Quality: TH
Artwork: tie
Theme: TH, but GB comes very close
Sound: Close, but I vote TH
Rules: TH for depth
Fun factor: tie
Lighting: TH
Game play: TH
Scoring: TH, typical of stern games, scoring is not well balanced on GB.
Intangible: TH because it's the most immersive game I've ever played.

Overall, I'd rather and do own a hobbit. GB feels like it should be a 5k game, the hobbit feels every bit worth the $+/- 8k or so it goes for. Throw a big LCD in GB and this could go the other way.

The hobbits long ball times don't bother me one bit, the game sucks you in as you progress. Into the Fire and Barrel Frenzy are really great modes, never gets old, always a rush. Hobbit is anything but slow, multiball heaven, which is why kids love it so much. Some things are easy to achieve, like smaug mb, others very difficult. I also like the pop ups as they force you to choose different paths. I've said it before, it's a totally immersive game, more than anything I've ever played before. Metallica and twd can feel this way too if you can get a good game going, obviously though they are very different kind of games.