Back from the Dead

PoTD mod

“Back from the Dead”

Yes, this has been done before, searching online I’ve found stuff from 5+ years ago, with the figures lit solid & also tied into the 1-2-3-4 lights.  You can also buy an assembled pinball mod. 

I wanted to make my mod flash with the 1-2-3-4 lights above the path and look like it came in the game. 

As with previous mods, I like it to be completely removable, which means no soldering directly to lamp sockets.  Which makes it harder, but I think it’s worth the effort. That being said, this is one of the most fiddly mods I ever put on a game.  I hot glued figures to the plexiglass board I bought, and the figures would fall off installing it. Or I installed it and one of the green LEDs didn’t work.  But - I got it running & even glued on some tiny skulls I made from beads and painted green.

Looks Cool. (See Video link at the bottom)

If you don’t have the patience, Then buy one for $200+. I decided to buy all the stuff and make one myself. I probably spent almost as much if you include my time. Luckily I had most of the hardware in my pinball repair stash. 

Not much out there on how to actually wire it all up, but it’s not that hard from an electronics POV:

Ground is straight through to all 3 connectors.  Then put a diode and Resistor in series between the PoTD Connector and the other two connectors with the band pointing towards your LEDs.  Obviously the two existing connectors are just wired 1:1 Make sure you get the grounds ‘lined up’ when you plug it together. Cut the cable tie behind the backboard PoTD lights and then remove the Z-connector, you won’t need it as the breadboard replaces it’s function.

COL/ROW 

PoTD MOD — Original Input (OI)  — Original Output (OO) 

ROW 9 GND — GND — GND

COL 4 (diode) |<— ~~~~ (220 ohm R) — OI — OO
COL 5 (diode) |<— ~~~~ (220 ohm R) — OI — OO
COL 6 (diode) |<— ~~~~ (220 ohm R) — OI — OO
COL 7 (diode) |<— ~~~~ (220 ohm R) — OI — OO

Connect the 4 LEDs to two wires each, the Cathode (-) is the short leg and connects to ROW/GND.  The Anode (+) is the long leg and goes to the COL /Drive. That should work.
All the GND wires can be bunched together and wired to the same Pin on the connector.

*You may need a different resistor value depending on your LED type.  If in doubt, google is your friend and use an online calculator.  You NEED a current limiting Resistor.  6v is probably a good nominal voltage to use, the diode drops around 0.7v.  LED desired current is probably around 20mA, but if you have specific info for your LEDs then use that.

Warning: I have an LoTR LE so some of your wiring colors may be different.  So I’ll give both.

On my LoTR LE to POTD bulbs:

Row (GND)

9 BR/BLK (Brown with Black Stripe)

Column (18v)

4 U.L. (Lamp #60)-  King - YEL/BLK 

5  U.R. (Lamp #61)- Warrior - Grey/BLK

6   L.L. (Lamp #62) Warrior - YEL/BLU

7   L.R. (Lamp #63) Warrior - YEL/VIO

On an original LoTR to POTD bulbs:

Row (GND)

9 Red/White  (Red with White Stripe)

Column (18v)

4 U.L. (Lamp #60) -  King - YEL/BLK 

5  U.R. (Lamp #61) - Warrior - YEL/GRN

6   L.L. (Lamp #62) - Warrior - YEL/BLU

7   L.R. (Lamp #63) - Warrior - YEL/VIO

So here’s a parts list:

2 AOME “Army of the Dead” sets.  You’ll have two extras if you can’t find singles. 

I paid $15 for three used figures and $45 for a NIB set.  Total: $60 shipped.

1 x Plastic to mount them on above the ball path. One option is from Pinbits.com and costs $24. A cool option with printed skulls and other options is from Robert (pixmanohio on Pinside.com).  $49.50

4 x Light Green LEDs.  I used bare 5mm and like them better than UV or another color.  Had them on hand. 

3 x .156” 5-way headers with square pins.  Buy a 15-way and cut it up, if that’s cheaper.  Buy the kind with the ‘locking pins’ on one side. Had them.
1 x .156” 5-way connector and crimp pins. I prefer this to the ‘insulation displacement’ type of connector.  This is where the LED wires from your mod goes. Had it.

4 x 1n4004 diodes. I put these in as I wasn’t connecting directly to the controlled lights with resistors in series with each LED. Had them.

4 x 220  ohm 1/4W resistors. Had them.

Some wire.  I cut up an old Cat5 ethernet cable, which is handy as you need 4 twisted pairs and they are already paired and color coded for you.

Some  .156” breadboard stuff.  Easiest has 1:1 tracks running between holes.  Had that, too.

Longer screws and two long thin posts.  Had them.  You can get the posts and screws as part of a Pinbits kit, if you buy there. 

So basically, all I bought was the figures and clear plastic mounting base.  Cost: $109.50

You only need to drill out the ‘King’ figure for the LED, as he had a solid base.  The others have cloaks where they can just sit over the LEDs.  I superglued the swords, pikes etc to the figures and hot-glued the figures to the clear plastic.  I used hot glue in case I want to change LEDs or have a wiring problem in future.  I wish I hadn't used superglue to glue some greenish skulls I made from beads to hide the wiring.  It ‘fogs’ the clear plastic with a white haze. . Every fingerprint is ‘developed’ by the superglue and there isn’t a good solution to remove them. 

Videos of my mod in action and the ColorDMD LED Display.  Which I think works really well on this game. 

https://youtu.be/lXGGQ9i4xj0
https://youtu.be/iuYns03aS_k

Thanks Pinball People

As you will know, I haven't been blogging about LOTR pinball lately.  I haven't been playing much either, I kinda lost my mojo, baby. 

But going back after a break, it amazes me how complete the game is.   I'm not as good as I was when I "kept my chops up" as they say in the music business.  But I can appreciate that this game is a classic. The modes and rules are excellent, and it will definitely stand the test of time.

Finally thanks to all the nice people I have met through pinball and by owning this game. My first NIB, and first Stern pinball game.  

It hasn't been without problems, but in the end it has been worth it!  It still looks nice and plays perfectly.  (It should play well considering the effort I put in to make it as good as it could be).

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