Lord of the Rings Game: Stern LOTR (LE)
Model: I-0080 (LE: I-00B4)
Game first made: Dec 2003
(LE first made: Dec 2009)

Design: George Gomez,
Keith Johnson,
Chris Granner.
Artwork: Jerry Vanderstelt,
Kevin O'Connor, Margaret Hudson.
Dots: Mark Galvez, Kurt Andersen.
Music/Sound: Chris Granner
Software: Keith Johnson, Dwight Sullivan.

Check out my Game Blog for mods and problems I've had on my NIB LOTR LE game since new.
This duplicates and after 18th April replaces the log at the bottom of this page.

LORD OF THE RINGS (LOTR) MANUALS AND SCHEMATICS
  Item   Location  Type
  A Complete LOTR Manual (2003)   100dpi Original Manual (Warning: 30Mb file)  Scan
  A Complete LOTR Manual (2003)   High res Original Manual (Warning: 65Mb file)  Scan
  Section 4 Pink/Blue Pages, missing from
  the IPDB hosted LOTR Manual (2003)		   Missing Pages 58-118 (21Mb)  Scan
  Section-5 Ch-4 Ball Trough/Optos (in Color)
   Color pages 109-111 for any LOTR Manual  PDF
  LOTR Cabinet Matrix *new*
   11x17" Page to go inside lower cabinet. PDF
  Leg protector Template *new*
   Make your own Cabinet Leg Protectors  PDF
  LOTR LE Manual 2009 Complete to Pg102   Draft of a complete LOTR LE Manual
  - no schematics (yet)		  PDF
  LOTR LE Manual 2009 Find it in Front   Quick Reference guide DR1-10 for LOTR LE  PDF
  Pages 100-106 which are missing
  from Stern LOTR LE Manual 2009		   LOTR LE Missing Pages 100-106  Scan
  LOTR LE I/O Driver Board Schematic *new*   SAM I/O Power Driver Board 520-5249-00  PDF
  LOTR LE Cabinet Matrix *new*
   11x17" Page to go inside LE lower cabinet.  PDF
  Stern Shaker Motor Install Instructions   Scan of Rev B. Shaker Install Instructions  PDF
  LOTR LE blog (Shaker Motor Kit Rev B)   Shaker Motor Install Notes Sept '10
  Shaker Motor Install Notes May '10 		 HTML
  Adding a Hardware Knocker on my LOTR LE   Instructions for LOTR and modern Sterns  HTML
  Stern LOTR Service Bulletins   Index of LOTR Service Bulletin PDFs  HTML

  Notes: Manual Pages and Schematics given in Red are for LOTR LE only.
  These are not the same Manual files hosted on the IPDB LOTR page

  Disclaimer: I am only documenting my LOTR LE game wiring *. If you use the above pages, then you do so at your risk.
  I am not to be held responsible or liable for your mistakes. Downloading files indicates acceptance of these terms.

One Ring LOTR LE EXTRA FEATURES INCLUDED Another Ring
Cosmetic changes for "gold trim" (parts list PDF):
Lockbar, Legs, Hinges, and Siderails are plated and polished
Bolts such as leg bolts, hinge bolts are in brass
"500 Game Limited Edition" plate and gold grills on speaker panel
Gold trim around backbox
Real backglass with (HD) gold effect
Stern has stated a maximum production of 500 units on a certificate signed by Gary Stern and provided with the game.
This confirms the game is "...one of 500 Limited Edition Production Originals".
Although Stern has licensing rights to produce 500 in total, by the end of 2010 this many had not been produced.
Playfield Changes:
Arwen playfield plastic returns (Yay!)
No mounting holes in playfield plastics
No AOME plastic figures installed
Balrog has LED upgrade
Centre ramp has post upgrade
Playfield Signed by Gary Stern and George Gomez
Extra clearcoats over playfield and nice finish
Board / Wiring Changes:
520-5249-00 SAM I/O Power Driver used (instead of 520-5137-01 White Star):
    Fuse numbers and positions changed
    BR numbers and positions changed
    Helms Deep Rt. (Flash Lamp) moved from Sol #14 to Sol #28

520-5300-B4 White Star CPU/Sound Board II /w ATMEL Processor
ROM version 10.xx (shipped with 10.02)
Support on wiring harness for a Shaker Motor with above ROMs
Wiring color changes at CPU and I/O Driver connectors:
    *This is true for the wiring loom on my machine, Stern may have used different wire colors on your LE.
Poor quality LE Manual Supplied by Stern:
/rant mode=on/
Changes appear to be hand edited with whiteout and a photocopier.
It's still got mistakes and not worthy of this great game which was around $5,000 NIB
Your opinion may vary, you might enjoy working from incomplete documentation! I don't.
/rant mode=off/
[Home]Hobbit's Home (back to my main page)
Gary Stern FEEL LIKE BASHING GARY? Another Gary
You should set Consolation Balrog (Feature #34) to Both. This increases the chance of seeing it.
Try this flipper code:
Flip Both.
Then: 6L R 9L R 6L R 9L R (should hear Balrog Roar)
On 3rd ball especially, if you hit the cave shot 3 times or get a mystery Balrog you can Bash Gary.
If Consolation Balrog is Off, it won't work. If FoTR starts, you won't see it.

