precious...
Thank you sir

Cool keyrack, and nice little arcade you've got there. The Getaway is on my list for some day.

red-line, your sister is talented and quite creative. Nice gift!

Has anyone changed out the os8? Any advice?

Where do i test it?

Getaway is still my fave, although I've had it much longer than LOTR.

Thanks! She nailed it

Anybody need some figures? What's the value of these? Thanks

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I was scouring eBay when I got my game. I was seeing sealed Fellowship sets listed at $100 or more. I just checked my history, and got a full sealed set for $13 last year. It was a bid listing and no one bid against me. So probably somewhere between $13 and $100.

There's apparently a rarer set that includes Bill the Pony, so those might go for more.

My keys are jealous!

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Restore done. I’m happy

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Amazing job, I really like the powdercoat on the ramps!

Drool....

I hit three combos against the Witch king today (personal record)! I hope to beat him someday....

Need some help with my ringwraith flasher. Cannot get it to work. If you guys could check here:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/need-help-with-lotr-ringwraith-flasher
Help is appreciated!

Thanks! Red gold. It looks great

Looking good. I like LOTR with the ColorDMD LED. I tried the LCD & went back to the LED. LCD looks great on titles like Star Trek.

I am pretty sure the one he restored has a color LCD not LED.

I had my best game ever today.

I rarely get to Destroy the Ring, and today was the first time I cleared the mode. Not only that, I got an extra ball as one of the gifts, another from a Barad-dur shot, and perhaps another in there somewhere. Not only did I make it to DTR, I got a 2nd round of the main multiball modes and 2nd round of DTR. I lost my last ball with only the ring shots left in the mode.

I don't recall if I did a factory reset on my game when I brought it home, but this was my first time posting a high score on my game.

It's really cool knowing there's even more to discover in this game as I get better.

Sweet! Where did you buy your cabinet decals? Need to change mines.

Yes LCD

I haven’t changed decals
I washed them and did some hand painting.

I don't even play it anymore. My odds of finishing it are low, so would rather not bring in a MB with it.

Yesterday I had a game and had 8 gifts and everything finished except ROTK. Poop!

The rules on this game are superb!

Oh ok! Looks nice!

If someone knows where to get LoTR decals that aren't bad...

Are the ones that are available bad?

Mine were hanging on nails sunk into the inside of a door frame before this

Don't know but given the quality of the original art and the price of the kits, I'd rather take it somewhere where a test has already been done.

Did receive crappy quality for other games, so I am cautious now.

received my lotr and have been really enjoying it what a great game. first time i made it through destroy the ring the i thought
the machine was going to blow up!! ! fantastic!

having some occasional failure of the shire vuk switch , i bent it up working for now but new one on the way

installed my DIY palantir , the machine actually had an non original palintir in place, a crystal ball with an loop of glass eye to which a rubber ring and a booby pin secured it to the base, with a colr changing led it looked pretty good. ,. i had the light bulb and reflector made the decal on my ink jet and got a globe and base from amazon , a few hours of fiddling and it is done and looks good to my eye, it is wired to the palintir bulb , so the eye lights up when lit,

i was thinking of adding a second bulb color changing bulb or fire bulb to the base that would glow without the eye when the palintir shot is not lit, i am not familiar with what things are lit when , anyone have an idea?
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Where did you get the diy palantir?

For your question: as you want one led to work as intended and another to work the opposite as intended, I am pretty sure you need a small home made pcb for that.
There is no light on the game that is lit specifically when the palantir is off.

DIY = Do It Yourself

thanks for the input I have some interest with learning pinduino , this might be a simple application to learn on

Show caseing some mods a colleague and I have been working on. The path of the dead comes with holes to mount the figures or in a cheaper alternative without has multiple etching options. Sword will be available soon, one pictured is a prototype finish will be a smoother crisper paint
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Do you sell the path with the figures as a kit?

I tore down a lot of my LOTR upper playfield a few weeks ago, put on all new Titan rubbers, cleaned & waxed the playfield, and had it working perfectly. Volunteered it last weekend for the NWPAS (http://www.nwpinballshow.com/) and had a lot of plays. It came back in mostly good shape.

One problem that has me baffled is the right ramp (Aragorn sword ramp) enter switch is not working. It just won't register by activating switch. My wife had trepidations about sending the precious to play with all it's pinball friends, and I want to make sure it gets repaired quickly! Please help me if you can. Below I detail troubleshooting I've done and ask questions. If everything is OK, then maybe it's just the switch.

I know there is no diode on this switch (above or below playfield). I have photo of it in working condition before my partial shop (https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-lord-of-the-rings-journey-begins-members-club/page/86#post-4995619) and after (first photo below, with heat shrink).

If I unplug and plug in the switch below the playfield, the switch toggles as if it's been closed. I note that one of the wires on the harness side of the switch does not go back to the harness, yet I cannot find another severed orange wire (2nd photo below). Can someone look at their wiring and see if it is the same? The other 2 switch connections below the playfield at this location (rail ramp exit and right ramp made) have both wires going back to the harness.

Thanks for any help you can give.

To give back, a quick report on the 2 other problems found after a high-play weekend:

1) Titan ramp post rubbers cannot handle a weekend of freeplay with thousands at the show (3rd photo below). Oh well, I'll replace them with harder basic black post rubbers. I would not even buy Titan post rubbers for home-only use. They won't last. I do like the Titan rubber rings so far.
2) Palantir switch got bashed so much the metal leafs behind it got stuck together. This was probably going to eventually happen, as we play a lot at home and my LOTR has upgraded (ie, higher power) flippers. This has been fixed.
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From what you say I would pronounce the switch dead and simply replace it.

For your information (and education) ... the switch in question is 25. It's labeled in the manual as "DOTS" = Diode On Terminal Strip. There is a diode. It's on the matrix and therefore has to have a diode.

Sounds like your switch is stuck closed or the actuator needs adjustment. It looks like the switch is wired to be normally open, but yours registers when connected.

Notice that your actuator is bent and mine is straight. I would start by checking that. You can also check the switch using a meter in continuity mode at the connector you mentioned.

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Looks great. You may want to add the sword tip decal.

Got my palantir mod from AUKraut yesterday. I will be installing it this afternoon, but just wanted to say it looks great even before being installed. Nice, large crystal ball with a painted "stand". Everything is put together exceptionally well! This is the type of modder that deserves every dollar he gets! Thanks!

both of those look really nice! I have the the etched potd plastic on order, I hope you put the sword handle in the pinside store soon !

Thanks for the feedback!

DumbAss also helped me directly. Tested switch with multimeter and it is stuck closed. I think a friend has an appropriate replacement switch, which is great since Marco is currently sold out of direct replacement.

I have some extra Titan post rubbers that I will use to replace the battered ones for now, and order better ones, along with a couple switches.

Since you have extra, make sure you add a post rubber to the deflecting post beneath the play field behind the tower. You’ll need to trim it a bit but it’s worth it. Over time my orbits have gotten more reliable with stopping the ball during Ents mode as a result of this install.