Block off about 2 hours before you start a game if you're a good player

Hi pinballslave

Yes, your understanding is correct on increasing the mystery award level by not collecting the lit target and repeating the right and left in-lanes to the mystery award level you want to collect. The rules also mention that the color of the insert in front of the target changes as your mystery award changes. So you can visually see what mystery level you are on. That’s yet another nugget I hadn’t internalized about this game until this conversation! 18+ months and 1000+ games and I’m still learning….

And yes, I meant the right outlane rollover target, and ‘hit’ was probably not the best way to describe my point… ;-0

Enjoy your game! I know I love mine.

Scott

How old is that playfield protector? I think new ones are made from a different material. They have them on the new sterns at a location I go to and they have zero wear after a year of location use.

I have no idea, I was told by the seller that it was installed from new and the game has just over 200plays, which can be seen on the display... to be honest, it looked like that protector saw well over 200 games, but I have zero experience with these protectors... is it possible to zero the games played indicator? Under the protector the playfield does look pretty new, a few small dents that could have been from air-balls that were able to deform the protector...?

Yes, you can reset all the audit info.

I have one. more question, if something breaks in my Hobbit pin, where can i find spare parts ?

Common items any pinball parts place. Game specific then contact Nate at JJP.

LTG : )

Some parts game specific are available online:

http://store.jerseyjackpinball.com/Parts/The-Hobbit-Parts/

But you can call customer support if the part you want isnt on the store site.

marcospecialties.com and pinballlife.com are good primary sources for williams and JJP parts

Dumb question time, but how do you get the display out of this game?

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No need to really. Unscrew it from the frame. It's not on a wall mount like later games. WOZ and Hobbit are fastened in.

LTG : )

You can set Hobbit up for “quick” ball times. Widen the outlanes and get rid of the middle post.

Was meant only as a joke, but this is a game where I actually *want* longer ball times as it's an adventure! I'll go play Iron Man if I want to get my ass kicked

Bill finally posted pictures of his 4th Arkenstone start button variant - I'm trying to convince myself that one start button is enough

https://superskillshot.com/products/arkenstone-recessed-dome-lighted-start-button-for-the-hobbit

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Remove them

Bill is a prince!! Best shooters in the bus!

I have one question, i go in to sertings and click ok to get 5 ball mode, but it still 3 ball mode, what do i wrong?

Its for the kids

Confirm setting?

That is odd, I have set my machine to 5 ball when I had some new players over and it worked great. Not sure why your setting didn't stick.

Had to reset the game and then it worked

LOVE my new Hobbit game.

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Those side blades are cool- do you know where from?

I have no clue, they was installed when i bought the pin.

I'd like to quieten the drop targets down and I'm thinking of putting a resistor on one of the lugs of each coil... The resistance of an installed coil is about 10 ohms... I'm thinking it would be good to reduce the power by about 25 to 30%, which would mean using a resistor of about 4 ohms... I'm pretty dumb when it comes to electronics though, so I'm worried I might damage something by doing this... anyone know if I will??

Thanks!!

Tilt Graphics: https://www.tiltgraphicsinc.com/product-page/hobbit-treasure-trove-gameblades

I have them on my Hobbit too.

No idea if you'll blow stuff up.

A resistor to a coil lug won't have any effect on mechanical noise.

LTG : )

My thinking was that by splitting the voltage supplied to the coil between the coil and a resistor placed in series with it then the volts to the coil would reduce which would weaken motive force to the plunger and therefore the sound as the plunger hits the end stop would be less... don't you think that would work?

Play it until you can’t hear it anymore! it for sure seems loud at first…but I don’t notice at all anymore. It is also actually nice to be able to hear the dwarf skill shot clicking away, especially if someone starts a game and steps away, you can easily change the skill shot and save some wear and tear, too quiet and you wouldn’t notice.

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Not like you hope. There is more racket there than just the plunger.

LTG : )

The Hobbit trilogy is one of my favorite movie, i am one of them that like The Hobbit better then Lord of the rings movies.

Im so happy to have this pin and love it, for me its the best pin so far.

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I’m the same preferring hobbit films to lotr. I really do like this game but I feel the ruleset is difficult to grasp, I wish someone would post like a 15 minute tutorial.

That would be a great video, someone that have the skill. It must be good quality.

I want this mod, but its sold out
https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1139-pinworlds/02856-bag-end-mod-for-the-hobbit-pinball-machine-all-versions

The bag end gate mod is really cool.

By no means 15 minutes but IE Pinball has a couple videos exploring modes that build on each other. When I was trying to learn more rules I enjoyed the Buffalo Pinball with JJP video where they have small challenges (

). If you have any questions, I understand most of the rules at this point or someone else here can answer. Do you know how to qualify 'Into the Fire'? That would be the first step I think. Collect all beast hurry ups, start Smaug MB, rip the spinner to get to Erebor, beat a mode, and collect all dwarves. Each mode has a difficultly marked by stars, the more stars the harder the mode and the more points you'll earn during 'Into the Fire'. Rinse, repeat for 'Barrel Escape' and 'Battle of Five Armies'.

