the countdown will just show a bunch of ????? until jack reveals the updated production date. Then it will resume counting down to that new date.

When it hits 0 you start at +1

No, the day after 0 becomes -1 and so on, trending towards negative infinity -○○. Hoping we never need to pass the zero threshhold, but planning to read the 2016 Hobbit Update thread anyways.

No I'm going to get my damn money back.

Might as well ask now if your not in it for the long (painfully frustrating) haul.

Is JJP a pinball assembly line expert?

What's perfectly clear to me with all these delays and the fact that they are still getting basic parts in NOW is that they never, ever, ever had any intention of building this machine last year. It was a big lie.

The narrative that Jack suddenly pulled the near-ready machine back from the line to make some user-suggested changes and THAT is what caused the delay is horseshit.

Yes, they made changes (definitely for the better), but the machine was never going to ship on time regardless. THAT change just provided a very nice story about the delay....Jack had to be laughing his ass of at the folks, for months, that were defending and lauding the delay as "Jack listening to customers!"

Can I buy your spot?

I think it's more likely Jack was using a half truth in that there were additional delays after changes were made in response to customer feedback, though the game would not have shipped on time regardless.

I've spoken with Jack on a few occasions and he didn't strike me as the kind of person who would be "laughing his ass off at the folks" who took his words at face value.

I don't think Jack is laughing his ass off about any of this. I'm a supporter of JJP, and even I'm not laughing anymore. This delay has reached the level of being absurd. I'm sure every small decision has been logical to create it, but it has been much too long. Even back in July I was thrilled and excited. I got to play TH, and it was amazing. I'm not excited anymore, and Hobbit already seems a bit long in the tooth.

Maybe that will change when they start shipping, but I've been hearing about Hobbit for years. People had put payments in for Hobbit before I paid for my WOZ. My WOZ went through the entire life cycle of a pinball machine in my life, and nobody that made those payments has a Hobbit yet. That is staggering.

Just too long.

Absurd, but not surprising....

I said as much many months ago when JJP divulged they were still swamped with WoZs and couldn't keep a single machine "on the shelf."

TH would "coincidentally" be ready to assembly once JJP had fulfilled their backorder of WoZs. To JJPs credit, they've still been selling the shit out of WoZ. And there was no way Jack would slow down that gravy train for TH.... If there's one thing everyone should ave learned about JJP it's this:
New money >> old money (pre-orderers)

we only deal with middle truths here

I will keep u posted.

For my health I think I am going to try to keep from checking daily on Pinside for updates on the hobbit. I'll wait till Jen sends the email and it is shipping to get excited - otherwise I am going to expect to get it 'sometime' next year. I guess I'll get it when I get it...

Over and Out! Have a great holiday season!

EDIT: On an unrelated note - IF Stern does a TRON VE someone please PM me so I can order one.

Good move.

If someone had told me back in January 2015 (when I was still in on TH preorder) that I would get to see Star Wars The Force Awakens BEFORE The Hobbit was even started PRODUCTION, I would have agreed to eat my own hat. Yet here we are. I cannot believe what a farce this production has become.

I truly feel for those that preordered & are still waiting. Sadly when production finally starts, it will only be a small victory. The wait will only begun for JJP to actually build & ship 1500 Hobbits which will probably stretch on for another year.

Considering they've been running one for 3+ years, I would say yes.

- Tied equally with Spooky and Heighway with 1 title under their belts.

- Not even remotely close to Stern's level of expertise with 80ish titles

- More of an expert than JPop & SkitB were

- Certainly way more than any of us are!

I disagree but I think it's complicated. I think the machine revealed at Expo last year sucked. Jack was then faced with having to refund a large portion of the pre-orders (which probably would have sunk the company)...or re-work the game. He reworked the game which under normal circumstances would have probably created a 6 month delay. However - during this time JPop and SkitB imploded and the prepay model died quickly and rather painfully. The financial model that WOZ was built upon collapsed leaving no JJP#3 prepay money to fund Hobbit production. Jack was then forced to find investors to pump capital back into the company in order to start Hobbit production. That search for capital took longer than we all would have liked...but thankfully it happened and now parts have been ordered, vendors have been paid and we are finally getting close to production.

(This is my opinion on what transpired - only Jack and a few others know exactly what happened).

Relying on money from Jjp3 or even the newest woz builds to actually order the parts to build Hobbits was a poor fucking plan. Let's be real, that happened and the "investor" saved his hide from going down in flames with jpop and skitB

They made the game too complex, just as they did with WOZ! If they make this mistake again, it will be all over. These set backs burn through cash at a rate that is impossible to recover from......Business 101.

