Just an extra. Not part of your issue.

LTG : )

I believe that one is normal. I think I have the same connector without anything attached as well.

Lifted the pf tonight for the first time, and wow, it was like lifting a car!

I'm impressed by how much JJP tried to put in this game. Also hugely impressed by their video and audio. Makes Stern look amateur.

One other thing, I noticed after a few games, it was getting harder to hit those ramps. Does this game suffer from flipper fatigue/fade?

Any other troubleshooting ideas?

Update, I hooked up the vga out that would normally go to the small lcd to another monitor I had laying around and it worked so I am guessing it's the board for the small screen or small screen itself.

Unfortunately jjp is out of the kit...

I will be getting my Hobbit delivered and setup in a couple hours. Is there a consensus on what the playfield pitch should be set at?

7.1-7.2 degrees

Set the flipper power so that you can barely make either ramp from either flipper. Not too fast, just enough to make the ramps consistantly.

Too fast and balls fly off the wireforms.

Set the left flipper up one from the right.

I had this same issue, it was due to poor solder connections on the LCD board. just take some extra solder to each of the connector pins on the board and see if that fixes it. Mine started working again and I haven't had issues since.

Saw this fix on another thread for another issue. Attach wax paper behind the back glass as a filter. Tried it on TH and must say there is a visible reduction in the colour wash out. Photos are no help with after shots like a lot of pinball photos so only included my test picture of my trial attachment. Hey, it costs nothing and does show a considerable improvement to the point I would say the colour washout is no longer readily apparent. I have no doubt the filters discussed previously in this thread are better but with best of intentions I never got around to buying one. Best 10 mins investment.

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Put up my best score of 4.3 million tonight, but for the life of me, I can't figure out how to beat Smaug. I started 6 or 7 multiballs, and just couldn't figure it out.

Also, what are the main requirements for TABA?

Smaug MB has several levels to it, each with it's own Super Jackpot. When you hear the game telling you to shoot the MAN targets, you know you are getting close. Then you will hear the game say, Load the Wind Lance. At that point, you need to shoot right ramp, wait for the ball to settle on the left side kickback, press the ring button to fire the ball, the ball will feed to the upper flipper, one of the 3 DWARF targets with a yellow target behind it will drop, make the shot from the upper flipper to hit that one special yellow target, enjoy the most amazing moment in pinball as the flippers go dead and Smaug kicks the bucket.

For TABA you need at least 10% completion in every mode in the game. Good luck with that... LOL

Does it have to be done from the top right flipper? Because I'm sure I did it by hitting it using the bottom flippers. I've done this by accident twice now.

I heard that call out about the Wind Lance, but had no idea what to do. There is just too much flashing all at once making it very difficult to understand what you need to do, so thanks for explaining.

Funny, the first game I played when I set it up, I beat Smaug. Now that I'm intentionally trying to beat him, I can't!

Also, is progress saved for Smaug everytime you start the multiball?

And is there anything special that happens if you complete the 3 main wizard modes like Into The Fire?

Seems ridiculously difficult to complete all of them.

And TABA only requires the modes to be completed at 10%? No other requirements like Smaug, etc?

And what if you get less than 10% on certain modes, can you go back and pick those modes to play again?

Thanks!

So there is only one wizard modes (not counting the mini wizards like Into the Fire)?

I was going hard at the mini wizards and Smaug thinking that should lead to something, but if it's just modes, feels a lot like some of the older B/W games like Indy and TZ where you'd just start and time out.

What about hitting loops and progressing the map. What does that do?

Thanks again for the help!

Timing out modes in this game does borderline nothing. You get to sit through, what is it... 31 modes to see TABA and then score no points in that mode since you scored none to get there? Completing high challenge modes (based on their star ratings) is how you crush the game in the mini wizard modes. Not completing any mode at all will never take you to the three mini wizards.

How the hell did you score so many points when you dont know any of the rules? Lol

The loops advance you to Erebor (sp). This is one of the five goals to finish the screen and take you to a mini wiz. Also that gives you a spinner mode that let's you rack up a ton of spins to cash out a spinner jackpot on the captive ball. Finally, hitting loops when the insets are green give you add a balls to modes when you start them. This makes them easier (and sometimes harder), depending on the mode you do. If one of the modes is asking you to NOT shoot the drop targets as you raise them.... well then having many balls in that mode is a death sentence.

I think most of my score came from the mini wizards. I played all of them, and Into the Fire a second time.

Also played Smaug MB like 7 times!

Game is definitely a lot of fun. Just need to learn the rules a bit here.

Anyone know if the Smaug edition came with rubber or silicone, and what was on the flippers?

Spoke to someone at JJP and they said everything was standard rubber on these from the factory, but their manual shows to replace with silicone.

Just curious to know what they were originally putting on these at the factory.

