The Lord of the Rings

Stern Pinball, 2003 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open The Lord of the Rings in the Pinball Genie app →

Lord of the Rings looks like a shot-arrow game and plays like a bookkeeping game. Almost everything you do feeds one of four independent ledgers: Rings, Souls, Fellowship members and K-E-E-P letters. None of them talk to each other, and the ending sits behind all of them at once.

Rings are the engine

Four shots carry Ring inserts: the left ramp, the inner orbit, the Sword Ramp and the right orbit. At any moment each one shows an Elf, Dwarf or Man insert, and hitting it banks that type. The moment you collect one, every shot lights red for a few seconds for two more of the same type, so a single Ring should always be the first note of a three-shot phrase rather than a shot on its own. The Spot Ring target down the right side gives a free Ring of a random type and is relit by the left inlane, which makes the left inlane feed quietly one of the most productive rollovers in the game.

• Three Elf Rings light Mode Start at the Ring.
• Seven Dwarf Rings light Mystery at the Shire.
• Nine Rings of Man light Gollum Multiball at Gollum's Cave.
• Finishing all three races starts Ring Frenzy, a ten-second hurry-up where every insert resets the clock and feeds a jackpot that starts at 600,000 and multiplies up to five times.
• Rings collected after an award is already lit only pay points — cashing the award resets that race.

The six modes, and why you should not save them

Mode Start sits on the Ring shot, which is only reachable by jumping the Ring ramp — a firm shot clears the gap to the backboard, a weak one dribbles into Barad-Dur or the top lanes. Flip either button to change the selected mode before you shoot. Escape the Ringwraiths is a countdown chase with the Sword Ramp always live to top the clock back up. Gandalf vs Saruman rewards back-to-back ramps with doubles. Warg Battle opens on the left ramp and then lights all seven main shots. War of the Ents is the one to prioritise: every shot into Orthanc rides the ball up to the Paths of the Dead, which is the only source of Souls in the game. Attack of Shelob alternates sides and takes a shot off the board each round. Kill the Witchking is pure combo work — the left ramp or right orbit arms the Sword Ramp, and only the Sword Ramp follow-up counts.

Each mode can only be played once per game, win or lose, and everything but the first runs on a 30-second timer. Every mode you actually finish lights a Gift of the Elves at the left orbit, collected at Barad-Dur, and the Gifts include 2X scoring for a full minute, a lit extra ball, five million flat, and Ring Multiball.

Three multiballs, three completely different jobs

• Fellowship of the Ring — collect all nine members from their own shots, then hit Barad-Dur. Then it is Balrog, ramp, Balrog, ramp, eight times over, with the ninth Balrog hit paying five million.
• The Two Towers — spell K-E-E-P with the inlanes and outlanes, then physically lock three balls on the Sword Ramp. Jackpots multiply by the number of balls in play and again by an escalating streak number, but pausing more than about three seconds resets the streak to one.
• Return of the King — bank 5,000 Souls first. Seven levels of four jackpots, and the trick is that collecting each level's four shots in ascending multiplier order raises every multiplier on the next level.

Gollum Multiball is different in kind. It adds a ball without stopping anything else, so it stacks with everything, and it flips between doubling and halving all scoring every seven seconds. Time your big shots to the Smeagol half of the cycle. It also has a rescue use: start it during the fanfare at the end of a movie multiball and you get pulled back into two-ball play.

The quiet earners

Gollum's Cave counts your shots into it and hands out Super awards at fixed intervals — Super Spinner, Super Pops, Super Ramps, Super Loops, Super Everything — and those points score regardless of what else is running. Barad-Dur pays on its third, seventh and twelfth hits and relights the Palantir every time. The Palantir is not truly random: the game reads your situation, so shoot it when a mode is about to time out rather than hoarding it.

Destroy the Ring, and the long road past it

Play all three movie multiballs, win or lose, and the Ring qualifies. Take the four Ring shots for one through two and a half million, then the Ring itself for three million — the magnet grabs your ball and a fresh one launches — then knock the trapped ball loose for five million.

