If JJP doesn't have them. Search the Hobbit threads for servo motors.

LTG : )

might have blown the little controller board and servo.
pull it apart and look at it.

Does anyone know how battle of 5 armies is completed? I got to stage 6, I believe it is..the one with 99 shots. I then beat that and had repeat shots on right ramp of high value. I assumed this was victory laps as it was saying super jackpots, or was this another stage? I sure hope I beat as that 99 shot stage I’ve never beat. Thanks for the help

Wow. I've only gotten there one time, never mind beaten the damn thing. Impressive.

I bought the Servo for the mouth of Smaug from JJP about a month ago. They had plenty in stock. But remember, they are now in the middle or nearing the end of their move to Chicago. I think the servo was around $35 or something like that. I haven't replaced mine yet. Unbelievably I'm just as busy with my job as ever and haven't been able to take advantage of the "Pause".

Kinda sucks, doesn't it? I envy all the people able to live a proper Hobbit lifestyle.

Yet not having stable income, would be far, far more unsettling.

Hobbit is my second as well. Now just 15 more to catch up...

I don't have the problem of games going way to long yet - but removing the center post, widening the out lanes and uping the pitch a degree would put a stop to it - and turning off extra balls ...

I would have been very happy if i hadn't had room or cash for more pins to keep Hobbit and Deadpool for many years. They compliment each other very well as two different faces of pinball. There's many other pins here now i don't love as much, but a few that i do.

Have you changed from stock settings? I may get an extra ball every 10 games or so. I think I've gotten two in a game once and that is over 300 games played at least.

Hit the Captive Ball 5 times to forge gold, 1/5 chance to light extra ball.

Complete every qualifier, hit roaming drop target before it's gone, light extra ball.

Hit bumpers, reach level 5 for Super Jets, Shoot DWARF drop target with upper flipper to kick over barrel, kick over 'X' barrels, light extra ball.

Those are all I know and are shown in the flow chart. The easiest if getting lucky with the Captive Ball and lighting it after the first 5 hits. (Could take as many as 25 hits) Everything else takes some work and a little luck with the roving targets.

By the way - the extra ball call out from Gandalf and fan fare lighting is really good!

Seems like I get them a few ways:

1. Score reward - I think I have extra ball at 500K and 1M (set in game settings)
2. Mystery award extra ball lit (both VUK shots) (I think you can get it twice?)
3. Qualify all modes will light extra ball (both VUK shots)

I think those are it? But not sure.

EDIT: Also the light show and knocker on the free game award is outstanding! If you haven't seen it turn it on to see it at least once.

That's why we're here .

Anyone know where to get the Beast Mech Pop Up Coils?
It is listed as "Out of Stock" on JJP's site.

P/N: 23-002004-01 jersey jack

So, my goblin pop up was sticking part way above the play field. I removed it and noticed that one of the little screws (8-32 x 3/8" hex head) was missing. There are two screws with a metal plate that hold the head to the mech. If one screw comes off, the head slants to one side which mine did (notice last picture). I could see wear on the ear where it was rubbing. The hardware store didn't carry these screws with the hex head, which you need because you have to reach inside with a small box wrench to tighten it. So I placed an order on Marco Specialties for a various assortment of these hex head screws. And no, I couldn't find the damn screw in the cab! But I did notice that there were pieces of plastic broken off around the bottom rear of the head. I looked on JJP's site and noticed two of the four beast heads are out of stock and they want $36.00 /ea for them!!!! I sent them an email asking if and when they are going to be restocking them. I don't need to replace mine yet, but I'm assuming they will need to be at some point.
WIN_20200421_10_54_35_Pro (resized).jpgWIN_20200421_10_55_19_Pro (resized).jpgWIN_20200421_10_58_55_Pro (resized).jpgWIN_20200421_11_00_07_Pro (resized).jpg

JB weld for plastic does a fair job of repairing resin.

Moldable epoxy stick is pretty good too, its better.