Narsil2
OTHER LORD of the RINGS LINKS
Narsil


Arwen2




'LE SCAM' AND
MY LOTR CHANGE LOG
 Arwen
    Here's a write up of Le Scam, where someone tried to sell me a LOTR LE for £900 ($1,350 USD).

    I'm also keeping a Game Blog for mods or problems with my LOTR LE game.
    I have decided to list the major points here, and things which worked on my game. Please read the detailed Game Log to find out all the problems and more about my LOTR LE mods:

21 Jan 2010 Just got my LOTR LE, born today at 14:25. My first ever NIB game.
1. Notice marks in a couple of places on screen printed cabinet. Manufacture faults or from shipping? :(


2. Found a #906 flasher bulb in bottom of cabinet. From the game, somewhere! Did tests and Flasher behind Barad-dur was missing, it fell out.


3. No coin mechs in coin door- what? from new? Distributor had pulled them as they were US, offered to send some out.

    Was not that bothered- had been looked after well. Only funny as some USA customers got really mad about getting Canadan mechs- then my game shippped wth US ones.
    It's a home use only (HUO) game- why get yourself upset about which coin mechs are included? Life is short, enjoy it!

23 Jan 2010 Got those low-down # Ring Magnet Blues # today.
4. Ring isn't holding the ball anymore, didn't notice it right away. Had worked OK for a day or two.
    It definitely blows a 4A SB or 5A Fast-blo fuse when the game tries to "grab and throw" the ball. Went through about 5 fuses.
    Today was not a good pinball day. :o(    It definitely blows...


28 Jan 2010
5. Ring Magnet works perfectly over many game plays with a 5A SB fuse installed. Have left it like that for now,
    worth the risk to play correctly after spending a shed-load of money on a NIB game.


6. Found a gate switch not connected up at the Stern factory! Wasn't always registering the "Merry" lane. Sure I was making the shot.
    Was a missing "Z" connector.


03 Feb 2010
    Hate those (horrible) metal washers under slingshot plastics. A Problem or a mod? Mod or problem? The ball will get dinged on the metal washers over time, that's not good.
    They should be "unbreakable plastic" (PETG) from the Stern factory, IMHO.

04 Feb 2010
7. You need to be really careful raising and lowering the playfield with the slide & pivot brackets or you can scratch the siderails ! Who invented that mechanism?


09 Feb 2010
8. Still using the same fuse for the ring magnet after swapping to a 5A SB. Decided today to go back and try a 4A SB again today No good.
    Tried a 5A Fast (normal fuse) again and it does "grab and drop" over and over and even could "grab and throw" in test mode- but blows fuse while playing a game.
    Still enjoying the game too much to lose the magnet feature, so put back the original 5A SB which works.


16 Feb 2010
9. TR Pop Bumper Flasher is blowing out
    Notice the Top Right #906 was burned out, the one usually hidden behind the Balrog when the ramp is open. Second time blown since new in that location.
    So twice in less than a month! Installed Red LED Flashers in the Pop Bumpers, which will solve the problem if it's from vibration. Looks great (and has solved the problem ever since).


17 Feb 2010
10. Found a small black phillips screw while playing
    Screw was bouncing around the O-R-C lanes. After scratching my head and looking around,
    found it was missing from the plastic funnel in the ring. Replaced and tightened both sides. One to watch, may need loctite.


19 Feb 2010
11. "Bashing Balrog" noticed it was hard to register a hit. Not every clean hit would score. Didn't seem to be any adjustment for the micro switch, except for bending the blade with the mini-roller.
    Tried that. Now better when playing a game too, just didn't expect to have to mess with the main toy so soon.
    BTW- The tiny black screws on the Stern switches are 3/16". You will need a nut driver that size if you ever need to change a switch.


21 Feb 2010
    Been reading about flipper adjustment settings #53-55, and the Coil Pulse Power Setting #33
    Essentially coils can get hot in a long game, so need to be switched to the "hold strength" quickly to keep them cooler. Warnings say not to adjust flipper settings, so nothing was changed there.
    Made a change to adjustment SPI #33 (Coil Pulse Power), changed from Normal to Hard (+12.5%) as a test. Not needed on a new game. Seems to get hammered enough on Normal, so put it back.

