Not sure either is good for beginners.

GB is full of cheapness and soul-sucking anti-fun. Everyone in the house will hate it.

Hobbit is an incredible cinematic journey with amazing rules, features, sound, shots, toys...it's got everything! Everyone in the house might be confused by it. It's overwhelming at first, but once you get the rhyme and reason behind everything, it's brilliant.

The drop targets in front of Smaug.

-Sometimes when the ball is in the pops, as it comes out, one of the targets will be lit in light blue...you can hit it from the upper flipper.

-A few modes have you loading the ball into the Windlance (the left outlane has a peg that holds the ball, and a coil that shoots it)...the windlance launches it to the upper flipper to set up a shot to those drop targets

Those are really the main uses for it...but sometimes I flip it to hit a beast or graze the captive ball....or hold it so the ball hops off it and rolls over the LOCK rollovers.

Sure, but the windlance can't set up a shot to the main flippers. A ball coming from the pops can't set up the main flippers. It's just an extra thing to do. You don't have to use that flipper if you don't want to. When you shoot the left orbit, you can let it come back on the right and go to the bottom right flipper...or use the upper flipper to hit targets.

On Hobbit, everything is context. Keith managed to make so much happen with that limited space under glass. No shot just does one thing. It's generally "Shot does this, unless you do that first, then shot does something different". For instance, sometimes an orbit shot loops...sometimes a magnet catches it and drops it into the pops (which then can set up the upper flipper shot)...sometimes you get a "cave lock" if you light the orbit locks by spelling LOCK 2 or 3 times before locking a ball with Smaug.

Or even the ramps...sure, they're just two ramps...sometimes they light the beast inserts, sometimes they start a mode, sometimes they lock for multiball, sometimes they give you more time in a mode, sometimes they let you flip the book pages to choose a different mode.....sometimes the right ramp sends the ball to Smaug - sometimes to the left inlane - sometimes to the Windlance. Anyone who says the game is "bare" (and I used to) really hasn't played it...there are so many little things that change and affect gameplay...it's constantly interesting.

There's a setting that changes makes it harder to light the beast inserts, thus making it so the beasts don't pop up as much. Tweak that setting, and it balances things out nicely. More flow, and the beasts feel more like a surprise when they do show up.

Hobbit, and it's not even close.

I swear, you haven't played any other Stern pinball machines. You keep repeating this statement...I think most people who enjoy the game wouldn't even put it above 10 or so other bonafide excellent Sterns.

Yes, you must have no brain if you follow this advice! LOL

If they think TWD is too hard, they'll hate GB. I don't really find TWD too hard, but GB makes me angry with its non-stop cheap drains and airballs of death every time. If you get GB, your family will disown you lol

This is just our fun little thing. Let's cherish it

Yes, you can believe. BELEIVE! Lol. Those great games ARE the reason I cancelled my GB. I love games that are well designed, fun to shoot, and have fun code. GB has none of that compared to the games I own. I'm at the point where something has to go if something new comes in. I'm not willing to cut any of my games loose for GB. If I really wanted to play it, there's an LE and at least 3 Pros on location near me. But I don't lol.

Once, twice? With sound audible? I know people can't always play under "ideal" conditions (I've been told I have to play the "RIGHT" Ghostbusters) ...but Hobbit is ideal when the sound is nice and loud - thankfully you can plug headphones into it if you're at an arcade. It's like watching a movie on VHS in mono vs. Blu-Ray in 5.1...one experience will leave you with a vastly different impression.

I like "quest" games and "fast buttkicker" games...but, if I was gonna play a fast buttkicker, there are a lot of Sterns in that category that don't have the code/design problems GB has. Iron Man, Tron, Spider-Man...I'd gravitate that way for my fast game craving.

Confirmed? They said it was solved for the Premiums that shipped in September...I saw two brand new Premiums that were shipped/unboxed at the end of October - both had ghosted inserts.

*shrug* ...I think a lot of Pinsiders purchased GB's up front & last year. Have many people posted about getting new ones and everything's groovy?