I had to replace my warg due to it breaking - I am sure it will happen to all of them sooner or later. They are hollow - I wonder if they can do them solid instead to help long term?

So I am going to get a new set (all 4 of them) for future needs as well. If you find out when they will get them let me know

Yes. I will post their email response ASAP.
I wish I was good a carving. I would carve these heads out of solid hardwood of some type. Then paint and CC. $36.00/ea! They're still hollow and will just break again. I would try pinballinreno's moldable epoxy first before paying that price. Hell, maybe we should remove them all now and fill with epoxy before they break apart.

Pinball parts places.

Page C-51 in the manual - look to the right of the JJP number.

LTG : )

One of the problems is that they hang on a leaf switch.

If they are too heavy they wont respond to the ball.

So, theyre hollow.

Ya, I considered that. So it looks like future Hobbits will get ping pong balls with faces drawn on or something like that. I assume JJP isn't planning on stocking them forever.

Shouldn't these actually be pretty straightforward to print, and then paint?

Actually plenty easy to mold and use casting resin.

Make your own character heads!

I meant using a 3D printer. If someone designed a 3D model for each, I'd assume given the right print material, they'd be similar in quality to the originals.

THE PRECIOUS IS MINE!!!! Just arrived and settled in next to Palpatine.
94036891_227544948479728_2537443107696279552_n (resized).jpg

Congrats man. Love the game. It gets panned by many people that haven't played it at all/enough. It looks as if it empty and yet it is packed full. Very deceiving looking machine. Many of those that have really truly played it find the game awesome!

Thanks Jorant! This thing is ridiculous... I'm not sure how much I'll be playing Star Wars pinball now, I cant believe how great this table is. Blown away.

Lots of rules to this game. Took me a few weeks of playing to even ealize I was throwing points away by not hitting the button every time it was lit purple.

When in modes, switch hits often charge the ring button up for free points, starting at 1000. Sure 1000 points isn't a lot, but at the end of a good game, that ring button will be worth 5 or 6 thousand points a hit (it goes up 100 points every time you cash it out). Makes it tricky to be in a mode/multiball combo and having to take your hands off the flipper buttons to cash in your points. Super fun strategy.

Wow! I’ve owned Hobbit for 3 years and didn’t know about the increasing ring button value strategy! Thanks for sharing. Luv this game.

Next time you play, watch for it to turn purple. Hit it. I have yet to see the value top out! At the end of your game, each hit will be more than most jackpots if you stay on top of cashing them out on time.

For 3D printing, someone has to do the cad design. That's technical and a lot of work AFAIK. And I can't do it. Someone in the modding community needs to provide a replacement for these because JJP is not going to do it for ever.

Newb question: Is there a shot I should be using that top flipper for? It seems like there's nothing unique that top flipper can hit. *Any pointers for the top flipper?*

Also, recommended setup for home newbs? I reset to the factory specs, then set it back to medium hard 3 ball mode for now, but added 10 second ball saves.

it's mainly used for the smaug kill shot. I find it easier to hold a ball on the right flipper, load the windlance and then hit the drop target to kill smaug. otherwise the flipper appears to serve no purpose.

Not exactly. Despite the kill shot as you described, when a ball is in the pops and comes out the right side, the software recognizes this and lights up a dwarf drop target for you to hit. Coming out of the pops represents coming out of the barrels (thus why the pops are barrels). Hitting the dwarf target represents tipping over when the dwarfs were in the barrels to escape from the elvish prison in the movie. Five successful tipping overs of the barrels is one of the things that nets you a lit up extra ball.

Is it a terrific use of the flipper? Not at all, but it has a few more purposes other than just killing Smaug. Cleverly enough, the mode "flashback" recalls when Smaug first attacked, and the game teaches you how you will kill Smaug in his multiball by showing you how to load the windlance and attack smaug with said flipper. Relatively basic playfield with INCREDIBLE software.

