Lord of the Rings

Does this table ever come up as a candidate? I've never been able to find it IRL, and always wanted to play it. I know it's floating around as shadow-ware, but I have not quite brought myself to take the visual pinball plunge. I would much rather pay for a legit version.

Ccv said:

Does this table ever come up as a candidate? I've never been able to find it IRL, and always wanted to play it. I know it's floating around as shadow-ware, but I have not quite brought myself to take the visual pinball plunge. I would much rather pay for a legit version.

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I assume it's technically possible, given that it's a Whitestar system, same as Ripley's. But the licensing would be a major challenge.

If visual pinball were that illigit, copyright owners would have done something about it. As it is there are some very good versions and if you support vpforums.org then you sort of are paying for it.

I have one at one of the theaters near me and its an awesome table. If you do find one I definitely reccomend playing it.

That said, I swcond the wish. I would love to see it made and would jump on a kickstarter much faster than I would T2

Orthanc multiball! LOTR is an amazing table.

My local movie theater has one. I'm pretty terrible at it, but it's definitely a great game.

I used to play it at a local pool hall until it closed. I really enjoyed it. One of my favorite of the newer Stern pins. Such a deep table that I would need a TPA version (that I could play endlessly for $5) to ever see some of the stuff at the end.
But as stated above, I'm sure it would be a licensing nightmare.

My second favorite newer Stern, after AC/DC. Still commands good money so I could never hope to own one. Love to see it too in TPA but I doubt it.

I play this whenever I go to the theater here that has it.

I had gotten pretty good at the VP version and even reached the wizard mode once, but the real table spanks me viciously.

TPA is really the only way i can get to wizard mode on newer tables. I'd spend waaaay to much $ trying it IRL.

been playing this a lot on visual pinball, love it to bits, im guessing the license rights would be a lot but id love to see this in TPA someday

superballs said:

If visual pinball were that illigit, copyright owners would have done something about it.

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Because that's totally possible. Look at how the console companies all put an end to emulation!

Seriously, I don't think the pinball manufacurers really care, and only Stern are still making money on some of the real pinball tables featured. It's really a gray area, and I'm quite sure everybody agrees that Visual Pinball is nowhere close to the real feel. Even TPA is no substitute, fun as it is. At worst it probably gets more people into pinball.
Technically, though, it's still not strictly legal.

doveton said:

been playing this a lot on visual pinball, love it to bits, im guessing the license rights would be a lot but id love to see this in TPA someday

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Which version are you playing?? The only functional one I could find has some shots that are pretty much impossible due to the aiming being weirdly off.

Sumez said:

Which version are you playing?? The only functional one I could find has some shots that are pretty much impossible due to the aiming being weirdly off.

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http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=2355


thats the one im playing, plays beautifully for me, i do have problems hitting the left ramp as consistently as id like but i put that down to me being pretty mediocre rather than anything else. its probably the best quality table ive got for VP as it happens

If your goal is to preserve pinball, then it would be nice to include all top 25 pins and maybe more.

This table would be my pick if we could only have one of the "impossible license" tables on TPA.

This machine is truly magnificent. Deeper than deep set of rules. Never played another machine with integrated story from the license like this one. It's got 8 mods (if you count "There and back again" and destroy the ring") all of them good It's got 5 very different multiball mods(all incredible but hard) It's got a Wizard mode almost impossible to reach (I've come close but so say them all) Great speech and music. I know a guy who play like a champ. He has had this machine for 6 or seven years. All he's other machines have been in and out but he''s still not made the wizard goal and are not sick of trying. He just recently chose to sell his Attack form Mars in pristine condition and keep Lotr. (he's even not a fan of the movies)

This one is top 3 with no doubt if Farsight could pick any License from the top drawer. I would sell all my other machines before I even would think about saying goodbye to mine (yes, even White Water)

Do we really know that the Tolkien estate i so difficult or the movie company so hard to deal with? Must be easier than Disney and Marvel comics. At least I hope Farsight tries find out what the license cost would be for the one.

karl said:

Do we really know that the Tolkien estate i so difficult or the movie company so hard to deal with? Must be easier than Disney and Marvel comics. At least I hope Farsight tries find out what the license cost would be for the one.

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The estate must at least be open to the possibility. Jersey Jack's supposed to do a Hobbit pinball after Wizard of Oz, so contemporary licensing is going on. I bet the $$$ would be significant, though.

Sean DonCarlos said:

The estate must at least be open to the possibility. Jersey Jack's supposed to do a Hobbit pinball after Wizard of Oz, so contemporary licensing is going on. I bet the $$$ would be significant, though.

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The Tolkien estate is suing the studios and the firm that manages the movie rights for breach of contact because they licensed LOTR slot machines. They claim the license (written in 1969) does not cover anything digital. I assume the parties are negotiating, which will probably delay any chance at a license Farsight has.

Seems like every IP license is some sort of legal quagmire, doesn't it?

sharkbear said:

The Tolkien estate is suing the studios and the firm that manages the movie rights for breach of contact because they licensed LOTR slot machines. They claim the license (written in 1969) does not cover anything digital. I assume the parties are negotiating, which will probably delay any chance at a license Farsight has.

Seems like every IP license is some sort of legal quagmire, doesn't it?

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There's the Lord of the Rings Online MMO, which is digital and as far as I know has not been the subject of IP issues since its launch in 2007. So maybe the movie studios' license doesn't cover digital properties, but licenses negotiated later do.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/mar/14/hobbit-gambling-warner-bros-tolkien-estate?CMP=twt_gu

The Warner suit states: "Because of the repudiation, Warner has not entered into license agreements for online games and casino slot machines in connection with The Hobbit – a form of customary exploitation it previously had utilized in connection with the Lord of the Rings trilogy – which has harmed Warner both in the form of lost license revenue and also in decreased exposure for the Hobbit films."

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This references the Hobbit, but the dispute includes both properties. The MMO license deal pre-dates the lawsuit, but it's up for renewal at the end of 2014. Hopefully the two parties will be hugging it out and throwing money at each other by then.

I think they mean online gaming as in gambling...everywhere the phrase "online games" appears, "slot machines" is nearby...but it is an interesting article nonetheless.