Cheers

What pitch is your game set at? I'm all for setting games up as you see fit but this game really shines around 7.2*.

As for rings, just install Titan and be done with it. They are fantastic.

Sweet Jesus. I will often not even survive to get to one mini wizard mode. My game is set up super hard, I guess.

Correctly, your game is set up correctly.

Yup, mine is at 7.2. I just suck!

I put it up at about 7 when I first got it, and then tried it at 6.5.

I personally like to keep all my games at 6.5 because I think it's closer to what the designer had in mind for the game. It's of course personal preference, but that's just where I am with it.

I know a lot of people say that this game is notoriously long, but I have had a LOT of really short games. I find that ball changes directions after hitting the flaps of the monsters, making it hard to predict.

I think I do better with faster games like TWD and IMDN, but I quite enjoying this unique layout and slower style.

Set the pitch to 7.1

The game will play properly then.

I have done extensive testing at increments of .1 degrees.

All in all. Including the windlance making it to the upper right loop,

7.1 degrees.

So, I became Into The Fire Champ tonight. Does that mean I finished Into The Fire, or how the heck does one finish that mini-wizard mode?

Go to the point in Smaug MB where you the lance, but I can't seem to finish it.

Is it just one shot to the flashing red target to end it?

High score just means you've gotten the most points playing that mode. As for completing it, the same way Gandalf announces when each new stage begins, he announces when you've completed the mode. I was wondering the same thing, but just completed it the other day. I forget how many levels you have to complete. Four maybe?

You escape, like the movie. It ends by you doing victory laps as you fly away on the backs of eagles. Gandalf will even say "Victory!" as you complete it. There are, like, 4 stages?

I just got my Hobbit on Sunday and have a question on when to use the ring button. I don't seem to understand when it asks if you want to suspend LOCK or MODE. Is it used to complete a 3 ball lock by suspending MODE or vice versa, suspending LOCK to complete a MODE. There is a lot to this pin man lol.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-hobbit-rulesheet#post-3178524
Once you understand the rules it really is an awesome game!

The game is more about the modes than multiballs.

If youve already done a multiball, its handy to suspend locks to focus on modes.

Thanks for the info much appreciated.

Anyone?

Yes. If you miss, you re-load the wind-lance and try again.

It is my experience that the time to hit the shot expires many times before I get a shot off.
I have heard that a good strategy is to have a ball cradled in your right flipper before launching the wind-lance.
I can't seem to pull this off either.

I finished it once on the second game I played on this machine and didn't even know what was going on.

Now that I'm aware of what needs to be done, it seems impossible haha.

I think some of the modes start at less than 10%. Pretty sure when I played last night, one started at 5% and another at 4%.

One of them required the right orbit shot first, and I just couldn't hit it.

I guess if you need 10% on all, I would have lost my chance at TABA.

Same here.

I'm really digging the code thus far, but kind of feel like something was missed by not having everything come together in the end for a Valinor like epic wizard mode. Not that I don't like the code, but having an end goal of getting all three wizard modes, killing Smaug, and maybe getting some Arkenstones or modes could have been cool.

I do like though that currently you can pick a few paths. Some games I go for Smaug, some games I go for the mini-wizards, and I'm going to start getting into the modes to see how that works out.

Cool game though!

I was under the impression you had to play.... just simply play all the modes. That's it.

It's actually not "that" hard to get to TABA. I've been there twice. You don't have to have 10% completion on each mode. You have to have STARTED every mode that is all. You want to be a cheating ass start a mode and cradle the ball. Wash rinse and repeat.

So I came up with my own mod for the pop bumpers / barrels. I just took the ones for sale from from JJP and glued it to the top of the pop bumper plastic, and raised the video screen just a hair, everything fits and pops just fine. I know many of you like the mod with legs sticking out...to each his own!

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Multi-Thorin Multibaaaalllll!

Are these all the same character?
It looks great!

Yes, same one. They’re all pointing a slightly different direction, so it doesn’t look like it’s 3 Thorins when you’re looking at it.

pinballinreno 7.1 degrees WHERE? My playfield seems to be bowed by about a degree from the ramps to the flippers... I currently have it set at 7.5-ish at the ramps and 6.5-ish at the flippers. Shoots good enough for my skill level I think?

Anyone else have this kind of inclination difference from the top to the bottom of the playfield?

No it does not you must be in Smaug multi ball to kill Smaug. So you have at least 2 balls in play.

You must load the wind lance and when you do that's the opportunity to hit the lighted red dwarf target to kill him. Other balls not in wind lance will kill him like the lower flippers.

My game has been set at 7.0 and plays like a champ. I need to clean and wax the game about every 100-150 plays it really helps. Also, I use novus one to clean the gunk off the ramps. Sorry for being late on the info but I've been playing a lot of Hobbit & Wonka lately and cleaned and waxed 6 other pins.

Cheers.