Ty sir

I’ll have to check it out!
I’ve been to into the fire, and barrel escape but no idea how I got there. 3 locks in smaug starts multiball. I understand there are dwarf targets to hit but don’t know what it means to collect all dwarves. Then the spinners and “advance to erebor” I see happening but don’t see what that means either. Lol

I am so jealous of where you are in discovering this pin. I'll do my best to clarify a few things. (see image of the display screen below). I might get some details slightly off.

There are 5 areas on the display that need to be 'qualified' in order to start the first wizard mode; Into the Fire. You'll do the same thing for the second and third wizard modes. The 4 corners and top center are the 5 areas. I have circled them in different colors. When you 'qualify' an area you will see a triangular shaped stone appear in the pink circle. Look closely at the top middle area circled in green and then a smaller pink circle. The stone is there signifying that area is qualified. None of the other 4 areas pink circle have the triangle stone so they're not qualified.
Now, what are the 5 areas and how do you qualify them? You already know the upper left. The upper left area circled in yellow is for Smaug multiball. Locking 3 balls will start Smaug multiball and is what is required to qualify that area. You now have the stone for the yellow area.
The bottom left area circled in red represents the beasts that pop up. As you roll over in lane switches that are lit, the corresponding beast will pop up and you have a limited amount of time to hit that beast. If you hit all 4 beasts, you will earn your triangle stone (qualifying the lower left red area) and start beast multiball.
The bottom right area circled in blue represents the dwarves. There are shots around the playfield that will collect each dwarf. When you collect a dwarf their picture will be in color on the display screen. You'll want to collect them all to earn your stone for that area. Hint: the purple shots are dwarves you haven't collected yet.
The upper right area in orange represents the distance you must travel to get to Erebor. Either orbit spinner will progress you to Erebor. Once there you will have your needed stone.
The top middle area in green are your modes. There are 31 modes of varying difficulty. You start a mode by hitting the Bilbo right ramp when lit red. You can scroll through the modes available while the ball returns from a left ramp shot. Let me say that again.. If you want to change the mode you are about to start, you can hit the Gandalf left ramp. While the ball is traveling back to your right flipper, you can toggle through modes using your flipper buttons. There is much to learn with modes but if you beat a mode, you'll earn your qualification.
That's all 5 areas qualified. Now hit one of the holes (Balin or Radaghast) to start your first wizard mode.
I'm sure I messed something up but hopefully that helps. There is many more things other than this to discover so I don't think this is a spoiler.

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Chuck has sold out before and made more … hopefully he’ll do another run soon…

I really hope so, its so beautiful. I NEED IT NOW

Thanks for that brief but enlightening write-up!! It helps a lot!!

By the way, if you let the dwarf skill shot scroll through enough times the targets stop and the skill shot reverts to making the shot onto the stand up targets (or the Balin hole), the required shot now being indicated by the now scrolling light inserts.

Wow man thanks a lot that really helps.
What’s the deal with that radagast mode and the beasts blocking shots and not going down when hit?

"The Bait" - that's a challenging one. Gotta hit the blue lit shots to get the beasts out of the way in order to hit the gold lit shots before a timer runs out and the beast pops back up. Good luck - I love the music in that mode but I tend to avoid it since I find it rather too difficult for my skills...

I am still just wailing away and have no clue what I’m doing one the game save 1 or 2 modes. Much to learn.

I have had my game since week 3 of production.

Right now I mostly play for mode completions. Its amazing to learn how to complete the modes! Its very satisfying when you complete modes and get HUGE multipliers.

I dont really play for points or even wizard modes. Though its very satisfying to see "Victory" on the screen when completing a wizard mode.

Completing modes is a huge part of the game.

what you can do like me its install on eatch end of plunger of target a simple semi-ball soft used for kitchen doors :

https://www.amazon.fr/X100-Fermeture-m%C3%A9moire-placard-caoutchouc-adh%C3%A9sif/dp/B07HV8R8KR/ref=sr_1_36

after that, you have to use the screw at the back of eatch coil to adjust hight of target (they will be highter will this system)

I have a quick repair-related question. I apologize in advance if my question is stupid, but I'm not very knowledgeable about repairs. Learning bit by bit, though!

The light in front of the "N" from "MAN" targets is a different color than the others. It is a darker pink/red when the others are lit as the different party members are collected. It does change to a different color depending on status, but it is way off of all of the others in terms of color. Is this a settings issue I can address? A light board issue?

Thanks in advance!

Go into tests - lamp tests - all lamp tests and then walk the lights through each color red green blue - I suspect you are missing one color on that LED board. If so, replacements are available from JJP and are not (in your case) overly expensive.

Thank you very much! I will check that out tonight when I'm home.

I tried something similar using self adhesive felt pads, like they sell in furniture shops to stop chair legs scratching wooden floors... it took the edge of the cracking sound, but the volume was about the same... I like your rubber door silencers idea!! How much did the noise reduce? I was thinking of using some kind of expanded rubber also...

Trumpanche is right on - after taking the summer off I just put these on the bench for painting. It does take some time as they require some precision painting but they should be available to purchase here on Pinside in a couple weeks.

Cheers!

Chuck