Hi all,

So I'm the forunate winner of an eBay sale on a stock but excellent condition machine (with exception of pinsound subwoofer). This will be my first time having a slightly older machine, my only other being Star Wars Pro. What types of things should I have on hand for a game like this? I assume having a handful of bulbs is a good idea.

This was manufactured in 2004, is there anything in particular I should watch or look to change right away when I receive it?

Thanks so much for your help

My LotR is arriving today, shipped from UT to NJ. Can't wait to fire her up

I received my LotR this past weekend. Man, what an incredible machine.

Anyway, it's a mostly stock machine built in 2004 and is in solid shape. It has some plastic protectors around the field (arwen, shire, few others) and some extra figures, but otherwise all of the electronics, playfield and lights are stock. It definitely will benefit from a tear down and rubber replacement. While I am doing that I am thinking about one of these playfield protectors (link below). It's 0.05mm thick PET-G and seems like it would be worth it. The playfield right now has no signs of wear that I can find which is nice, though running my fingers over it it does feel a little rough rather than smooth. Naturally a good cleaning and waxing will resolve that, but does anyone have experience with using one of the full-field protectors for an LotR or LotR LE?

https://www.playfield-protectors.com/Home/Details/mCdues1kOECSJYIp70RMiQ?categoryid=22&category=Playfield%20Protectors&name=The%20Lord%20of%20the%20Rings%20%7C%202003

I appreciate the response. Regardless of need, I am curious about anyone's experience using one of these on LotR.

When the magnet in my ring catches the ball, it starts to shake and rattle a bit before being released. It's fairly loud like a chattering sound. Is that normal or do I need to adjust something?

Insightful, thank you. I decided to order one from Cointaker since I was already ordering LEDs anyway.

The machine I got is in good shape but needs a good teardown and cleaning. I'm going to have the playfield apart, so I figured I might as well just put a protector down while I'm there. The machine has some raised inserts that don't affect game play but still irk me.

Do they buzz like the stock ones when held? I'd buy them for that reason alone lol.

So, it turns out that the buzzing was a little more than "normal" for me. It turned out that the subway behind the ring was a bit low, causing the ball to touch the top of it. It would only go "through" the ring when the stars aligned correctly, otherwise would chatter a great deal and usually fall out the front. I adjusted the subway and it's both much quieter and more reliable now.

Stern Rev B. Pinball Life sells an unofficial one for $99 or the official one for $149. I don't know any reason to pay more for the official one on a machine that is already out of warranty anyway.

LotR standard doesn't support shaker. You have to update to 10.02 and swap in a PAL chip. Then your LotR is effectively an LE.

So either of the motors work for LotR. The reason it isn't listed is that adding it is really a hack.

So I got my LotR less than a month ago and I've gone buck-wild. I know this is a lifetime keeper so I just said screw it and went all out.

ColorDMD
Shaker Motor (with necessary chip replacements)
Anypin DMD+
AotD figures
Cliffy's
LED Conversion w/ LED OCD
Target decals
Titan silicone conversion
Shire art
Decorated plastic ramp fix
Flipper bat toppers
Speaker acrylics
Full playfield protector (awaiting shipment)
Pinball Pro subwoofer (was the only mod it came with)

I also have a Gandalf the White on Shadowfax sitting in a box but to be honest I kind of like the Gandalf the Grey that's in it. Plus, it makes more sense from the movie perspective to have him near the Balrog Is there anything I missed that I should do? lol.

In addition to that I did a 75%ish teardown and vaccuumed/cleaned it out well. When I get the protector I'll do almost a 100% teardown and clean the playfield of all residue.

The machine showed up in good shape but dirty; it now looks beautiful. Everything works 100% and the only issue I have is a very rare restart which I think is from adding the Anypin DMD+ so I'll just reseat it.

Love this game.

The shaker integration into this game is great. It doesn't make any noise at all, just makes the machine rumble. On the other hand, the shaker in my Star Wars Pro sounds like a helicopter taking off every time it goes on. Sounds like shit comparatively lol.

Who says LEDs ruin the look of this game?

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Matt's Basement Arcade for the CPU and Pinball Life for the PAL chip

I've seen that, seems cool. I may check it out down the line some time.

I used all retro bulbs from Cointaker for the GI. All warm white except in the rear I used a couple green on the left and 3 red on the right. Also put a green in the light under the path of the dead.

I'm not entirely sure I like/need the exaggerated green in the rear left, but it certainly looks nice. I have some extra warm white I'm gonna try.

I followed this guide verbatim: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/led-and-rubber-maps-for-lord-of-the-rings

Only different is I used warm white retros in the shooter lane lights. His guide calls for mini 555 but mine are in #44 sockets. Not sure if that was an error or if some machines are different. Either way, it's a great look. I paired it with LED OCD.

I don't quite understand why many of these LED conversions/kits include a bunch of purple/pink and random green lighting? Just seems really off to me every time I see it... Granted, it's personal choice and I totally respect that.

I understand a little green in the rear left and a little red in the rear right, but why all over the playfield and why those colors? lol.

Technically a protective plastic over Arwen would be the most accurate version of how the game was "intended" to be played. It's supposed to plop and go who-knows-where

The Gimli VUK is driving me a little crazy. I don't have issues with the actual kicker power, but the switch. What drives me nuts is it always works perfectly when I go into the diagnostic menu and activate it with my finger or a ball... But then during games -- AT THE WORST POSSIBLE TIMES -- it won't register and I have to wait for the ball search to come on.