    Reached "There and Back Again" after owning my LE for exactly a month. Very nice design touches, a great mode and a good pinball day :o))
    BTW - This was after putting coil strength back to Normal, so not that. A glare guard will help you focus on the ring mode lights.

27 Feb 2010
12. Dealing with clear plastic Issues
    Ball was catching on the clear plastic square over hobbiton shire hole, as it came down the LH wire return ramp.
    Added two 6/32 nuts to the tops of the metal posts, between posts and plastic. Note these are not locknuts, but slim normal ones.

    Installed Pinbits "9 piece LOTR protector set" Very nice and was easy to do - even without instructions.
    Worth every penny of $30, if only to save the Arwen plastic from the Sammath Naur ("Or Cracks of Doom").
    Some of the original clear plastics are not needed on the LE game, unless you mount the figures later. So it's good that Stern fitted them.
    Plan to will deal with remaining the clear plastic issues (item 12) later when adding the AOME figures.

09 Mar 2010
13. Reply from Stern about Ring Magnet fuse for F7
    Email simply said "I was just informed by our engineers that fuse # 7 should be changed from a 4A Slo-Blo to a 5A Slo-Blo.  Please let me know if you need further assistance."
    So 5A SB it is, closes items 4,5 and 8. As of April 2010, problem solved. No 5A SB fuses have blown.

11 Mar 2010
    Wrote up "Le Scam" (as I call it) where someone tried to sell me a LOTR. Then it morphed into a LOTR LE with free shipping when they sent pictures.
    Also finally went ahead and fitted the figures with a Pinbits LE mounting kit. A decent set for the $15, but read my detailed Game Log to know more.

12 Mar 2010
14. Worst LE day yet! No mods, just "Diverter Gate" problems, found out the "Orbit Pin" was never working right, and I trashed the "Switch Matrix". Arrrggghhh.
    Lots of detail in the complete log. Maybe even some useful tips, find out if the game got fixed in time for a party tomorrow.

17 Mar 2010
15. Left VUK (or Shire) switch has issues
    Noticed a few times the VUK switch was slow, waited for a a ball search in multiball to kick out of Shire. Ordered 180-5116-01 "Stern Fork Switch VUK" from Parts4Pinballs* an EU supplier.
    I pay GBP £5.40 a switch from P4P in the EU, so double the USD $4 that Pinball Life charges.

    Posed the 12 original LOTR figures, and gave them the correct swords.

20 Mar 2010
16. Left VUK switch is still unreliable. Awaiting the replacement part.
    #906 flasher bulb behind ring was burned out. Maybe another place where I need an LED flasher due to vibration.
    Fitted a Palatir glass ball mod, and the PinballPal backbox warming filter. Both are easily fitted in minutes, spent more time taking the pictures and writing it up in the game log!
    Jump to pictures of both mods on my game.

23 Mar 2010
    Fitted PinballPal stealth protectors (start button and flipper button mylar) instead of the ones I originally had made. Mine were not stuck on permanently.
    Fitted 10 yellow #44 bulbs under sword lock / along shooter lane. Wrote up a "how to" on using transparent glass paint to dip your own bulbs.

25 Mar 2010
    Replaced the Shire VUK switch (finally). Working perfectly so far. Closes items #15/#16.
    Put a #555 bulb-style color changing LED in the Palantir Insert to try there.
    Hacked up a "comic strip" about my pinball addiction. This gets more like a blog everyday.

26 Mar 2010
    Replaced the left apron decal with a picture of ringwraiths, instead of Eowyn mugshot.
    A perhaps funny? - but way off topic blog about the women of LOTR the movie, because of replacing the left apron decal.
    And a picture of an LOTR whitewood, if you get that far. :o))

09 Apr 2010
17. Orbit Diverter Pin Fix
    The Orbit Diverter is finally working as it should! A big thanks to RGP member MHS (M H Stein ?)
    Steve Marsh (a fellow LOTR LE owner) has also confirmed that this fix does work.
    Game is playing really well, wish I was playing well too. ;->
11 Apr 2010
    Made my own PoTD protector for the Shire wood rail. As usual, if interested see the game log link below for more.
    Have become more interested in the ruleset details, to get better at game strategy. Today I'm focusing in on TTT MB (The Two Towers).
    Easy? It's more complicated than you think! May have found a bug in the game code too?

14 Apr 2010
Finally finished the updated pages DR1-DR10 "Find it in Front" for my LE. Available in the table above for download and color printing.

To follow the same detailed info on a Blog, and to be able to comment, see my LOTR LE Game Blog.