Behind that is Valinor, which demands the harder version of everything: all three multiballs genuinely completed, all six modes plus There and Back Again played, all six Gifts collected, and the Ring destroyed. The catch is ordering. Finishing the multiballs qualifies Destroy the Ring, and while it is qualified you cannot start modes at all. So play modes early and hold back the last Two Towers lock, or you will find yourself needing a whole second lap through the multiballs to get another chance at the modes you skipped.

How The Lord of the Rings plays

You carry the One Ring across Middle-earth, collecting Rings and fighting through six story modes and three movie multiballs. Destroy the Ring to win the game, and truly complete everything to sail for Valinor.

The loop

1. Collect Rings at the four Ring shots -- both ramps and both orbits -- banking whichever of the Elf, Dwarf and Man types is lit on each.
2. With three Elf Rings banked, Mode Start lights at the Ring; flip to choose one of the six modes, then shoot the Ring to begin.
3. Feed Orthanc to ride the Paths of the Dead for Souls, and bank five thousand of them to qualify Return of the King.
4. Run the three movie multiballs -- Fellowship, the Two Towers sword locks, and Return of the King -- and take each far enough to earn its Gift of the Elves at Barad-Dur.
5. Play all three multiballs to qualify Destroy the Ring, the main goal, then complete everything for the final Valinor multiball.

Reading the lights

• The Four Ring Shots (shot arrows) — lit: Each of the four Ring shots shows one of three Ring inserts, and hitting a shot banks the type lit there; the game leans toward lighting whichever type you are furthest from finishing. · flashing: Collecting a Ring flashes every shot red for a short window so you can grab two more of the same type. · then: Chain a collected Ring into two more off the return for far more than singles. Bank three Elf Rings to light Mode Start, seven Dwarf Rings for Mystery in the Shire, and nine Rings of Man to open Gollum Multiball -- collecting each lit award resets its race to run again. The Spot Ring target hands you a random Ring and relights off the left inlane.
• The Ring & Ring Modes (mode) — lit: The Ring ramp falls a little short of the backboard, so it takes a firm shot to leap the gap into the magnetized Ring itself; the Ring is where every mode starts and where the Ring Bonus and the multiball jackpots pay. · flashing: The Ring lamps strobe once all six modes have been played, the signal that There and Back Again has opened up. · then: Rip the mouth spinner to build the Ring Bonus and briefly fire the magnet that helps the shot stick, then start your chosen mode. Finishing all three Ring races instead kicks off Ring Frenzy, a hurry-up that cashes out at the Ring. Only one mode runs at a time, and each is playable just once. · control: Either flipper button: tap either button to swap which of the six Ring modes is queued up before you commit to it (three Elf Rings have lit Mode Start at the Ring)
• O-R-C Lanes (lanes) — lit: One of the three O-R-C rollovers above the bumpers is lit; completing all three steps your end-of-ball bonus multiplier, while the bumpers underneath build Boromir for the Fellowship and reshuffle the Paths of the Dead lamps. · then: Move the lit lane across to finish O-R-C for a bonus-multiplier step, and take the free bumper progress underneath while you are up there. The soft-plunge Lane skill shot drops straight into the lit lane for five multipliers at once. · control: Either flipper button: either flipper button rotates which O-R-C lane is lit, so you can slide the lit one under the ball before it arrives -- line it up in time and the completion costs you nothing (any time before the ball drops through the top lanes)
• Orthanc & the Paths of the Dead (ladder) — lit: Whenever the ball settles in Orthanc during single-ball play it is hoisted up onto the Paths of the Dead, where four switches pay Souls; each pays more with its lamp lit or flashing, and the white targets -- Palantir, Spot Ring, the Shire target and the one in the Sword ramp -- step those lamps up. · flashing: A flashing Paths lamp pays the most of all, five hundred Souls a switch against a hundred when it is dark. · then: Light the lamps before you ride the tower so each trip pays several times a cold one, and take the Shire bonus on the way through. Bank five thousand Souls -- the slowest resource in the game to build -- to qualify Return of the King Multiball, startable at Gollum's Cave, Orthanc or Barad-Dur.
• Barad-Dur (status) — lit: The far-right tower eject, fed by the left orbit or by Ring shots that dribble in short, tallies your hits and hands out an award at the third hit, the seventh, the twelfth and every fifth from there; it brings the Palantir back to life any time that target has gone dark. · then: Collect at the intervals for Hold Ring Bonus and two-million awards, and use the tower as the collect point for every Gift of the Elves -- you choose which Gift is queued over at the Shire, and its 2X Scoring gift doubles everything for a full minute on top of any other multiplier.
• K-E-E-P & the Sword Ramp (letters) — lit: The outlanes light the K and the P and the inlanes light the two Es; spelling K-E-E-P lights a Sword lock, and the Sword ramp holds your locked balls on a post. Those letters register only during single-ball play, so a drawn-out multiball freezes this progress entirely. · then: Spell K-E-E-P and lock three on the sword to start The Two Towers Multiball, then chain jackpots without pausing -- three seconds without one drops your streak back to one -- and fight through Helm's Deep to the Ring Super Jackpot, which caps the multiball and lights up a Gift.
• Gollum's Cave (status) — lit: The right upkicker pays its lit awards only when the ball arrives straight off a flipper shot, not after rattling in from an orbit or ramp; nine Rings of Man light it for Gollum Multiball, and it also hosts the extra ball, Special and the Super awards. · then: Start Gollum from a cradle shot -- it adds a ball and leaves the rest running, the strongest stacking tool on the table, though it swings between doubling and halving your score every seven seconds. Keep feeding the cave for its Super awards, which pay regardless of what else is going on.
• The Fellowship & the Balrog (mode) — lit: Each of the nine Fellowship members rides its own shot -- Frodo at the Ring ramp, the rest spread across the ramps and orbits, Gimli at Gollum's Cave, Boromir in the bumpers and Sam at the Shire; collect the flashing members, then put a ball in Barad-Dur to start the multiball. · flashing: A flashing member insert is one still eligible to collect this time round. · then: Start it at the tower, then alternate the Balrog and a ramp -- the Balrog only registers a solid hit dead in its middle -- walking one member across the bridge each round. The ninth Balrog hit closes it out at five million and turns on a Gift of the Elves.