Well, hopefully it's in the past...but then you've got dimple-pits, code issues, holy high prices, Batman...too many reasons not to buy new Sterns right now. I've purchased a lot of NIB Sterns...but I'll let someone else take the gamble at this point and if there's anything I want, I'll get it used down the road.

No, not worrying...I have a decade of experience with Sterns. How can I worry when I won't be buying new games? LOL I own 7 Sterns, and have owned many others. There are "regular dimples", and "pits" ...pits don't smooth out. I didn't start seeing pits until X-Men. There's a TWD LE on location near me, it looks like lumpy clay...yet the other Sterns next to it are super smooth. It truly is a crapshoot. You might get a perfect one, you might get a lumpy one. If I ever buy another game, I'd rather it have a thousand plays on it so I can see what I'm getting.

Here's a game on route. How many plays till it smooths out ?

image (resized).jpeg

image (resized).jpeg

image (resized).jpeg

Wrong. That's literally how it looks like when you walk up to it. This is a dark arcade. The light is from the backglass. I wasn't using any trickery. Try to trust my decade of experience in this hobby for once. Again - difference between dimples and pits. I've seen a ton of TWD's that look great. I'm giving you an example of one that doesn't. I know how to strategically find dimples on games. My games look good from the player perspective but if I shine a light on them and look at the right angle - they're dimpled as F. Again - difference between dimples and pits. I noticed pits for the first time on X-Men. Saw them again on ST - again, not all...my friends looked like this TWD. Mine looked pretty good. Anyway -long winded way of saying: it's a crapshoot. It's a gamble if you're getting a good playfield with NIB these days. Glad you got good ones.

Well that's the great thing...I'm not buying new games on launch anymore - cuz no one knows if they're going to love it before they've played it! By the time I play a game and know I love it - I'll buy one used that I can inspect before purchase! Problem solved.

Used games usually still have that smell. Collectors sometimes sell HUO games with less than a few hundred plays. Good as new.

I love a ton of Stern games! I think the only ones I really dislike are X-Men, GB, and 24. Maybe WPT, but that's pure theme....by all accounts it's a good game for those who like Poker.

Lol alright. I am so clueless when it comes to card games that I don't feel like I have a right to judge WPT. I think it's ugly ...but that's about as far as I can critique it.

Yo mama

It's absolutely fun. Love it. Didn't expect to. It's defied all my expectations while GB failed to live up to expectations.

It's a relatively standard fan layout. Those traditionally shoot fine. The orbits and ramps feel good. The gobble holes and drops all feel good. The beasts are fun to hit. So - there's that...nothing unorthodox about the layout or any reason it's not fun to shoot....but then the rules just set it apart from just being a standard layout, not to mention the brilliant presentation that brings it all home. Really the most incredible orchestrated music I've ever heard in a pin.

You can change this in the settings. The harder you set it, the more ramp shots you need before the Beast inserts in the inlanes light up. Simple tweak, balances the game nicely.

Maybe it's how I have my flipper strength, but I don't find them slow at all. Sure, it's a widebody so it won't be like Iron Man...but it's on par with STTNG or IJ. Plus, the orbits are more than just orbits. I love lighting the orbit locks and having the magnet grab the ball and drop it into the "cave" for Mode Multiballs.

Again, it's the context of the rules. A pops exit to the upper flipper sets up a shot to the DWARF targets. Yes you can hit those targets from the lower flippers, but the context of what goes to what and where changes all the time due to the rules.

Yes, it's long...it's an adventure and quest...it's The Hobbit lol. You've played LOTR, yes? Not every game is going to be 3 minutes and done. The beauty of Keith's games is that even though there are long games...you're ALWAYS seeing new things! What is it...36 modes? You'll never see mode repetition within one of those long games! I'm not saying I want every game to be a super long adventure...I love BSD, IM and Tron....but when it's done as well as LOTR and Hobbit, it's an amazing experience.

He's not dead. You're thinking of Harold Ramis.