Based on video I was on the fence in my order. However I finally got a chance to play it and I have decided to keep my order. I'll be honest though it is just good enough and not a slam dunk for me. Partly because I think the hobbit could have been better. I give it an A on looks and a B on gameplay. Code updates will make it better for sure, but not sure it will get an A. That said if you are a Tolkien fan, like me, it is quite a game to have. So in short keeping my order on a rather spectacular pin.

I think you made the right choice. I believe this pin has a lot of room to run.

I am in a similar situation. I have had a preorder since Dec 2012. I tried the game at my distributor this week, for the first time. It did not grab me as I expected. The look and quality was fantastic. Game play was ok, and I'm keeping the preorder. I had Woz at almost the very beginning and the code was so weak, but I saw the potential. Now, WOZ would never leave. TH could improved drastically with CODE. I was surprised twice with WOZ, when a major code update came out. I couldn't believe the feel of the game could change that much. If after a year or two TH, still hasn't become what WOZ has become, it's gone, and something else will fill the spot.

That GB vs TH thread has me feeling really bummed out over my TH preorder. Nice to read some more optimistic thoughts...

Hang in there - mine is a blast to play.

Thank you guys. I too had been getting down. Seems there was no real joy and excitement from those who got the pin. But these points are VERY valid. There have been a lot of pins, including WOZ, that got exponentially better with code. I know I felt that way about X-Men for example. Keith is clearly the best in he business, so as long as they give Hobbit the same attention as they did Woz, I think we'll all be happy!

Check out my impressions on the "Ghostbusters vs. Hobbit" thread, post #267. That should lift your spirits.

It's hard to trust your own judgements over a majority of peeps in mass hysteria. Once the masses grab hold of a thought or idea, tunnel vision sets in and band wagons will start flying. I've seen the same thing happen time and time again....Xmen, Metallica, etc... People get so lost in all the good, they forget exactly all that is good. And pinball is good! I got to play hobbit recently and chose to put my money down on it over GB. There's just somethin overall magical and appealing going on with this pin.

That all said and done my family Unfortunately has a few minor financial hardships that have recently come to light so I may withdraw from TH; it's hard to make an $8k+ purchase when others are in need. And I think that's the one thing Stern has over all others, <$5k machines. But that aside, there is something special going on with this game that sparked my interest Moreso than any recent pins that have come and gone in my collection.

I played the hobbit this weekend. I thought the flippers were good and game played as it should after the hundreds of plays it already had.

Code did remind me of Woz. You could start a bunch of modes and you could start multiball just like woz, but not much to it otherwise.

If I were to compare it to LOTR, I like how LOTR had clear mode starts and stops. You can't tell when a mode starts very easily on HOBBIT and can't tell when it ends. I'd rather have few concentrated full modes than 32 oddly sized modes. Seems like a mode was to just hit a pop up target or to make a single shot somewhere. There were bigger modes, I just don't care for the small ones.

I assume that the game still have very early beta code, so the game will be a new beast when an actual code update drops. The best part about woz for me was trying out the game again after each major update. Was fun watching it progress and I hope to do the same with the hobbit.

I opened mine on Friday and played it all weekend.

As others have said the build, art, LCD and sound are A+. I mean really awesome and I have owned and played quite a few pins.

The playfield layout and current code combination is B-

I believe that given the right code, the whole package will be very good. Woz layout is only fair and the code makes it great. I played the original WOZ at Expo and it felt similar in code development and gameplay in the early days. I believe Keith will do his magic and takes this game to a high level.

Go Keefer go!

That's odd - that's one thing I would say the complete opposite about. Mode starts always go to the windlance/kickback, and pause for you to see what you need to do. That's one of the things I complimented the machine on - that it was nice to have a mode start and have a brief pause to recognize this and see what to do rather than trying to keep track of the ball. When a mode ends, you have a screen that comes up and totals your points for the mode - now for this you are still playing, but it was pretty easy for me to recognize as it is after making the necessary shot. For me it's probably the easiest machine ever made to tell when a mode starts because the ball is always held at the kickback.