Lane change: the flipper buttons move the lit lane. Either flipper button rotates which of the three O-R-C rollover lanes is lit; slide the lit one across before the ball reaches the top so it rolls through the lane you still need. Completing O-R-C steps your bonus multiplier, and the soft-plunge Lane skill shot into the lit lane banks five multipliers at once.

Start scoring

• Ball one — Take a plunge skill shot -- a gentle plunge into the lit O-R-C lane for five bonus multipliers, a touch firmer into Orthanc for points and a free Souls ride, or full strength around to a caught right-orbit shot for the most. Then collect Rings at the four Ring shots and light your first mode. — Skill Shot — Lane, Skill Shot — Tower, Skill Shot — Flipper, Collecting Rings
• Building — Start a Ring mode first, then stack a multiball on top, because a movie multiball locks you out of starting modes until it ends. Farm the Paths of the Dead for Souls and Gollum's Cave for its free Supers, and collect a Gift of the Elves -- the 2X Scoring one especially -- from every mode or multiball you finish. — Stacking Modes and Multiballs, Feeding the Paths of the Dead, Gollum's Cave Supers, Gifts of the Elves
• The big one — Play all three movie multiballs to qualify Destroy the Ring, the main goal -- clear the four Ring shots, hit the Ring for three million, then dislodge the trapped ball with a second one for five million. Truly finishing every multiball, all six modes, and all six Gifts opens Valinor Multiball, the deepest challenge the game holds. — Destroy the Ring, Valinor Multiball, Victory Laps

Does The Lord of the Rings have an action button?

