Indeed, easy fix, thanks!!

Valinor works in a similar way, tho. If you light DTR before you've reached every qualification, you will have to go through every mb again to re-light DTR.

Also, you completed valinor a few times in 3 months? Dang. I've had LOTR for a year, and have only gotten to qualifying valinor like twice. I'm pretty decent at pinball...

True with having to go back through the multiballs in LOTR, but its easier to requalify a DTR than requalify 2MTM. I've had plenty of LOTR with multiple DTR tries. I'm lucky to even get to 2MTM on IMDN.

7 Gifts of the Elves is an easier task on LOTR than 10 tomb treasures, b/c there are simply more ways to get gift of the elves. The 6 modes, finishing there and back again, 3 movie multiballs, and DTR. That's 11 possibilities, unless I've forgotten one.

In IMDN...you have to do 10 of 11 possibilities...though the 11th possibility is hard (Collect the “Level 2” versions of all 4 Eddie cards). One redeeming thing IMDN has is "Soul Shards can be collected also as level 3 mystery awards after playing 2 Minutes to Midnight."....but that means to get to RTTH you would have to do a 2MTM cycle twice.

I think the hardest part of Valinor is the 7 stages of ROTK, so if you get good at that, Valinor is achievable. RTTH you have to be awesome at everything.

Totally agree. I've never owned LOTR, and I've done Valinor twice. I own IMDN, and I've yet to get close to RTTH.

I can only assume (hope) that all you people reaching valinor are playing non-tournament mode games with extra balls turned on. I'm a pretty decent player and still haven't gotten to valinor once in the 10 years i've owned the game. That's what I love about it. And probably why iron maiden keeps growing on me now that I own it. I've got my game set up hard and I assume it will be damn near forever before I see everything the game has to offer.

Yeah I'm baffled by all these people getting valinor. I consider myself decent-to-above-average, and I've barely sniffed valinor in a year of ownership

Yes, of course extra balls are on. Stock game, default settings, on location. I've never made it to any wizard mode without extra balls.

No. When I get a game it's set on factory settings to start with. If I find that too easy, or too little of a challenge, outlanes are widened, rubbers removed from outlanes, extra balls turned off, slingshot sensitivity increased, etc. etc.

I've achieved Valinor on a machine with no rubbers on outlanes and extra balls turned off.

Why do people always assume that just because they can't get to any particular Wizard Mode, others who can must be cheating or it's done on an easily set-up machine?

wow. wtf, dude.

A true wizard.

I was making a Valinor run last Sunday (3 ball/factory/replay/widened outlanes with small rubbers)

I had to start one more mode, DTR, TABA, collect gift 7 and complete two more multiballs. I fumbled the ring.

My IMDN is set to 3 ball/replay/competition install.

Progression to Valinor is substantially easier than RTTH.

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I think it's because they've never seen anything like it. Go on YouTube, and you can see the best in the world playing to Valinor, but rubbers are on and so are extra balls. They also don't get there easily, and usually get to it right before their last balls are running out.

Do you compete? It sounds like you could play with the best in the world.

Hey, enough with the Frodo talk.... Up the Irons!!!

Yes he does, and he does it well.

What's his rating? Don't know of anyone else topping his scores and achievements, so curious to know where he'd rank against some of the greats.

I doubt the best players are on here entering their scores I started doing it to keep a record of machines I'd played, and it kind of stuck.

I do enter comps, and do fairly well. However due to time and money, I don't get to enter as many comps as I'd like.
This has the drawback of meaning not only do the majority of comps I enter not have enough WPPR points for me to seriously climb up the ranks, it also means that most of my comps have to count before they start degrading. I haven't looked but I'd guess that I enter less than 15 comps a year.
Another thing is there aren't many big scoring comps in the UK, but there are half a dozen or so players who are world class - they don't get the same recognition as the players in the US, because half of them don't travel to the comps, for differing reasons - this means a small number of points are being fought over by the same few people.

The other ' problem ' I have in competition is I ALWAYS play to get the wizard mode, rather than playing for points. This is what leads to massive scores, but also means that there's a much bigger variance in my scores. For example my qualifying over 8 games typically consists of 2/3 games in the top 3, 3/4 games in the top 20%, and then 1/2 games where I'd probably score more with my eyes shut.
Good enough to qualify every time, but get one of those poor scores in knockout and it's game over.

