Finally received my lord of the rings pinball & it does not work...

[divemaster127]

Received my machine, after I finished getting the game ready it powers up fine, I'm on freeplay the balls are loaded but the game will not start...so I guess I will call BMI gaming monday & talk to tech support.  Went into the service mode & did a factory reset, put the machine back into freeplay but no go...any ideas. I looked at the wiring & did not see anything unplugged around the start switch....my T2 machine the start would flash & its not even doing that on the lords pin
dm

[SirPeale]

Obvious question here, but...can you start a game when it is *not* in freeplay?

[divemaster127]

no, I took it out of freeplay & grabbed some quarters machine registers credits that way but still nothing.   So I did another factory reset & put the machine back into freeplay
dm

[divemaster127]

A Manuel did not come with the machine so i cant even use it for trouble shooting

[Neverending Project]

Sounds like a problem with the start button. Can you trouble-shoot it with a multimeter, or replace it with another button to test?

[Mrjamma]

Do you have the coin door closed? If it is open, the Coil Power will be disabled and it won't kick out a ball if that is what you mean by not starting.

[divemaster127]

yes, coin door is closed I noticed 3 plugs are not plugged in 1. is a molex for competition play the 2 others do not have a mate any where that I can see, the cherry switch on the start button looks good...but i will check it with a meter I doubt that is the problem

[divemaster127]

I talked to BMI today about my pin.  They want me to call Stern on my lunch to trouble shoot the pin.  BMI thought that a switch was holding open on the ball tray.  Which now that I think about it when I was going thru the menus the ball tray only showed 4 balls on the display instead of 5.  If not that then the I/o board is bad.  After I talked to stern I am supposed to call back.  BMI is going to ship the parts & send a tech from Ponoca City if they need to
dm

[divemaster127]

The machine was a demo model & it was $4K

[grantspain]

run through the test routines,do you get any solenoid activity,does the game actually start when the start button is pressed although there is no solenoid activity,do the lights work.
bet you have plug off in the back box or your solenoid iso door switch is not operating correctly
normally if you have a ball missing from the trough then the solenoids will run for ball jam when you press the start

[shardian]

Maybe I'm remembering wrong, but I thought they were going to deliver/setup this game for you as part of the cost?
IMO, I think it says something for this company to give you a game and include an on-site warranty, then when the game doesn't work on delivery they refer you to troubleshoot it yourself with the manufacturer.

[divemaster127]

The delivery company delivered the machine,  put the legs on then hit the roud.
I spent a couple of days getting the machine ready cleaning, leveling etc...
So on my lunch today I went home & called the stern...after pulling the back glass off, the I/o board had come off during shipping, mounted the i/o, a ribbon cable was laying in the botttom...hooked that backup still the game would not start.  Played with the start switch,  a wire was loose, pushed this back on & everything fired off.  The start button seems flaky I may need to work on it some more but the game is really cool & looks great.
dm

[divemaster127]

I will say one thing the machine is flawless & looks new out of the box
dm

[CheffoJeffo]

* CheffoJeffo supresses jealously and offers congratulations

Glad it's working!

[divemaster127]

I could have gotten a pirates or spiderman nib for less $$$, but I did not care for the pins.  The family guy was fun but I did not want to drop serious $$$ for the theme, especially with my son he is not allowed to watch the show.  Even tho I do like it.
dm

[divemaster127]

Just a fyi when I was looking for a LOTR NIB, I talked to Jolly at Stern, he told me that a new LOTR pin was going to be made for the Hobbit movies, which will be coming out in 2 or 3 years
dm

[ChadTower]

We don't even know if Stern will exist in 2-3 years.  Better to get it now if you're going to drop $4k on a pin.

[shardian]

We don't even know if Stern will exist in 2-3 years.  Better to get it now if you're going to drop $4k on a pin.

They'll be around. There is money there for sure. IIRC from gameroom magazine, a production run costs them in the ballpark of 1 million. Considering they sell at least 1000 units and the prices range from $4k to almost $5k, they make money.

They'll make even more now that they are simply rebranding machines (which I HATE). Just in case you didn't know, they realized Family Guy sucked as a theme, so they have rebranded the design to Shrek which is sure to sell even better than Family Guy.

[divemaster127]

If anyone watches the show "Hows it made", a segment was done on stern while a lord of the rings pin was being built.  It was pretty neat to watch all the work that goes into a pin.
dm

[shardian]

I would really like to play a real LOTR. I have tried it in visual pinmame, but either the game sucks or it didn't translate well. From public opinion I'd have to think the latter would be true.

[divemaster127]

My son & I were playing last night lots of action, awesome pin to play my only gripe is the sound could be better.  I'm thinking about getting a speaker upgrade kit to change out the speakers.  This pin is a big improvement over my T-2 tho.

[ChadTower]

All it's going to take is 1 or 2 bad sellers in a row and they're done.  I won't be surprised if they go away anyway should the predicted recession hit.

[divemaster127]

Yah, the last titles have not been great to bad Stern cannot go back & rerun the classics.  I know do to licensing that's not possible but it would be neat.

[More Cowbell]

Stern's probably safer than you think. They are essentially subsidized by the likes of none other than Charles E. Cheese (or whatever company owns them). Chuckee commits to buying a minimum number (in the 100's) of each new pin that comes out, ships them to some holding place, and they may or may not ever again see the light of day again. Why do they do this? Simple, it benefits Chuckee to have a pinball manufacturer in business. Where will they get pinball machines if Stern goes out of business? I thought this was really interesting when I heard it from a highly reputable source.

[ChadTower]

Yeah, but they've had some duds and are still around. 

Does that support your position or mine?  You say it proves they can survive duds - I say it means they are more likely to fail than before now that they aren't growing or holding steady.  Single high end product companies like Stern are the type that die when the economy goes south.  I'm not saying they will - but don't be surprised if it happens.

[shardian]

They already have purchase commitments before a single piece of wood is cut that put them in the profit area. They don't just make a million dollars worth of product and "hope" they sell. It is a very lean business model.

[ChadTower]

That supports their current economy.  Things change and very lean business models suffer heavily when orders slow down.  Especially if they are that dependent on a single customer to keep them in the black - that customer changes their mind and you're laying people off in a month.

BTW, there are several Chuck E Cheese in my area, and none of them have any pinball machines.

[shardian]

They probably get 1000 orders from rich pinheads alone thru their distributors regardless of the machine. It's the "newest" pin so they have to have it.

[ChadTower]

They probably get 1000 orders from rich pinheads alone thru their distributors regardless of the machine. It's the "newest" pin so they have to have it.

I don't know that there are 1000 of those guys... there are some but that figure is probably way high.  The rich pinheads all want the same titles - the Williams WPC games.  What I hear from the ones I know is usually "anyone can write a check and get a NIB game - the real prestige is in a HUO Medieval Madness".

  to them.

[divemaster127]

If you go to Stern's website they have a "about Stern", the report shows Stern produces 55 pins a day
 

[More Cowbell]

I've been to their plant and saw everything that goes into the manufacture of a single pin. I'm amazed they can sell them for $4k considering how many (albeit many of them low wage) employees it takes to put one pin together. I agree that in this day and age, it's a precarious business model. Remember, the brokers and ops are selling them for $4k+ when a new pin comes out. That means that Stern charges them even less (plus discounts for larger orders).

[divemaster127]

I taked to a distrib. he told me he pays $3200.00 for the Stern pins new in the box. 

[shardian]

I taked to a distrib. he told me he pays $3200.00 for the Stern pins new in the box. 

Wow, I was close. I used $3000 in working up a rough profit table for Stern. Needless to say, they make money.