The Lord of the Rings (pinball)
 The Lord of the Rings pinball flyer | |
| Manufacturer | Stern Pinball |
|---|---|
| Release date | November 2003 |
| System | Stern Whitestar |
| Players | 4 |
| Design | George Gomez |
| Programming | Dwight Sullivan and Keith Johnson |
| Artwork | Jerry Vanderstelt |
| Music | Chris Granner |
| Sound | Chris Granner |
| Voices | |
| Production run |
|
The Lord of the Rings is a Stern Pinball machine released in November 2003. Designed by George Gomez and programmed by Dwight Sullivan and Keith Johnson, it had an initial production run of 5,100 units, with a further 500 units of a limited edition version released in 2009.
The game was announced on October 20, 2003[1] featuring elements from the New Line Cinema Lord of the Rings trilogy; The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, notably a few weeks before the release of the third film in December 2003.
The machine is considered to be a classic of the period, released in the same year as The Simpsons Pinball Party at a pivotal time for Stern Pinball and pinball in general.[2]
Design
[edit]On the suggestion of New Line Cinema Jerry Vanderstelt was used as the primary artist due to his prior licensed The Lord of the Rings artwork,[3] designing the backglass, backbox, and cabinet art.
When designing the sound for the game Chris Granner had full access to movie dialogue and sound effects, but had to rescore the music using the original compositions. Of the c.35 musical themes in the game all except one are excerpted from Howard Shore's score, the exception being the enter-your-initials music. Elijah Wood (Frodo) and John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) recorded custom speech for the game.[3] It was the first game specifically developed to use an "interim" Whitestar MPU board system that had a new 16 bit sound system.
The game has a prominent Balrog bash-toy which moves to expose the jump ramp. This jump ramp leads to "the one ring", where the ball is held by an electro-magnet. A vertical upkicker (VUK) is located on the far left. The paths of the dead upper playfield is reached by another VUK. Near the back of the game are the towers of Orthanc (left) and Barad-Dur (right corner).[4] Aragorn's sword is used as the exit to the right ramp and as a ball-lock mechanism. 12 action figures from Play Along toys are fixed to the playfield.[5]
Gameplay
[edit]The machine has one of the deepest rulesets of this period.[6][7] After a choice of 3 skillshots the initial objective is to collect rings to start main modes and mystery awards. When lit, a shot up the jump ramp to the ring starts one of the main modes:
- Escape the Ring Wraiths
- Gandalf vs Saruman
- Warg Battle
- War of the Ents
- Attack of Shelob
- Destroy the Witch King
After all 6 modes have been played then a timed mini-wizard mode, There and Back Again is played.
There are also 3 film multiballs, collecting a super jackpot completes that multiball:
- The Fellowship of the Ring. To start this all 9 members of the fellowship are collected, and to win it 8 cross the bridge of Khazad-dum, followed by the final shot for Gandalf to destroy the bridge and defeat the Balrog.
- The Two Towers. To start this 3 balls are locked on Aragorn's sword. The multiball itself is based on the Battle of Helm's Deep.
- The Return of the King. To start this multiball 5,000 souls are collected from the paths of the dead upper playfield. In this multiball 4 shots need to be hit in sequence 7 times to enable super jackpots and completion of the mode
After playing these 3 multiballs, Destroy the Ring can be started. After hitting 4 main shots, the ball is shot to and held by the ring; another ball is plunged and the first ball must be hit with this one, ending with Gollum falling into Mount Doom.
If the Destroy the Ring mode is won after There and Back Again has been played then the Valinor wizard mode starts.
Limited Edition
[edit]An updated version was released in 2009 in a limited edition of 500 machines. This was the first[8] limited edition released by Stern. Jack Guarnieri, at the time a pinball distributor, persuaded Gary Stern to release this edition.[9]
The principal changes from the standard edition are real glass (not a translite) used as the backglass, and a gold trim. There is also an option to add a shaker motor which was not available on the standard version. The game is signed by Gary Stern and George Gomez.
Reception
[edit]In an extensive review Pinball News praised the sound package using a new hardware system, the animations on the DMD, and found the lighting to be exceptionally good. The only criticism was that there is inconsistency in the typeface used on the game.[5]
RePlay magazine featured the game as the cover story in the November 2003 issue, with Gary Stern dressed as a wizard creating the machine, and a "Lord of the Flippers" article.[10]
The game was also featured in the January 2004 issue of the PinGame journal.[11]
As of May 2025, the Pinside pinball community rates it as the 12th highest-ranked pinball machine.[12]
Legacy
[edit]Jersey Jack Pinball released The Hobbit pinball machine in March 2016, based on the films of the same name, the prequels to the Lord of the Rings series of films. Keith Johnson was also part of the design team for this machine.
External links
[edit]- The Lord of the Rings at the Internet Pinball Database
- The Lord of the Rings (Limited Edition) at the Internet Pinball Database
References
[edit]- ^ "Lord of the Rings announcement". Pinball News. October 20, 2003. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
- ^ "Lord of the Rings - Pinball Spotlight series". Wedgehead. 2021. Retrieved 2025-05-24.
- ^ a b Shalhoub, Michael (2012). The pinball compendium: 1982 to present (2nd revised ed.). Atglen, Pa: Schiffer Publishing. pp. 274–275. ISBN 978-0-7643-4107-6.
- ^ "The Lord of the Rings™ Pinball Machines from Stern® Pinball, Inc. - Game Details". 2003. Archived from the original on 2013-09-14. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
- ^ a b "Lord of the Rings review". Pinball News. 2003. Retrieved 2025-05-24.
- ^ Scott, Larry (February 2004). "Lord of the Rings pinball rulesheet 1.1". pinball.org. Retrieved May 25, 2025.
- ^ "Lord of the Rings® Playfield Shot Map". 2003. Archived from the original on 2013-08-01. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
- ^ "Pinside Pinball Machine Database | Pinside Game Archive". pinside.com. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
- ^ "New Pinball Manufacturer". Pinball News. January 21, 2011. Retrieved 2025-06-07.
- ^ "Lord of the Flippers". RePlay magazine. November 2003.
- ^ The PinGame Journal, issue 102. January 2004.
- ^ "Lord of the Rings Pinball Machine (Stern, 2003)". pinside.com. Retrieved 2025-05-24.