There is nothing extra to press on this one. It landed a decade before Stern started drilling a button into the middle of the lockdown bar, so the shooter rod, the flippers and a well-judged nudge are the whole interface. The one control decision you get is how hard you plunge, because three different skill shots live at three different plunge strengths.

Goals in The Lord of the Rings

Every goal below is tracked step-by-step, with shot paths drawn on the playfield map, inside the app.

• Skill Shot — Lane skillshot · Easy

  The lightest of the three plunge strengths: a soft plunge that just reaches the flashing O-R-C lane. Lit on every numbered ball and every extra ball, except a ball-save relaunch or the plunge right after destroying the Ring.

  Reward: +5X bonus multiplier

• Skill Shot — Tower skillshot · Medium

  Plunge a little harder than the Lane skill shot to drop the ball into Orthanc instead — worth more, plus a free ride up to the Paths of the Dead.

  Reward: 250K, +50K per successive make

• Skill Shot — Flipper skillshot · Hard

  The hardest and highest-paying of the three: a full-strength plunge that runs all the way around to the flipper, then a deliberate shot to the right orbit.

  Reward: 1.25M for the first, more on each successive make

• Collecting Rings progression · Easy

  Four shots — both ramps, the inner orbit and the right orbit — each show one of three Ring inserts. Hitting a shot banks the type that was lit there. Three Elf Rings light Mode Start, seven Dwarf Rings light Mystery, and nine Rings of Man light Gollum Multiball.

  Reward: Mode Start, Mystery and Gollum Multiball

• Ring Combos combo · Medium

  Collecting a Ring lights every shot in red for a few seconds for two more of that same type. Chained Rings pay more than singles, so the fastest way to fill a Ring race is to treat every collection as the start of a three-shot burst.

  Reward: Escalating values per chained Ring

• Ring Frenzy mode · Medium

  Finish all three Ring races and a ten-second hurry-up starts. Every insert on the four Ring shots pulses, and each one you collect pays 100K, 125K then 150K, feeds the central jackpot and resets the timer.

  Reward: 600K jackpot base, up to 5X

• The Six Ring Modes progression · Medium

  Three Elf Rings light Mode Start at the Ring. Flip either button to change which of the six modes is selected, then shoot the Ring. Only one runs at a time, and each mode can only be played once whether you win it or not.

  Reward: A Gift of the Elves for each mode won

• War of the Ents mode · Medium

  The most valuable mode to play early, because it is not really about the points. The inner orbit diverter opens so you can put balls straight into Orthanc, and every Orthanc shot buys a trip up the Paths of the Dead.

  Reward: 750K per orbit, 500K per tower, plus Souls

• Kill the Witchking mode · Hard

  The one mode that is pure combo work. The left ramp and right orbit start lit for 500K each, and either one arms the Sword Ramp for a few seconds. Only the Sword Ramp follow-up damages him, and you need four of them.

  Reward: 500K per setup, 1M per combo

• Fellowship of the Ring Multiball multiball · Medium

  Collect all nine Fellowship members from their own shots, then put a ball in Barad-Dur. On later attempts only a couple of members are eligible at once, so it takes longer each time round.

  Reward: 5M for killing the Balrog, plus a Gift

• The Two Towers Multiball multiball · Medium

  Spell K-E-E-P with the inlanes and outlanes to light a Sword lock, then physically lock three balls on the sword ramp. Letters can only be collected in single-ball play, so a long multiball stalls your progress here.

  Reward: Jackpots multiplied by ball count and by streak

• Return of the King Multiball multiball · Hard

  Qualified by collecting 5,000 Souls from the Paths of the Dead, then started at Orthanc, Barad-Dur or Gollum's Cave. Seven levels of four jackpots each, and the order you take them in is what makes it pay.

  Reward: 250K base rising 50K a level, up to 4X per shot

• Feeding the Paths of the Dead progression · Medium

  Souls are the slowest currency in the game, so it pays to farm them deliberately. Any ball that drops into Orthanc during single-ball play gets lifted onto the Paths, and the four lamps up there decide what the trip is worth.

