Game Facts:

Coming soon....

Lots has been written about this machine on the pinball newsgroup REC.GAMES.PINBALL.  If you don't have a newsreader, click on this link to go to Google Groups archive of LOTR posts.  You'll see what I mean!

 

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The Return on the Pinball King!

Once again, I've gone out on the preverbal limb and bought a NIB machine sight unseen.  So far my record is 1-1, with Monopoly being a big win (I know I'm in the minority on this one, but I love it!), and RCT being a bust.  When I sold RCT a few months back, I think it had less than 100 plays on it, and I took a bath on it.  Why buy a NIB machine when you can wait and then pick up one cheap from suckers like me who buy them new?  Its kind of like buying a new car versus a used car, the new game has that "new car smell", its clean, no wear on the playfield, no nicks, just a pristine playfield!  LOTR had been rumored for over 2 years and has a theme that is just made for pinball, and with my older daughter being a big LOTR fan, I decided to go for it.  The unexpected sale of my Dr. Who and Road Kings (an unsolicited sale on my part, somebody just showed up on my doorstep with cash in hand looking for pinball machines!) sealed the deal.

Is this how a King arrives?

My two previous NIB purchases showed up on big 18 wheel trucks (see photo below of RCT's arrival).  We would then transfer the game from the truck to the bed of my pickup, then I got to drive the game down the final 300' of the driveway to the house.   No such ceremonious entry for this lord however!  I received a call from my daughter while at work "hey dad, your pinball machine is here, they just dropped it off outside of the garage."  While a heck of a lot easier than the ride in the back of the pickup, where is the ceremony in that? 

  

Getting it downstairs!

OK, so where are the pictures of the game going down the basement stairs?  Well, we were too busy try to get the game down to take any photos, and I think my wife would rather not watch in case for some unknown reason the game got loose and came down by itself!  I must admit however, that a game in a carton is much easier to get down the stairs than an unboxed machine.  I pity those lost souls who are too anxious to look at their new machine that they take it out of the box on the driveway, then attempt to get it up or down some stairs!

Since all pinball boxes basically look alike, here is a shot of when we were taking Monopoly down the stairs, just makes it through the door!  In case you're wondering, the machine will make it through a 30" opening with the door removed.

 

Real men don't read instructions

OK, well at least I glanced at them....

 

Out of the box!

If  you're smart enough to lay the box down with the side labeled "truck this side" on the floor, then its an easy job to get the machine out.  It really is a one person set-up, but having a friend handy to take pictures helps out!

 

This thing is heavy!

When the machine showed up, I tried to truck it into the garage until I could get help bringing the machine down.  Well, tried is the opportune word here.  I couldn't get the truck back with the machine on it (I blame it on the cheap hand truck...)  I would up just muscling it into the garage.

I felt better when Tony P. was moving the box around and said "boy, is thing heavy or what?".  I needed to use the basement post for leverage to get it out of the box!

 

Setting Up!

Tony P. took over and got the legs on.

 

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Raising the Backbox!

The camera got to see the backglass before I did!

 

And finally the first balled gets played...

Nothing like game 1, ball 1 on your new machine!  No issues on this machine, just a great game!

 

 

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