Devising a New Strategy

My game play strategy on LOTR is taking a new direction from today.  

Apologies if you already have  this down cold.  But you still might learn something...

It's based on deferring DTR while you go back to stack a mode and a multiballs together. Seems to get you closer to Valinor (the wizard mode) or at least  gets you higher scores without even breaking a sweat.   But I'll get to that in a minute. 

First strategy is to forget about shots that get the Movie multiballs running in the early part of the game.  At the start of ball #1,  concentrate on defeating  modes.   You will qualify for the Movie MBs along the way, collecting K-E-E-P letters from lanes, fellowship characters and POTD souls. 

If I have a chance to get Boromir from the Palantir, early then I do that.  It's usually the first award offered. Not worrying about the Pop Bumper nest means more control using ramps and less randomness.   You are trying to eliminate variation and not take shots that are risky at this point (early 1st ball).

I usually get modes out of the way that I don't like or that don't combine with other things.  As an example, 

defeating Shelob is hard, because you have to remember the left/right/left/right alternate shots without any clues, and remember which shots you already made on that side.  Not easy juggling 3 or 4 balls.


Another trick is that if you have FOTR qualified and want to start a mode and stack with FOTR, then don't choose a mode that needs a ring shot as part of it.   Why? Because once the Cave troll sequence is over (if you even bother to set that in the settings) then the Balrog comes out and blocks the ring shot.    e.g. Don't start a ring frenzy (or super ring frenzy) and then start FOTR MB either.  You won't be able to score the ring frenzy total.   Unless you can defeat the Balrog and then score the ring frenzy total.  So you stop yourself from gaining the bonus points you worked for so hard.

You set up Gollum Multiball by collecting 9 Man-rings.  A shot to the Gimli hole would activate it, but don't use it just Before DTR, as that's a complete waste of it's power.   You need to activate it right after completing all three Movie MBs, so you want to light it during or just after the last of the 3.

I go in the order (usually) of FOTR MB, then ROTK, then TTT.  That's my preferred order, but sometimes the last two are swapped. 

Completion of the last one with Gollum Multiball lit is perfect.  Then DTR will be  lit, but don’t shoot that ring!  Instead start up the Gollum MB, which lets you go back and start another mode, putting you further towards TABA*

Having  Gollum MB running defers DTR and lets light the Mode Inset, and then you start one of the modes by shooting the ring.  Once you have both Gollum MB and a mode running, then try and qualify and re-start a Movie Multiball if you can. One you didn't beat on the way to DTR is a good choice to make.

Gollum either Hurts (halves) or Smeagol Helps (Doubles) your score.  Just listen for the words 'always helps' and you know it's double score time.  So now If you have the mode running, along with the already running Gollum MB, and a  Movie MB started.  "Stacking" like this can be very beneficial to your scores. 

It’s killer, especially with the x2 as well. 

DTR lights and becomes available again after Gollum MB (and any other MB running) ends.  Made 64Mil without really ever breaking a sweat, and that was without completing DTR.  I drained during the DTR, before making all four “qualification” lanes.  I could easily do 100Mil every time, if I could work out how to beat all the Movie MBs and be able to do the “deferred DTR” trick in every game. 

I suspect the secret is stacking like this: start a mode, then start Gollum MB, and then the right Movie MB for that mode on top each time  If you can.  Some modes work better with some Movie MBs stacked on top.  Some are mutually exclusive! 