It's been a while since any HD footage showed up on youtube if you're up to the task... ;D
(My son and I watch hobbit videos almost every evening, he can't wait for "Dragon Pinball")

Any issues with the ball getting stuck when diverting to the windlance at mode start? I played the one at Padavan's this weekend and sometimes the ball would fall off the diverter and back to the playfield.

Anyone have any tips on preventing the lights from locking up? This happens regularly at a location near me and if it's an addressable problem I'd like to let them know how to fix it.

What lights? The inserts?

The entire game- all controlled lamps as far as I can tell, including spotlights, inserts, the LOCK rollovers, and the LEDs in the troll popups. By "lock up", I mean that some lamps will remain lit, others off, and they are all completely static. Power cycling the game seems to fix it temporarily.

I think that's a first.

The aussie version had a weird thing where the 2nd lock insert seemed to be a different color than the rest of the inserts half the time, but ONLY in attract mode. So I think that would possible be a software bug.

I wouldn't worry about it to much. I think it has more to do with how Jack promotes his games. It's a long drawn out process to try and rake in preorders over a long period of time. The problem is, you don't get that nice big shocking reveal. If he would have kept it a secret and did a surprise reveal like stern does with their titles. There would be a lot of more excitement over games actually going out the door.

JJP is like GNR's Chinese Democracy. People were waiting years for it to come out. Was pushed back so much, that by the time it came out. nobody gave a shit anymore. When it finally was released. It wasn't horrible, but wasn't great either. Seems similar to what happened with hobbit.

If people would have watched the slow progression of Ghostbusters over the past 2 1/2 years, nobody would be really going ape shit at this point.

Just got the call!!! My Smaug LE is shipping out tomorrow, hope to have it early next week!

Great news.

The same location has had at least two ECLE WOZ machines on the floor at different times, and they've also shown the lockup and light boards turning off completely dozens and dozens of times over the last two years or so. If it was just a one-time thing we'd ignore it, but it's bad enough and we've seen it enough times that it was pulled from our tournament list due to concerns it might lock up in the middle of a match. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Weird. Any chance of some static electricity situatio unique to your location?

Have the owner call JJP support. I'm not sure what other suggestion you are looking for. Unless the location gives you the keys and you do their repairs, you're just wasting time.

Any other suggestions. Obviously I've already asked the the place to try and fix it, but intermittent issues that really only affect competition play and the occasional single player (assuming they reset the machine afterwards) are very, very low on their priority list.

Other people are going to have these machines and on the off-chance someone else sees this and figures out that it's a loose connector, mis-routed wire, low supply voltage, or whatever, that would be helpful. It's pretty lame to get an LE in to a local place and not be able to play it in league.

Have you checked it for a loose connector?

Someone mentioned over on the JJP forum that they discovered a poor soldering job on the A6281 surface-mount LED driver chip; when they properly soldered the two affected pins on the chip that cured the erratic lighting problems they were seeing. Maybe pull out a LARGE magnifying glass and check for poor solder on the pins of the A6281 chip(s)?

Went to Marvelous Marvins yesterday to play the Hobbit. It was turned off. I turned it on and it showed the game had 4 dollars in credits and to press the Start button. Pressed the start button and game wouldn't start. One of the workers said she played it a couple times and the ball would get stuck on the right wire form ramp just about 6 inches above the right slingshot. Kind of bummed as I have one on order as well as a GB.

I love GB, but after looking at Hobbit I'm not 100% convinced I'm going to stay with it. I might just wait for Pat Lawlors game. The start button shouldn't be an issue on a brand new game that's 1 week old.

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I would pin that on the operator, not the pinball.

Sometimes this shit happens on new pins. Stern has had a very large amount of new pins hitting people's homes with issues!! It happens. As soon as everyone gets GB (not the best pin in the world) they too will have issues right out of the box.

