One thing that I would eventually like to see and study a bit (maybe after the cleanup and next release) is a flow chart (like the rule sheet flow chart) that shows how the multipliers effect each other - book modes tiers and number completed, map repeats before Arkenstone modes, beast mode "waves", Arkenstone mode levels completed, Smaug Multiball levels completed or number of kills, etc. - all the things that add multipliers to the next level of depth. I know this would be complicated, but it would be good to know and understand the priorities (weighting) for which multipliers have the biggest impact, the smallest impact, and which ones are compounded as you get deeper into the depth of the game. Is the book multiplier weighted the same as the maps completed multiplier? Things like that. Very interesting, but tough to figure it all out from what Ted has told us so far. It might show some reasoning for holding off on starting Arkenstone modes.

Really good stuff ...

Those are the qualifiers … I'm looking for how the multipliers mesh together and add up for the deeper modes. For example, book modes have tier/star ratings and the more stars the higher the point multiplier for "Into the Fire". The number of times you complete the map with the spinner before playing "Into the Fire" also adds multipliers. The same weighting as the book modes? Beast Frenzy and Smaug Multiball have different levels in those multiballs. I think that they have an effect on the points multiplier for "Into the Fire" also. The "Into the Fire" has levels within that. Does that highest completed level have a multiplier for "Barrel Escape" and is that weighted more than the next round of multipliers that I mentioned, or is everything just all summed together? Maybe just the "Into the Fire", "Barrel Escape" and "The Battle of Five Armies" multiplier equation in layman's terms.

After learning about some of the multipliers in the live feed last Friday and 5-10 games played since then, I played a great game this afternoon and beat my GC score with a little more than 2.5 mil that has stood for more than 6 months. Great new code additions/enhancements. I got pretty far along, had the GC score already, had only one ball left, 5 armies was lit, launched the ball and my wife yells downstairs to me that dinner is ready. Yelling back that it will have to wait … was distracted enough and the ball drained. Ugh! Gotta hate when that happens. Wish that there was a way to look back at the % completes once the game is over, but I know that would be pretty difficult for multiplayer games. Maybe a "one more time final stats" journal pages pass through at the end of your last ball that can be canceled with both flippers for the next player. Wish list item for me. Thanks to the JJP team for this great effort that really does improve the game.

That was there in the previous release. You just need to turn it on in the settings. I have used it for a few parties and it goes over well.

DI, JJPOTC, ... must be starting on the JJP#5 too!

I tried that a few times and I didn't find that functioning that way either. I think it is still random.

check_switch_26 - I think I found a bug that most wont encounter. I had a real good game going and then during a smaug multiball one of the balls go stuck up by the upper right flipper. I didn't want to mess with the game and loose the ball by going and getting it, so I let it do a few ball searches and it sent out a chaser ball. No big deal there. (I followed other's instructions and turned the wire tie so the big "knot" was inboard and the wire tie raised, but the wire still caught it - I fixed it by wrapping the wire on the other side of the post and securing it. Not the software issue … keep reading.)
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That chaser ball drained rather quickly under normal play. On to the next ball. I got "Into the Fire" started and going and that mode did not stop once I was back down to 1 ball. I made some more shots for a few minutes and then it eventually drained under normal game play while still in that mode. Guessing that is a bug. A ball or two later, I got into "Barrel Escape", didn't do too well and only lasted a few minutes in that one. But once I got down to one ball in that mode, it did close down the mode as normal and went on to try to move on. I got my #8 high score (after owning it for about 21 months) so did pretty good for me. Probably should not count because of the possible bug encountered.

Okay - Thanks for looking into it. I doubt that similar sequence would happen again, but if it does, I'll try to pay closer attention to what things are going on and maybe take a pic of the screen (with the ball trapped on the flipper) to know what other things could be going on. The reserve ball option for number of balls remaining is activated (we love that by the way), but probably had nothing to do with it. I'll keep an eye out, but hopefully a ball wont get stuck again. Thanks!

I turned on the attract sounds for a party and "I think" those changed from before the last update and have some "dramatic" content in them now. (I could be wrong.) When all the machines were silent as the party was winding down and drunk people were talking, the attract music came on and it was pretty funny that their topic of discussion just stepped up to be dramatic with the background music. Anyway, point is that the attract music catches your attention as designed.

WOW! Great mini update from the last one! Lots of new added Smaug heckling and comments after the second ball lock. My daughter was player two and said that Smaug is more chatty now than the WOZ wicked witch during that. Fantastic. That first game after the update, I beat my grand champ score by over 1 million (and a few of those other "titles" as Smaug called it) with 3.7 mil. What a 45 minute rush! Daughter was playing too, so that is part of why it took that long. Got through Battle of 5 Armies but didn't totally complete those modes. Was working on trying to see if I could earn anymore Arkenstones after that, but didn't get there. All of those 3 mode inserts were still lit, so I wonder what would be next. ??? Just start the remainder of the book modes for that wizard?

It was a great experience that I'm glad my daughter got to see (and coach me). She liked the changes and additional call outs during the game also. Hopefully Ted, Joe, and Keith will see that "we" really like the call outs and heckling, including the semi-humorous ones, that make the game so much better the way that they are doing it in this game and continue that kind of thing with the other JJP games. It definitely adds some polish to the feel of the game. Hopefully more call outs with animations on the phone are coming on DI next week.

We didn't notice any hiccups or bugs. There were still a few Smaug call outs that were low in volume during the Arkenstone modes, but I don't know which ones as I couldn't hear them clearly. The Bilbo call out during some of the multi-balls saying "There's too many balls" was pretty hilarious as that was exactly what I was thinking at the time - at least that's what we think he said. The slight lighting changes were good too. There were a couple of times that there was a strobing lighting for a few seconds during a multiball - very distracting, but a great touch to change it up for just a few seconds to keep you on your toes. Great, great, great! These coding guys deserve a raise for this kind of code dedication and teamwork - keep them around and happy! I'd gladly buy them a beer at Expo at least as a thank you.

It sure did seem a lot better - thanks for all the effort!

Hmmm, maybe it was some stacked modes. I know there was at least 4 balls going, so maybe it was during a Smaug multiball … I know the beasts were going up and down a bunch. I'll play a game with my wife and crank up the sound to see if we can find it/them. Not a big deal though. There was one mutiball mode (I don't remember which), that had some nice calm, light, soft music playing while I was frantically keeping 4 or more balls alive. That was fuuuuuny.

LOL - my daughter heard it that way too and said "That wasn't in the films". I told her that they didn't say "Extra ball!" in the films either.

Pinnovators was suppose to make a (or maybe "the") interactive topper but they weren't getting info out of JJP. I had inquired about it with Pinnovators a couple years ago. They still have it listed on their website as "coming soon".

There will be at least one more update. I think they will fix a bug or two and have the wifi interface for scorbit and bluetooth enabled. I'm pretty sure that will be the extent of it. The wifi interface has already been tested with beta code, so it's just a matter of them doing the final touches with that and getting the time to roll it out with the update. They are probably wanting to see how the GNR wifi works out with the customer base first to look for any combination of things that might have not shown up before.