My fav combo right now is Gandalf vs. Saruman mode and then TTT MB  you can usually finish the mode when trying to “stay alive” long enough to win TTT.  It’s a “war of attrition”, but the MB is not really that objective based.  So you concentrate on just the Legolas Shot and the Aragorn Shot to the Sword, nothing else,  until the gate opens to Orthanc.   Shoot that, then go crazy hitting as many shots on the game as you know blindly until you drain or win the mode.  I think Gandalf says “I was delayed” if you beat the mode.  If you are still alive, concentrate on finishing the shots to win the TTT MB.  I think you will get two “gifts of the elves” for doing that as well, a  MB win and a mode win.  Same  goes for Warg Battle or Ringraith mode and ROTK MB.  Except the lanes are more defined for ROTK.  You have to know the modes and keep the shots to do next in your head!  But it's not easy. The shots aren't indicated, as the multiball shots are the ones the inserts are showing.  Sometimes you get sound bites that will help, in the case of 'Gandalf vs. Saruman' and the 'War of the Ents' you get the diverter to orthanc opening with a snap.

*You get "There And Back Again" by completing all the modes and then shooting the ring, a great mode.  Scoring is potentially very big as you can earn back the total you made on each of the modes, if you are successful.  


I used to think that DTR was a main objective, and it is in a way if the game is short.  But if you can keep things going, it's just a stop on the way to Valinor.  Here's hoping you (and I) will get there one day.

LOTR Comic Strip

Did this mashup a while back from a well known comic strip.  This was about a secretary stuck trying to  fix a photocopier.  Of course in my version the copier becomes a pinball machine...

Fix for my "Sticky Flipper Buttons"

I found out something new I hadn't noticed before.  Both the Stern flipper buttons as supplied and the  clear lighted ones don't have "e-clips" and the buttons aren't removable to sand or deburr.  I was complaining in my last post that my new buttons were "sticky" and just didn't have a smooth action.  


Well I saw that the old Stern supplied buttons had an "o-ring" something I'd missed when fitting the clear ones.  Moved them over - and the difference is amazing!  Now they seem tighter and more smooth.  The shots are easier to make and the buttons feel "right" again.  Yay!  Lighted flipper buttons can stay.


BTW - Looking in the manual, the correct parts are: 
SPI # 545-5850-00  Description: O-Ring 11/32" x 7/32 " x 1/16" (Flipper Buttons)
I would try to buy them from a good hardware store or o-ring supplier.  Knowing Stern, they probably cost out at $5 each.  :)

Worst Game, Ever!

Haven't been playing the LOTR lately, as I got interested in restoring and documenting my Williams Starlight '84

Also bought a Pinball 2000 game (Star Wars Episode 1) and set about converting it to use an RFM playfiel which had been in storage for years.  Very successfully, I might add.  It's running a hacked code:
v1.8 on RFM and  v1.5 Star Wars -although still running on the original boards and not using nucore.  I bought an extra prism card and CPU board for $100 from someone else that upgraded to nucore. This facilitates swapping, as you don't need to do any game code updates.

Anyway I digress, as usual.  When I got back and played my first game, my skills had been lost.  I scored my lowest score ever (although the game was working perfectly).  I remember it as 5,180,000.  I got better after a few games, but not by much. Compare that to making nearly 150,000,000 in early Jan '11.
So, I had the "worst game ever!"  I hang my head as I enter the into the hallowed "hall of shame".

My only excuse is that the Stern flippers have a really different touch than the Bally/WMS games, and you need to be adjusted to them.  I also think I will blame the flipper buttons!  The clear lighted ones are "sticky" and just don't have a smooth action.  I was hoping this would improve over time, but it hasn't. They may get  reverted back to the original parts that came on the game.  Looks aren't everything in pinball.

BTW:  Added search bar and popular posts gadgets to the blog to make it easier to find things.  It also searches linked pages so you can find links are parts suppliers for the mods.  I also list most of them on a tab called "LOTR Pinball Parts".

 -Richard

Testeroo Testing 1.2.3 Testerooo Testing 1.2.3 Testeroooo Testing 1-2-3-4

I've always wanted to post that online.  I use the phrase Testerooo when testing if google and my Internet is working, and you do get several hundred hits.  Now one gets people to my LOTR blog.

Sorry to spam you if you aren't interested in LOTR Pinball.

OK on to pinball:
I had one of those wonderful games the other day, the mythical "first ball ball would not drain" situation.