I cleaned the portion accessible from the top with alcohol, that didn't really help much. I haven't taken the whole thing apart yet, but any advice? Should I just replace or disassemble and clean the switch?

It isn't clear to me what is going on there and why it works. You cut the fork off and then bent what is left under itself? Don't you want to bend it upward so it puts more leverage on the switch?

Right, I get that... But the suggested switch from ST works the same way...

The beard dick is there on the regular version too, it's just not outlined lol

After I put my ColorDMD and nvram in, I had several random resets but they stopped and haven't reoccurred in weeks now. Did you make any changes to the machine?

I use Mother's Pure Brazilian Carnauba Gold. Best of the best.

The necessary roms + shaker motor are an easy sub $150 upgrade to the original machine.

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 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.

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

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.

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.

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 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

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.

For the love of god, I still do not understand why so many people put purple lighting in a LOTR? Red in the top right corner makes sense because that goes along with Mordor, but purple!? To each his own, I would just love to know the logic behind it? The rest of the lighting is done very tastefully in that machine.

It's definitely possible with modern LEDs along with an LED OCD to do it tastefully. The key is using single smd, warm white bulbs for anything above the playfield and only use colors where you are merely enhancing what is already there, not arbitrarily adding purple bulbs or whatever lol.

The OCD by default runs the bulbs at 85% which softens them even further. Q

I only have 1 incandescent left in mine, the Ringwraith red tinted flasher. I think it still holds very true to the original feel of the game.

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I am not using the GIzmo, GI works great.

There's a huge brightness difference between single and double smd bulbs. I posted a pic, you tell me. I think it still very much feels like the stock lighting.

Here is the same shot one with LotR stock and one with LEDs...

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I have Titan Competition Clear rubbers on mine except red flippers and red posts. I think it looks great.

I used hot glue but one of mine fell off, so I re-attached that one with Earthquake Putty. Been fine since. The other two are still on strong with the hot glue.

Switch the coil back but try to leave everything else as in tact as possible. That way you can determine if it is the coil or something that you incorrectly reassembled.

Mine arrived like that and it is decent. The added bonus is the figure them works to cushion the ball from hitting the side wall.

I think the platform with 3 figures looks great. I think 4 might look crowded, but I can see the ball and path just fine with 3. I don't have them standing right over top the path, just along the back and right side. And I don't put one way up front.

That's the one bulb in the game that isn't going to be nicely replaced by an LED. It's the only original bulb I have kept in mine. You really just can't beat the look of the incandescent pulse in that particular case. More importantly is the fact that an LED looks like crap when it is off, and that particular light is off almost all the time.

Hah, I didn't even see the posts about creating a proper LED replacement when I wrote that. It's a tall order, but I'm all for it! No pressure at all, just have fun with it There's nothing wrong with the one incandescent for now.

Agreed. I like mirror blades, but one look at sillyelf's art for LoTR and it's obvious it's the best choice. It's not only high quality, original art but it follows and enhances the themes throughout the playfield: the shire is the shire, the potd is the potd, etc.

No brainer IMO for this game. I think I may have gotten the last pair recently though I noticed they are out of stock now, but I'm sure more are coming.

Those work very well for the same reason as sillyoldelfs for sure. Nice art that follows the table themes.

I just purchased them through the Pinside marketplace

Color DMD in Scan mode really enhances the game a lot. I think the Shire Decal is much needed as that part of the playfield is so barebones without it. I'm also a fan of the Army of the Dead mod to add some character to that upper playfield. As stated above, the palantir mod is incredible but almost impossible to find. A new person is making them now but there's a back order list of at least a year already, and we don't even know if enough parts exist for him to make them all.

If you're into enhancing the art, there are some really great options for art blades: sillyoldelf's are my favorite, but there are also brass mirror blades which are cool and a few other art blades including ones that light up.

All in all, it's a great game. I'd suggest just giving it a good cleaning and enjoy the game.

EDIT: LEDs are controversial on this game, but IMO if you do them tastefully they really add to the game as well. You need to use an LED OCD though which is not cheap. Don't try to do LEDs without one, there is too much dimming in the game that will cause LEDs without the OCD to just flicker too much.

Hey, isn't it awesome when you have a long first ball almost getting to DTR and think hell yeah! Then lose the 2nd and 3rd in a matter of seconds!?

Fuuuuuuuuu...

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!

May I ask what technique you used to put the sillyoldelf blades on? Did you pull the whole playfield? I've had mine sitting uninstalled for months!

Search this thread, there are complete lists available including one by me (modified someone else's). You save a lot by just buying them individually yourself, and you can customize. The kits aren't only expensive, but they also often feature weird colors -- and they are almost always non-ghosting bulbs which won't work with LED OCD which is a far better visual experience.

This is true from a pure art standpoint, but I think it's important to mention that the sillyoldelf side art is extremely difficult to install and really requires that the whole playfield be taken out.

Get the decals for the targets and for the shire area. They aren't expensive and will really be a nice little finishing touch to all you've done.

Berry's makes the best vibratory tumbler. It looks just like the Frankford but the shape of the bowl is much better. It has more of a curve which causes much more action. Plus it's higher quality all around (thicker bowl, long life motor etc). I bought it direct from them for barely more than the Frankford. Just FYI. Both are good but you'll get better results and faster from a Berry's. I've had mine running practically non stop for almost a year now.