Dallas, PA
Congrats... what a great thing we get out of these games to have them keep us going after 10 years ! Pinball Rocks !
(Topic ID: 114792)
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Lord of the Rings
Stern, 2003
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Quoted from marble:Well done! I like your spirit of wanting to do it again on harder settings too.
I'm not a fan of replay extra balls myself. If you want to make Valinor easier to reach, I would set specials to award extra balls instead. This makes special gift worth collecting in home game too and now the additional extra ball is really a playfield award and not just related to some (possibly auto-adjusting) score limit.You might already know these, but here are some helpful tips for collecting souls to start ROTK:
- right inlane activates next shot to left orbit to be diverted to PotD (unless gift or fellowship mb is lit)
- green 1-4 lamps above PotD indicate whether the lanes are lit for 100 (off), 250 (solid) or 500 (blinking) souls
- ball dropping to Shire from PotD gives additional souls (starting from 250, +50 for additional collects, maxes at 750)
- War of the Ents mode helps too
I knew it was better to not divert but I didn't realize it could be so lucrative. I do have the diverter on there but I think the Arwen plastic protectors might already be installed. If so, maybe I should just remove it.
Is the Arwen protector just basically an extra level of plastic above and below the Arwen plastic? I'll need to check out my pin tonight and see if it is there. If so, should I just remove the diverter?
Quoted from VolunteerPin:Is the Arwen protector just basically an extra level of plastic above and below the Arwen plastic? I'll need to check out my pin tonight and see if it is there. If so, should I just remove the diverter?
I have a combination. The pinbits protectors I got, which also was the footies for the LE figures, had a clear insert for the bottom of the shire. I have the wood rail "L" protector as well, with the cliffy for the shire. As well, I have the shire inside decal from PBL. The protectors come with two plastics for the Arwen, to sandwich her, which allows for the ball to fall here without breaking.
There are a lot of mods to protect that area, but you need it, as the ball must drop here to get your 2nd and 3rd needed swing at beating ROTK.
Quoted from VolunteerPin:I have a VERY hard time getting ROTK to start and I think i have it set on 'easy'. The post seems to work pretty well. I have a very hard time making the skill shot which goes up to the PotD as my spring is really tight and it seems like I'm either too week or a little too strong. (At least the spring is my excuse...on my first LOTR it seemed like ROTK was super easy to start)
Any suggestions?
The Tower skill shot is very easy to hit with the right set-up. If you use an orange spring (DE/Sega/Stern #266-5001-07), which is slightly higher than mid-level tension, and a polished/clean shooter rod (no pits, gunk, or lube), you should be able to hit it 9 times out of 10.
Orange spring: http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=3310
Note: This is the stock setup.
Post edited by Razorbak86: Added footnote
Toronto, ON
I think it's all the time I've spent on the machine lately.
I've shown it lots of love. LEDs, Palantir Mod, Gadalf on horseback with LED. Shire decals, Updated the ROMs. Added a shaker...
I think the machine was paying me back for treating it so nicely!
Quoted from MapleSyrup:White decals
What are those?
That Planatir mod may be the best mod ever for any machine! Man does it look sharp, especially with the dimmer upgrade.
Quoted from Atomicboy:What are those?
That Planatir mod may be the best mod ever for any machine! Man does it look sharp, especially with the dimmer upgrade.
Haha. Autocorrect is what that was! Fixed it now. "Shire" became "White".
This is awesome. Congratulations!
I started watching the vid, and then stopped after DTR. I don't want to see it until I get there. Bad luck.
Like a hockey player that won't touch The Stanley Cup until he's won it.
congrats, i was so close so many times but sold the game to fund another one, big mistake!
i hope stern makes a VE LOTR or find another one.
Quoted from MapleSyrup:I think it's all the time I've spent on the machine lately.
I've shown it lots of love. LEDs, Palantir Mod, Gadalf on horseback with LED. Shire decals, Updated the ROMs. Added a shaker...
I think the machine was paying me back for treating it so nicely!
Just added the shaker last night which gives me the exact same mods. Hope my LOTR is equally appreciative.
Quoted from Kkuoppamaki:Inspired by this thread, I played LOTR last night. Didn't get anywhere, but maybe there's hope that one day I'll at least reach TABA
I learned something from watching the PAPA Valinor vid (which is awesome AND hilarious. A must see). I'd been playing the game forever, and didn't know this, it may help you get to TABA.
After you play a ring mode, you need to relight the mode start insert. I used to think you had to shoot the ring 3 times to relight it. That works but it's not the easiest way to do it.
Check out the ring inserts on the playfield. One shot will be lit for man, one dwarf, and one elf. Simply make the elf shot, and all others switch to elf. Make a combo, and boom... Mode start is relit.