I nearly got to TABA, beating some of the modes, Gandalf vs. Saruman is one that I always like to win.  Won one of the Movie Multiballs (TTT).  Got loads of the Fellowship across the bridge in FOTR multiball, and nearly defeated the Balrog.  And all on ball #1 (including extra balls).   I couldn't complete "Destroy the Ring" although I got the 4 lanes and on  to "Gollum has the Ring" probably faster than ever before.  But I drained and would have had  to start all over again.  Still I had 58,000,000+ by the second ball which is good for me.  It was an amazing  game up to the last few balls, I think 5 in all (2 extra balls).  But in the end I didn't get to grand champion.

Some youngster came over and thrashed my LOTR LE and put up a highscore of 181, 760,000
Ken said he didn't get TABA or to DTR, just kept getting Super Jackpots and hitting his shots during multiball.  So there are different ways to play the game.  I tend to be "goal" and "mode" oriented rather than worrying about the highscore.  I played early pinball like that too, preferring to win games on "specials" or the features like "Ransom (in BK2K) or "Deluxe" (in EBD) rather than just points.  But sometimes that comes naturally for you too, when you are already doing well beating the modes and game challenges.

I hate just looping the same shot over and over, rinse and repeat because that is the way to get a highscore on the game.   Although I can see in tournament play why you have to approach things in a clinical way.  I think I'd rather be having fun.

-Richard

LOTR Real Stern/DE Knocker

I had fitted a "homebrew" knocker to the topbox of my LOTR LE almost exactly a year ago, as I hated the sound of the Stern Software knocker.  It was basically a 6v relay driven from the Q24 transistor and the 5v supply.  It then switched ground to a SA2-23-850 DC coil / knocker running at 50v DC.  It was loud enough, for home use.

The knocker assembly was taken from my old 1980's Williams Blackout game which I wanted to rebuild, so I needed the part back.  Although it had worked in the LOTR LE, it wasn't pretty if you looked inside.  It was also starting to arc the contacts in the relay, even though it was rated apparently at 5A and I had tied both of the N.O. contacts together which should in theory help. I also added a cap to try and reduce the arcing, but may have had used the wrong (too small) a value there. It was also running the coil at 50v+ DC instead of the 30v (or so) which that coil was expecting.  So it was time to "re-visit" my mod, and "do it right" to match the quality of parts in the Stern game.  I ordered these items from Pinball Life:

• Knocker Strike Plate: sp01
• Data East/Sega Knocker: 500-5081-00
• Stern 50-Volt Step-Up Driver PCB: 520-5254-00

Cost was under $30.  (Not counting shipping charges or a 5 pin .156" connector and some wire, which I had).

I fused the 50v DC supply taken from the I/O Power Driver board at 4A, using an inline (car radio type) fuse holder.  The ground wire and the "Q24 knocker drive" wire run directly to the mini-board connector.  I terminated those wires on the "I/O Power Driver" side using crimped tag loops. The other two wires are soldered directly to the coil lugs, with the coil diode removed.

Instructions which are OK, but cover mounting the assembly in the cabinet bottom are found here.  But don't use the plumb bob tilt bracket as a ground!  I'll say that again later.  

Good points are:  There is a connector for the Q24 knocker drive wire (or ticket despenser) already in the cabinet bottom, violet/grey.  The wiring diagram shown is correct and can be used. It looks like a fairly tidy and functional install.

I include a picture here in case the above link is broken.  (It was in March 2011).  Board is the Stern/DE 520-5254-00 PCB originally made for WPT and later SAM games.