Yeah, I used "middle truth" first but decided "half truth" was more accurate after rereading the definition below.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=middle+truth

I just don't understand. I guess my questions are:

1. Who said production was November, 2015?
2. Who said it was not going to happen November, 2015?

Just trying to decide on what I'm going to do. These delays are so STUPID!!! Updates would be nice. Can't we get the truth for once!!

Half truth, middle truth or whole truth?

JJP update Sept 9 2015: "We are on track to begin Hobbit Production this Fall"

When does winter officially start?

Seriously though, if you don't like uncertainty or have little patience for delays, the best way to avoid disappointment is to just wait until a distributor has a machine available for immediate delivery.

From what I've seen, the time estimates from JJP seem to be based on what is known at the time and if nothing goes wrong (giving some benefit of the doubt here), and are usually way too optimistic.

December 22.

You forgot to talk about the magnets!!!

mnpinball said he had tentative info that the Hobbit line would start yesterday. He's usually got the most accurate rumors on Stern games. Hopefully his informant was off by a day or two rather than a month or three.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hobbit-update-1/page/178#post-2792061

Has anyone said that officially yet? There's deep skepticism for sure but I don't think JJP's formally announced they're not getting started this month.

Good luck man! Hard to know what to tell you, "you've waited this long" must be battling with "it took a year plus to ship all of the WOZ pre-orders." At least there are people out there willing to buy out your spot so you're not stuck if you decide to jump ship.

In the JJP Forum group, Subject Titled: "Next update on TH??" post dated Oct 29 (2015) entered by Jersey Jack in response to the post directly above guessing when production will start, Jack responds saying "It will start next month!"

. Who said it was not going to happen November, 2015?

Also consider Jack's definition of starting production might not be what we think it is. For example, building wiring harnesses or sub assemblies could be considered "starting production", but it doesn't mean games are going down the line.

Fucking magnets bitch

This is what production looks like.

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I think you are 100% correct.

[error]

That's good.

nothing new here, move along!

move_along.jpg

It's all a matter of perspective.

Don't look at it as a three-year and counting wait until TH is produced.

Look at it as TH as already being produced on a very, very, very, slow assembly line.

Like "ice age glacier" slow assembly line.

Man I love the drama....

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fuck-salt_4846614_GIFSoup.com.gif

I ordered The Hobbit on day one. Fully paid for over a year.

I appreciate everyone's frustration with the delay. I'd like to have it now too.

I don't get the outrage over how JJP has been funded or had cash problems. That's just how business works. I don't think anyone signed a contract dictating how their prepayment money would be used or when delivery would be made. Yes, delivery in a timeframe may have been implied or hoped-for. But not guaranteed. Prepayment was always an act of faith in JJP, and so far they've demonstrated they intend to do what it takes to make good. The latest investment shows that people with access to their books think JJP's future is bright. I do too.

No one can deny that WOZ is still an incredible machine for operators. Jack's got a product formula that's working. I don't begrudge him financing troubles--most startups have such.

It is a shame The Hobbit theme is going to be a bit stale by the time it comes out, but I trust it won't matter much. It will be a great game. But if you're frustrated with how long it's taken, I get it.

I literally check this thread once every month and the status is the same. I feel bad for the preorder guys.

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I'm not sure what any of you expected. JJP has to keep its like moving at a set pace in order to keep its small staff working. So when games are finally in production, it will be at the woz pace again. A few a week and will take a year or two to get all the preorders out the door. They'll mix in woz orders and even distributors can buy and receive hobbit standards while this is going on. I intend to own a hobbit and expect I'll be buying one from a distributor long before you preorder folks get yours. They'll have to keep it moving at a slow and steady pace until jjp3 starts running.

Anyone that thinks the start of production means they will receive their game on a few weeks is either one of the first 20 preorders or crazy.

It wouldn't surprise me if distributors had the opportunity to place their orders before it was opened up to the public. If that is the case, you will definitely be able buy one before we get ours, though probably at a higher price.

That's the way to do it...no risk and get the game probably fairly early. It will take years to chug through all the Hobbit machines.

Just stumbled upon this clip from the Blu-ray behind the scenes. Maybe seeing the issues they had on the actual movie will make people forget about the problems JJP is having? Pretty crazy how open they are about how much of a mess it was.

Or maybe the Hobbit is just cursed on all levels . . .

Some one on a FB forum posted this about Jack. Not sure if I understand it but a pic of Jack and Roger Sharpe were together at IAAPA.

How you uh, how you comin' on that source code you're working on? Huh? Gotta a big, uh, big stack of data for the source code there? Gotta, gotta nice little story of mystical adventures you're working on there? Your big new release you've been working on for two years? Huh? Gotta, gotta compelling multi-ball? Yeah? Gotta obstacle for the player to overcome?

I think it's a play on this clip...

LMAO.

Found some footage at the latest expo. Don't think it's been posted.