LOL. Yep. It is being typed right now.. or the 'there aren't any people' -- clearly Jack is hand-building all of these games himself. (and boy are his arms tired)

or maybe it's like Multiplicity. Jack cloned himself and "Steve"-Jack is running around doing the cabinets.

conspiracy_(resized).jpg

Thank you Skyemont! These are so awesome, they make me rethink my LE decision.

The photographer in me likes this - the perspective makes the reference playfield look Ginormous. (by the parts bins) Pretty cool how they have the stations laid out. Thanks For the pics Skyemont!

I really like the way you put this. It showed a careful attention to wording that I don't see here as much these days.

BTW for those concerned about the PF Protector potentially interfering with gameplay RE: the pop ups, Jack responded within about 5 minutes and said it isn't a problem for the game at all - they got this handled / I'm paraphrasing.

I ordered it for my Hobbit SE. As alluded to here, if its annoying in any way, removal w/ scissors will be quick but I like the idea of protecting The Precious. My game won't be routed but my home-use traffic is more than most.

Talking to distributors @ IAAPA - yes. Some paid the schedule out early, too. Hundreds of thousands of dollars on the hook.

Recently, in fact I've had a bunch of just stellar interactions with various pinball people, private sellers and small companies. When I get time I'll take that to it's own thread though.

At IAPPA, I was only able to play The Hobbit briefly. I picked up someone elses' ball #2, had a blast and moved to let some others in. That was enough for me (combined with my experiences with what I consider to be the superbly built WOZ) to go and order a Hobbit.

(I've never even seen the movie, don't care about the franchise - I just liked the pin.)

I'm late coming in to this but I just want to say that I'm really thankful for the distributors that have ponied up serious money to JJP (Joe @ PinballSTAR, Michael @ Automated, Nic @ The Pinball Company, I'm sure Trent is probably in here too and others that I don't know about) and to the individuals who bought in early. You guys supporting stuff like this gives us options for pins and creates a market force for innovation and quality that may not already be here.

I've been watching these threads and I know there's a lot of frustration on slipped deadlines and promises but I think in the end The Hobbit is going to be well worth the wait.

My uneducated speculation:
Reading back to when WoZ was in this stage of development, I think the way this is going to work (correct me if I'm wrong) - is that now that production is underway - a small batch (maybe that 25 number that was kicked around earlier) will go out to Distributors, Retailers, some overseas locations and 'specials.' (Smithsonian, WB Press Offices, close friends and testers to JJP Inc). Places that will get visibility on the machine where folks can start playing it or drive a round of marketing carrying the good news that "The Hobbit is here!"

All the time, production keeps rolling and feedback starts coming in from this early distribution of games. Support requests, code tweaks or hardware weaknesses that maybe haven't been identified in Final Test come up at this point and facilitate development priorities, parts reorders, etc. Then the floodgates open and beautiful Hobbit Pinball machines depart the icey-hellscape of New Jersey to smiling fanboys like me, as fast as they can make them.

I'm (speculating based on various sources) that this early batch goes out - imminently - (week or two).

At any rate. Hang in there. My Hobbit senses are tingling. Good things are worth the wait.

Hobbits will ship. We don't know when - exactly.. But they will.

If you have concerns and are thinking about backing out, I seriously advise you to go have a frank conversation with your distributor / retailer and / or JJP directly and talk to feel out the situation for yourself. Just be honest and voice your concerns.

Just don't talk too long - those folks have Hobbits to build

Yeah, he said "pull out" -- so -- he has a pre-order or it was a catholic birth control reference. The efficacy of both seem to be in question.

Thanks Ed!
I just noticed that this game has white flipper rubbers and over on the Classic Pinball NJ thread, red rubbers. I wonder why the difference?
Game looks great, nice to get some impressions from folks that are getting to play them.

PS, that stabilization I think is youtube's work, not your phone. When you upload they conditionally offer to stabilize and their algorithm has a distinct look.

Saw that too! I guess we really don't know the full story yet but it will definitely be something to keep an eye out for. I thought about calling up to that location and asking, to be honest - I just haven't gotten around to it today. My fingers are crossed this was just an isolated incident / fluke but whatever happens I have no doubt that JJP will make it right based on my own experiences with them and those of other WoZ owners I've talked to.

The ramps really look nice, if the play-testing did find a weakness(i'm not saying it did), additional tacks of weld won't be the end of the world.
Also, PS: a good thread on this was started: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/th-ramp-issue-at-jackbar-in-nyc-photos

Dunno? My uneducated guess is that it was a style decision not a cost decision. But.. I'm uneducated.. (Will take this to the other thread.)

Nice to see Hobbits landing at homes and new code to boot? It is Christmas morning, folks.

Has anyone else swimming in the "Distributor, Day One Orders" pool gotten any recent shipping estimates / updates on their orders? All these tasty-looking unboxing photos have my flipper fingers tingling and I'm sure Jen and my dist, are tired of me asking.

Also more out of sheer curiosity, has anyone gotten a read on what the production expectation will end up being (5 / 10 / 20 per week)?