Just went to the Seattle Pinball Museum to play The Hobbit that they just got on location. I got there right when it opened and even though they said they weren't planning on letting people play it today, they made an exception for me cause I told them I had a pre-order and wanted to try it out (also cause it was my lunch break from work and that's the only thing I wanted to play there).

I played for about an hour, and it was a lot of fun!

The skill shots were awesome to try out. I found the roll-over target skill shot to be the best (most points and when you missed it you could sometimes get another chance if you didn't hit a switch).

The modes were great! I liked the modes that utilized the monster targets the best.

Maybe it's cause I have been watching all of these threads like a hawk, but I felt like I knew the rules instantly... Before the modes start, it kept the ball in the windlance and it gave you instructions on-screen.

At first I was just going for multiball, but after I slowed down my gameplay and tried for specific shots (story modes, dwarf targets, bumpers, etc...), it became super evident that this is a deep, challenging, and fun ruleset.

Colors are super vibrant, the sounds quality was fantastic, and I thought there was just a whole bunch going on and a lot of fun to be had. I have not played GB, so I obviously can't compare. I will tell you, however, that I am definitely keeping my pre-order.

Thanks for your review. Very helpful. I have a preorder but I'm scared the layout will become old quickly. Holding on though.

I think a lot of the people who enjoyed this pin are holding their tongue in cheek and afraid to get backlashed by the popular troll express vote.

I'd grow more tired of layouts like GOT, MET, ACDC, etc...that are repetitive much quicker than a unique layout like Hobbit with so much to explore. Although, this is all speculative as I've only played it that one day and haven't gotten serious back to back time on it.

Yea, the switch fell off the back of the start button. Sorry it was down while you were there. You must have caught it just wrong as it was only out a couple hours.

Not a big deal.... Easy fix..

I own a WOZ but do not have an order in for TH. I am not that great of a player just to warn you. Avon North Lanes in Rochester Michigan has a brand new Hobbit setup and I was able to get around one hour with it alone tonight. No other games were being played around me so it was able to hear it in its full glory. The game was setup pretty tough with a touchy tilt, no ball save, and could probably use a couple of bumps in terms of power for the lower flippers but nothing too limiting.

Pros
1. Awesome looking game. Great art package
2. Top notch animations. Best in pinball. Better than WOZ IMHO.
3. Unique layout. Some interesting shots.
4. Animated book. Great addition. Much more valuable than the crystal ball on WOZ.
5. Animated Smaug. Perfectly timed. Great voice effects.
6. LCD Screen. Excellent use, just like WOZ only probably a bit better.
7. Seems deep, I mean real deep.
8. Drop target skill shot. Nice effect.
9. Sound. Best in pinball.
10. Orc and spider pop ups. When they get going, the game gets pretty random and fun.

Cons
1. I would like to see better use of the drop targets. I expect this to mature with the code.
2. Mid-field rollovers. Because the game I played had a sensitive tilt, I got dicked at least once each game by returning balls from the center ramps getting re-directed to SDTM. Pissed me off as I really had no control. TH is going to need to have a loosened tilt because of this IMHO.
3. Upper right flipper. I probably need to play the game more, but I just didn't see a use for it. At least it wasn't apparent to me.
4. Pop bumpers. Almost seem like an after thought. I didn't even notice them until the third game or so.

Looking forward to playing it more as the code matures.

I played TH at Avon North Lanes as well as at Marvelous Marvin's. The machine at Marvin's is set up better in terms of flipper power, tilt, and it also has the post between / behind the flippers intact (the machine at Avon Lanes has this post removed). My plan is to revisit Marvin's after the code update, hopefully before the end of the month

That Hobbit has to be a wicked drain monster with no post!

Besides the cabinet artwork, what are the differences between the LE and Gold editions?

It is, especially with a sensitive tilt!

And who says this game has long ball times?

Very little is different after artwork. Armor color (hammered gold vs hammered bronze), Smaug coloring (red with gold vs deep red). The SE has a special attract mode clip. Umm, that's about it.

