Quoted from heckheck:

The bigger question is whether distributors had to stay current on the same payment schedule as individual buyers for all of the day 1 orders. I don't mind 50 distributor day 1 games in front of mine, so long as they plunked down the same $$$'s PER GAME, per installment, as me and on the same schedule. Of course we'll never know...
For the record, I have an e-mail from Jen detailing that they started taking orders on 11/26/12 (not sure if distributors were in before this or not), and my order was on 11/28/12 with about 175 "people" in front of me.

Quoted from lordloss:

This was more of a "FINE, I"LL MAKE THE FLIPPER DO SOMETHING" rule than anything else.

Quoted from rubberducks:

Bilbo would be a much better name.

Quoted from BladeFury:

Was starting to really think I should have backed out of my Hobbit Smaug when I had seen the art work on GB.....but after watching the live game play stream I am personally glad I didn't jump..beautiful art work and sound...but lighting seems to feel old in comparison to watching WOZ or TH...game play wasn't getting me excited either...just my early personal opinion that's all ...I am back to feeling very excited to get my Hobbit Smaug

Quoted from lowepg:

And TH is no GB killer.... These are 2 total different games!
Lets be honest, many TH pre-orderers have been waiting for 2 (3?) years. They WANT to love the game- pretty understandable. Their status quo is staying with TH at this point..... It's always hard to break the status quo.
A better question might be:
For pinheads that HAVEN'T pre-ordered (yes, believe it or not, there are some of us that wait to play).
What will they (with no emotional pre-order attachment) buy?
I played TH and while it didn't make me want to drop everything and buy one, I think many with preorders will find it's definitely "good enough" to stay on it and wait for delivery. those are two very different standards!
BTW, I felt the same way about GoT. Love the theme. Played it, enjoyed it, but not ready to buy one yet.

Quoted from Eskaybee:

I'm glad as heck my pro doesn't have the mini pf. Wouldn't have bought it if it did! Love having the option of a <$5k game or sub $6k game.
I'm holding my tongue in cheek on the magnet slings. We have no idea if they're gonna be a game changer or not. Who knows, those slings alone could ruin the entire PREM/LE layout, it's a big risk changing a design that is a staple in all of pinball.

Quoted from Law:

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.