It'll save the ball sdtm from a weak return if you hit it on the way out too.

I use the third flipper for hitting the captive ball and kicking over barrel shots. However I use it most to divert orbit returns to the left flipper instead of the right when left orbit shots are coming around to the third flipper. I have thought about if they should have kept it or not, and I think keeping it was the right move.

Just installed the new ground loop isolator I ordered per LTGs recommendation. My THLE sounds absolutely amazing again!!!!

Personally I think the top Flipper has lots of uses . I like to use it to get both ramps , The Captive ball , the Balin and Radagast gobble holes , the dwarf drop targets , the three stand up targets , the mystery award , elf targets and stand ups and lock rollovers and is also handy to get it to the left flipper , bounce off the upper left sling , down to the kick back or wind Lance and the Beasts and up to the pops . This might not be enough for some but I think it's quite enough .
If people don't like a game fair enough , I don't like a lot of games which people love but when I hear people say there's nothing to shoot at , it plays to slow , it has long ball times , it's too hard to understand the rules , the top Flipper does nothing . I think people just don't understand it . It has some of the most shots I can think of on a modern pinball , if set up steep it plays really fast , how can long ball times on a fun game be a negative , the main rules of the game really easy to understand (once explained to you ) and the top Flipper can do a lot . The Hobbit one of the best pinball machines ever made .

Ditto!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mine is bolted to floor. It's the only pin I ever considered to be. Wife agrees too.

I only talked about what one Flipper can do . I didn't even talk about the theme immersion , the videos , the call outs , variety of modes the light shows the artwork the moments in the game . If you like the theme there's no reason why you wouldn't like this pin .

I love this pin. Just confused about that top flipper! Next newb question:

Is there a secret to hitting the Elf and Man drop targets? I'm not sure how to hit those!

Hi Everyone,

I'm the proud new owner of a Hobbit Smaug Edition. The game looks and plays great most of the time, but has an issue where it sometimes randomly crashes during a game and reboots. I knew it had this issue when I got the game and I'm trying to do some research and see if I can track down the cause. The timing of the reboots are really random. The game can be on and playing fine for a couple hours before the issue occurs or it can happen after playing for 15 minutes. Sometimes you can play for a long time and it never happens. The previous owner swapped out the power supply and installed new RAM, and installed a new SSD, but that did not correct the issue.

I was playing a game yesterday and the reboot occurred twice during two different games. I went into the event logs and I've attached a couple screenshots of what the system logged during the reboot. It's odd because one reboot has a "Reason U" code and the second occurrence shows "Reason P". Does anyone know what these reason codes are?

Is there a way to get access to more detailed event logs that may point to the underlying issue? Would swapping the motherboard be the next step?

I also included the Hardware Info of the game in case anyone needs to reference that information.

Thanks in advance for your input and assistance!

EventLog1 (resized).JPG

EventLog2 (resized).JPG

HardwareInfo (resized).JPG

I barely play mine, and just read the rulesheet and it's totally confusing....probably going to have my buddy Panzerfreak come over once we can move around to have him show me.

Panzer loves this game and said once I understand it that will make me really like this game.

Nothing to be confused about the top Flipper just use it . For the elf and man targets , Use the tip of the flippers and multiball will usually take care of it .

nobody is saying they don’t like the game. I just felt the flipper didn’t do much, still don’t. Most times I just let the ball come down to the flipper for better control. Using that upper flipper puts the ball out of control. Even if you do hit the shot off that flipper, you've got to get it back under control.

I’ve had my game since they first came out, in fact it’s one of the developers games. Love mine, just not a fan of the flipper.

Well, this is above my pay grade, but on my Sharkey's Shoot Out (Stern White Star System), the random resets were caused by dried out and cracked IDC connectors. I replaced several of the ones under the fluorescent light bulb (which dried them out) with Molex connectors and Trifurcon crimps. Problem solved. So check for bad IDC connectors (bad connections).