SE also has an extra $500 on the price from dealers.

Have to say that Hobbit looks amazing but question marks re layout.

What I don't get is how is it even possible to design a game with a third flipper and for it not to have killer shots?? Just real basic A, B, C's surely?

Third flipper is in Keith's hands now...

W

I received my game yesterday. Great big thank you to pinsider rollinover who happened to be at my place (for a different transaction) when the Hobbit arrived and he offered to help me get it in the basement. Thanks, rollinover!

I had the chance to play several games. I plan to play for a week or so and then write a detailed review, but my initial thoughts are such: As everyone else has said to death, the aesthetics of the game are superb as is the audio and visual experience. The game is as fun to watch someone else play as it is to play yourself. All of the shots are super smooth, the flippers feel strong as I was able to back hand either ramp. I had little idea of how to play the game, but while there is a ton to do, there is plenty of information on the playfield, between the book lcd and the lights under the etched ramps, that tell you what to do and what is going on. Honestly, the book lcd is a huge step forward for pinball and I am absolutely sure that once Hobbit players get used to seeing that level of information about modes, time left on modes, what shots to hit, etc without having to look up to the backbox it will be a hard transition back to other games without such. It really does allow you to concentrate on the game without having to divert your attention up. I set the game up steep and it was plenty fast. I did not find that the popups came up too often, but there were times where I wanted to hit a certain shot, but a monster was in the way - but isn't that how a fantasy/monster themed game should act? While I only played a few games due to other commitments, my son (an experienced player) played for about 4 hours. He told me he experienced no ball sticks, or other mechanical issues. My only two complaints about the game is that a full plunge was not sufficiently strong to hit the drop targets by Smaug - the spring included with the game is not strong enough to do so. Perhaps this was what the designer intended and perhaps I have to slam the plunger with my palm for that shot (I will try that tonight). The other complaint is I do not like rollovers in the middle of my playfield (that's my biggest beef with WOZ too), but I knew they were there a long time ago and have accepted that. I just hope that JJP doesn't consider mid-playfield rollovers to be a signature thing for them. If so, please use star rollovers.

Overall, initial impressions are great. Thanks, JJP!

So, had a change to play a Hobbit LE whole last night.

My initial thoughts on the gameplay based on some games at TPF were stunning looking game, sounds no idea because of show background noise but gameplay wise hhmmm. To slow for me but I am also not a widebody fan.

Now being able to play a whole evening in a silent enviroment the opinion has changed for the better. Sound is great I know now, animations still stunning as are the looks of the game.

When you play more often the game grows on you. Still it is an open playfield with (to) little toys and the droptargets can make a lot of sound but to make the proper shots can be a challenge. If you are just playing for fun this might not be the game for you but if you wanna play for 'real' and go for the shots which are to be made (like the orcs or the one standing droptarget or ...) this can be a real challenge.

So, is it a pin I want to own, sorry still not for me but that I have with more pins and is only normal, you cant like them all. Can I understand that there will be people who enjoy it a lot? Yes, and I think those are the people which also like a TZ (which I dont like either, widebody ... )

nice review; glad to hear you had a better experience than the one at TPF. I think setup is the key with this machine, it probably needs to go steeper than the design.

I also think the pin compliments both 'real' players and novices. Novice players playing for fun can shoot orcs and play with smaug while advanced players can go for the deeper rulesets and use the risk/reward factors of the pin.

Otherwise, seems like the hate train has been derailed now that people are playing this in better environment and setup conditions.

Smaug #60 has arrived! Or in my case, I got the rare Smuag version!
Delivery guy said it was the second one he has delivered in Vegas already.

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CONGRATS!!! Hopefully you will have good things to say about it. A lot of mixed reviews.

You should not unbox that!!!! It'll be like the upside down stamp and be super collectible!

Now get that thing unboxed and play the snot out of it!

Can't wait to get mine...