  Reward: Up to 2,000 Souls per trip

• Gollum Multiball multiball · Medium

  Nine Rings of Man light Gollum's Cave. It adds one ball and leaves everything else running, which makes it the best stacking tool on the machine — but every seven seconds it flips between doubling and halving all your scoring.

  Reward: One extra ball in play, 2X or 0.5X scoring

• Gollum's Cave Supers multiplier · Medium

  The cave counts every shot you put into it and hands out a Super award at fixed intervals — every three shots to start with. Super points score no matter what else is running, which makes this a genuinely free scoring boost.

  Reward: Spinner 15K, pops 20K, ramps and loops 250K, switches 10K

• Barad-Dur Tower Hits strategy · Medium

  The tower keeps a running count of hits and pays out on the third, seventh, twelfth and every fifth after that. It also relights the Palantir whenever it is dark, which makes it the cheapest way to keep that award available.

  Reward: Hold Ring Bonus, 2M awards, extra ball

• The Palantir strategy · Easy

  A white target that hands out whatever you happen to need. The award is not truly random — the game reads your situation and tends to give the useful thing, which is why you should shoot it when something is on the line rather than banking it.

  Reward: Add-A-Ball, ball save, spotted progress, bonus

• Mystery at the Shire strategy · Medium

  Seven Dwarf Rings light Mystery in the Shire, and the awards there are large. The trap is that Mystery will happily start a movie multiball that is close to qualifying, so collect it when a multiball start suits you.

  Reward: 1M, Souls, bonus multipliers, or a multiball start

• Gifts of the Elves strategy · Medium

  Every mode or multiball you actually finish lights a Gift at the left orbit, collected at Barad-Dur. Six of them exist and you choose which one is flashing, so this is one of the few places in the game where you get to pick your reward.

  Reward: Extra ball, Ring Multiball, Special, 5M, 2X scoring or Super Ring Frenzy

• Stacking Modes and Multiballs strategy · Hard

  Only one Ring mode runs at a time, but any mode can ride along with a multiball. Start the mode first and the multiball second — once a movie multiball is underway you cannot start a mode until it ends.

  Reward: Mode progress under multiball scoring

• Victory Laps combo · Medium

  Finishing any movie multiball turns all seven main shots into laps worth 500K, then 550K, then 600K and so on. Clear all seven before touching the Ring and the whole ladder starts 50K higher next time round.

  Reward: 500K per lap, base rising with each clean set

• There and Back Again wizard · Hard

  Play all six Ring modes and the lamps strobe. Shoot the Ring to lock in a mode, then any lit shot pays what you originally scored in that mode — but each shot you use is gone for good, so the last modes are the hardest to cash.

  Reward: Your original mode totals, plus 5M to finish

• Destroy the Ring wizard · Hard

  The main goal of the game. Play all three movie multiballs — win or lose — and the Ring qualifies. Four Ring shots, then the Ring itself, then you have to dislodge the trapped ball using a second one.

  Reward: 1M to 2.5M ladder, 3M, then 5M

• Valinor Multiball wizard · Hard

  The deepest thing in the game and the reason serious players fight the Ring modes before finishing the multiballs. Everything has to be genuinely completed, not merely played, and Destroy the Ring usually has to happen twice.

  Reward: The final multiball

• O-R-C and the Bonus Multiplier multiplier · Easy

  Three rollovers above the bumpers. Completing them steps the bonus multiplier, the lit lane slides with the flipper buttons, and the bumpers underneath shuffle the Paths of the Dead lamps while you are up there.

  Reward: Bonus multiplier steps

• The Ring Bonus strategy · Easy

  The spinner at the mouth of the Ring ramp adds a thousand points a spin to a stored Ring Bonus. Shoot the Ring while it is not lit for a mode and the whole accumulated total pays out at once.

  Reward: 1,000 per spin, paid on an unlit Ring shot