This is an incredibly useful way to instantly relight your mode start, and work your way towards TABA.
If anybody is looking for a cure to the euphoric feeling of making it to Valinor, I'd recommend playing some ACDC.
This game is making me feel like I've never played pinball in my LIFE!!??
I'm new to the game, so how's this for strategy...
Chose Hells Bells. Miss the VIP skill shot lane. No biggie. Shake it off. Right flip. Miss the bell. SDTM. Ball save. Mercy ball rockets off the right slingshot to left drain. I flipped once.
Le sigh.
While I didn't get to valinor, I had a new personal best score tonight. 73 million. Saw parts of the game I rarely see and a few parts I've never seen!
Quoted from MapleSyrup:If anybody is looking for a cure to the euphoric feeling of making it to Valinor, I'd recommend playing some ACDC.
This game is making me feel like I've never played pinball in my LIFE!!??
I'm new to the game, so how's this for strategy...
Chose Hells Bells. Miss the VIP skill shot lane. No biggie. Shake it off. Right flip. Miss the bell. SDTM. Ball save. Mercy ball rockets off the right slingshot to left drain. I flipped once.
Le sigh.
See, this is why you should never pick Hells Bells.
Quoted from bkerins:See, this is why you should never pick Hells Bells.
But you said...
Quoted from MapleSyrup:Another big help for stating ROTK is the Ents ring mode. It opens up the Gandalf shot diverter so you can repeatedly hit the Paths. You can start the MB during that one ring mode if you make your shots.
I try to avoid starting a multiball during that mini mode since it kills the POTD if you do. Wish there was more DMD footage in your vid, but congrats.
Quoted from judremy:I try to avoid starting a multiball during that mini mode since it kills the POTD if you do. Wish there was more DMD footage in your vid, but congrats.
Yes, I meant that you can often start ROTK after repeatedly hitting the ent shot.
Yes, I wish there was more DMD footage too, but my 15 yr old was the cinematographer. In his defence, I gave him ZERO direction! I just said, "Quick, film this with my phone!!"
Munich
Congrats on the great achievement! I have yet to make it there, got my LotR in summer and the best i did to date was 5 gifts + TABA + DTR... 
How do you guys have your outlanes set up? Wide open or girly style?
I had mine open all the way, but my wife protested. So now they're in mid position, but to me the game seems just a little bit to easy that way.
I have taken my obvious mastery of pinball across the aisle in my arcade, and I'm applying my superior prowess to my ACDC Premium.
When you drain on your 3rd ball, it's best to have Extra Ball lit, and all 3 Multiballs stacked and ready to go, correct??!!
What a fantastic way to go from feeling like a Pinball Wizard to feeling like you've never even SEEN a pinball machine before in about 15 feet!
Quoted from MapleSyrup:What a fantastic way to go from feeling like a Pinball Wizard to feeling like you've never even SEEN a pinball machine before in about 15 feet!
I played ACDC for the first time yesterday (I'm actually halfway through a brief story about it and SS), they were very fast, very short games for me.
Congrats on Valinor; sounds really awesome and I'm itching to play LotR.
Quoted from marble:Well done! I like your spirit of wanting to do it again on harder settings too.
I'm not a fan of replay extra balls myself. If you want to make Valinor easier to reach, I would set specials to award extra balls instead. This makes special gift worth collecting in home game too and now the additional extra ball is really a playfield award and not just related to some (possibly auto-adjusting) score limit.
I made this change on the weekend, and got really close to getting there again! Great suggestion to ramp up the difficulty, and yet still have a hope of getting back!
6 Elven gifts. Finished 2 Movie Multiballs, and managed to Destroy the Ring. Then I got sidetracked by ACDC... That game's a kick in the nuts! I managed to cash in an 87 Mil Jackpot shot with my 3X playfield running. (87 Mil total AFTER the Multiplier).
I was not even close to doing this even on 5 ball. It's also one of those games I sorely regret selling.
Congrats on your ten year journey and nice to hear it's not for sale after you popped the games cherry.
Oh and nice to see a positive thread on pinside.
Quoted from MapleSyrup:Woooooohoooooo!!!!!!
After 10 years of owning this machine, I finally made it to Valinor!!!
Congrats! I hope to get there myself one day. Of course, I'll have to manage to get to TABA first. I'm not the greatest player....
If you've had the game 10 years, did you buy it NIB?
Quoted from dphelps:Congrats! I hope to get there myself one day. Of course, I'll have to manage to get to TABA first. I'm not the greatest player....
If you've had the game 10 years, did you buy it NIB?
Not NIB, but next best thing. It had been played for one weekend. It had about 35 plays on it... Mostly my own! Somebody else bought it, and decided it was not for them.
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