The bad points of the install are:  I don't personally like having the knocker located in the cabinet bottom, where the bass speaker and the other solenoids are located. My ears are nearer the backbox.  The knocker is also mounted on a block of wood to avoid the cabinet bevel, but even painted black it doesn't look right to me.  And here's the killer:

 *** Warning *** If you locate the knocker in the cabinet bottom, DO NOT use the plumb bob tilt as a "ground source" as indicated in those instructions. It's not a dedicated switch on LOTR, and is in Column 7 of the switch matrix on LOTR.  You will kill your game if you put 50v DC though the switch matrix!  At the bare minimum you will blow transistor Q7, and who knows what else could get fried!  Use a screw that fixes ground braid to the cabinet or runs to the legs and lockbar. That's definitely a good ground point.  Test with power on that it is at ground.  Don't assume any black wire is a ground.

Here you see the 50v mini-driver PCB on the bottom left of the backbox,
above it the striker plate, the knocker assembly and then the fuse holder.
I won't be adding the TOPs board, or whatever was meant for that location.

The ground point is a screw at the bottom left of the metal plate for the I/O Driver PCB.
The Q24 transistor has the knocker "drive wire" attached to the metal tab with a small nut and bolt.
You can zoom in on the pictures (almost all in my blog are high resolution) for a better view. 

Oh and if you get done and a few things don't work (a couple flashers, some playfield lights) - don't start to panic, like I did.  Check the ribbon cable that connects the CPU board to the I/O Power Driver Board.  That's all it was.  Turned off the power, reseated that cable at both ends and all was well again.  Stern had even used "hot glue" to hold the ribbon cable in place for shipping, but I managed to knock it loose at the I/O Driver end.  Bliss! An easy fix.

Haven't been blogging much. Went to the Soth Coast Slam Pinball Show.

South Coast Slam was an excellent show.   There must have been at least 3 (or maybe 4) LOTRs there.  I had  a look, but didn't play them.  No one (including me) took an LOTR LE to the show, they were all the original run versions.

Concentrated instead on the new Stern Avatar and Rolling Stones Pins.  Also had a play at CSI, which I still like in a strange way as I didn't think much of the TV series.

I took to the show:
A Williams Blackout (1980 - same year as Firepower), Blackout is very enjoyable for a single ball game.
A Williams Star Light (1984 - very rare System 7 game, only 100 were produced).  Has a two ball Multiball.
Both were used for the Slam's "Classic Tournament".
I had to spent a huge amount of time repairing and rebuilding the Blackout to have it ready for the show. I had bought it some time ago literally as a box of bits.  Someone had taken the whole top of the playfiled apart (like doing a shop job) and never finished putting it back together.  Luckily all the plastics were there (and the spinners).  I "borrowed" the rest of the missing posts and most of the other parts from my Alien Poker and Firepower spares. Except one metal piece which I had to make.

Looked to me like the previous operator (or owner) had plugged the Lamp Matrix ROW connector into the Ground and Logic +5v connector on the driverboard.  Which must have been an interesting lightshow for about 2 seconds.  It was the only un-keyed connector and I think they gave up on restoring the game after that.  So a driverboard repair and a playfield rebuild later and I have a fairly nice game.  Plays nice.

Got lots of comments from people that had never seen or played the Star Light or who remembered playing the Blackout "back in the day".  But back to posting about LOTR.

Happy New Year 2011 to the LOTR PINBALL blog readers!

New things are coming in Pinball, with Jack at Pinballsales.com  announcing that he will manufacture pinball games, not just sell Stern games.  I have bought a game from him, and would do so again.  The first game announced is "Wizard of Oz".  Strange we went from some one in Oz that never built a game, let's say the blaggard of Oz to someone who will be making a game about the Wizard of Oz.  Pinball / Wizard.  It kind of fits together nicely, don't you think?  I can't wait to see some designers get going and for Jersey Jack's to produce some games.  This time it's different - this time it's going to happen for real.

On another note, back to LOTR, I made 149.39K and did DTR and TABA in the same game just now.  Great way to bring in the new year on the LOTR LE!  Now I know this wouldn't be fantastic high score for a pinball pro, someone that wins at tourneys but I did it today and it's the HS on my pin!


Have an enjoyable and successful 2011.