I know what I should do (and am capable of, I've posted a few gameplay videos and tutorials on YouTube - WWJ PINBALL - if you want to check them out) play controlled, hit the safe shots, grind out the points, but that just bores me.
I enjoy playing to my style, play to set everything up ready to cash in - it has led to plenty of last ball comebacks when everything comes together.

Just recieved the Eddie collection of Funk Pops. Will havve to have these next to my Iron Maiden LE!!

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Where does this go ?

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It goes below the pharaoh target. It protects the playfield from the balls dropping after hitting that target.

It's mostly to prevent the ball from hanging up on the loop back behind the ramp. If it's not there, the mylar gets chewed up and eventually will stop a slow ball back there. Very annoying.

It's a pain to remove the existing mylar and install that piece, but you should definitely do it.

I lent a Transformers to a show a couple of years ago. It ended getting used in the tournament. When it came back Wayne’s initials were all over the high score tables. Took me bloody ages to knock him off (I still haven’t got near his Combo Champion score). He is an excellent player, one of the best in the UK without a doubt.

Install of Stern mylar recall metal loop protector...

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In the far back middle loop to the left of the up post, see video in post before this...

Finished shop of a pro...

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I see what you are talking about my pro only has mylar with some bubbles

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I"m looking for just a left side head decal. Any idea where I can obtain one from? I contacted my distro, they said Stern only sells them in full sets.

Check with Marco Specialties. They sell Walking Dead head decals separately for $49. See if they do that for Iron Maiden (which doesn't list head decals alone or in pairs right now):

https://www.marcospecialties.com/control/keywordsearch?SEARCH_STRING=walking+dead+decal

It's possible that Stern will help out.
Have you contacted them directly yet?

Woah, this is the first I'm reading about this.... My IMDN Pro was one of the first made, so I wonder what it looks like back there - will try to take a look tonight, but I suspect mine is bad because there have been a handful of times where the ball gets stuck up there and I have to nudge to get it to start moving again.

How does the replacement metal get installed? On top of the current mylar? And how is the metal kept down, I see no screws in the pictures. Seems like this might be a big job...

Thanks!

The metal plate is adhesive backed. Instructions say to remove mylar "if necessary"
Got mine but haven't installed it because I can't decide whether to remove or not. Also tough to get to that mylar. Maybe someone has some advice on mylar removal and whether it is necessary and if so whether it is as difficult to remove as it seems.

^^^Same here. I have the metal protector but haven’t installed it yet. Not sure if I need to remove the mylar first as it might not stick too well if the mylar is there. Home use only so the mylar back there on mine isn’t chewed up, yet.

Does Chaz still work at Stern? Maybe worth sending him a note and posting the response here?

It's not a big job but it is a pain.

Have to remove old mylar - that is the hard bit.

The new metal protector just sticks down.

Just remove the mylar, clean it, let it dry and stick it on its sooooo easy!

Unless your mylar is chewed up, just clean off any wax/dirt with an alcohol swabs and stick the metal down on top of the mylar. Mine has been installed for months with zero issues.

That is who my distro was.

I will contact Stern directly, see if they can help me out.

I removed it because it was all chewed up (which was causing the ball to get stuck if it was rolling slowly, which is why they made the upgrade in the first place). IF the machine's brand new and the mylar's smooth, I wouldn't bother.

Wow, I've never known anyone who bought a pin from Marco. Was it a good deal? Their "rack rate" online is always high.

Yeah, calling Stern to see if you can get one is your best bet now.

Any creative suggestions on preventing this from happening?

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I put a thicker ziptie positioned higher and it keeps it from getting stuck.

Well I might just put it over the mylar then!

Post rubber on the post next to it with the screw on it.

Cool thanks. I will give those a shot.

I added a ring at the right height to bounce any balls back into play and havent had any hang ups in over a year now.

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does anyone know how late in the run stern replaced the mylar with the metal loop protector, I have an LE and just wondering if it would have already been installed.
cheers

I think anything post 2018 is metal (mine is Nov.18 and did not have the metal) but you could just physically check. No glass removal needed or anything.

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I am thinking about giving this machine a whirl, but wanted to secure a different custom music mix someone has created first. If someone could point me in the right direction I would appreciate it.

Buy it. Play it. Learn to love the music

I was never much of an Iron Maiden fan, outside of a few select songs. I played the pin, really enjoyed it and purchased a premium version about a month a go. The music slowly grew on me, to the point where I am now listening to a lot more Iron Maiden and starting to appreciate it more and more.