Ha Ha! Funny you say that - I would visit these threads, see the high scores and think, "Boy, I really suck at pinball!" For me, some games are just flat out brutal. But always a blast to play!

I have yet to beat Smaug. It's in one of the modes you can unlock, right? I know I've tried hitting him a few times with the windlance, but with zero success. Loving the new beta code, btw!

Just added the trifecta! Lol loving the hobbit!

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Nice Display Looks Awesome!

Hey markmon didn't you post that you turned up your flippers. What setting? I had mine on 24 and once I converted over to Super Bands I got massive air balls. I had to turn them back down to default. Did you see that situation when you went to Super Bands? Highly recommend the Super Bands by the way.

Im on the fence about superbands™...
I had them installed and now Im using Titan silicone bands.
The Silicone seems more lively, more like fresh rubber. The Urethane super bands seem dead more like spent rubber.
They are both really nice and super durable. I imagine that the superbands will last years even on location.

However I really like the "feel" of the titan bands better.

My shots are more accurate with the Super Bands. More control also.

Next to WOZ

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Same here! But maybe slightly bouncier on the silicone?
I was super sold on the superbands for a long time, now I like the silicone better. It bounce passes a little better, maybe slightly less flipper roll up on a live catch?
Same more accurate control.
Its hard to explain, its more a feel than anything else, for me at least.
I say try both and decide what you like best.
My wife much prefers the silicone, she gets more spring off the bats on a weak hit.

You are a spartan racer

It's good to have some games that are short and brutal. Having long ball time games on a regular basis would make the game get old pretty quickly. Well, maybe not quite as quickly on Hobbit given how much is there, but still would get old faster than without those short, brutal games mixed in.

I have yet to beat Smaug. It's in one of the modes you can unlock, right? I know I've tried hitting him a few times with the windlance, but with zero success. Loving the new beta code, btw!

New code is great. TBH I still don't remember exactly how to beat Smaug, but I just did it for the second time yesterday.

I'm sure someone has posted the exact sequence of shots required to kill Smaug (if not in this thread, in the rules thread). It's not easy!

After getting the hobbit I will get another JJP soon. If I like Lawlors I will get that, if not WOZ RR is a definite buy for me.

Smaug is defeated during Smaug mb. Look at my post in the "Hobbit Ruleset" thread for rules.

I'd like the 1.3 beta if anyone has it to share?

Sent pm

Nice Photos. I see you have the lighted leg protectors and lighted shooter rod housing. I assume they are 12v. I already have the items. How did you power them? Did you use the 12v lead from the coin door, or do use an independent 12v power supply. Also, it looks like you have under cab/rear back box lightening. What did you use and where did you purchase them? Are they on constantly, or do they flash with game play?

Thanks, Frank

Man I'll say it one more time, I'm so glad I didn't bailout on this game!!!!!!

Used a separate power supply! Not sure where LED's are from as my business bought a bunch a long time ago for a job...on constant but I had my F-14 Tomcat doing the flashing thing that worked off different targets in the machine but got a little annoying....whole led strip on bottom and one on back for full glow partial led strips in back of play field top and at apron on flipper area!

Had my lower right flipper start glitching ( when I pressed the flipper button the flipper would flip at full power then drop back a bit and flip again by itself) this just started happening last night but it was consistent through last three games. Went into switch diagnostics and tested EOS and flipper switches. All tested out. Pick up the playfield and started a wiggle test on all the LR flipper coil wires and the lower of the three wires came right off. No doubt a cold soldier joint. If any of you guys see your flippers acting like that check those coil wires.

Man. This code is great. Game is so exciting now. I'm actually taking down my for sale thread. I just got into the fire mode. Didn't really know everything that was going on but what I did notice was great. This code is a huge upgrade.

so the septic will back up?

Lol. Who has time to go to the bathroom when your playing the hobbit?

Seriously I still may end up having to sell a pin but I don't think it's going to be this one.

Thanks for the info! Additional question: Did you purchase the lighted shoot rod housings from Beetmaster? His are made for Stern machines. Can they be installed in JJP's machines? Are the housings similar?

Yep & yep!

I can not seem to accept my USB key by the pinball, but formatted correctly receive each time the same error message.
someone would have a solution
thank you

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That is for full patching, this is a delta. Just extract zip to an empty USB drive and go into settings and do a USB update. The pin will reboot after and you may then remove the USB

Are you trying to install a delta update ( don't use unetbootin if you are, unzip and extract to USB stick, go to Utilities - USB Update and hit Enter ) or a full install - then use unetbootin and do full install directions in rear of the WOZ or Hobbit manual, available online download at jerseyjackpinball.com

LTG : )

What he said +1

Thank you for the feed back,found the solution and now updated fine.

IMHO - RRWOZ is the single greatest pinball machine ever. Been playing her 4-8 hours a week going on 2 years now. Still in love, nothing has come close to knocking her out of my top spot.

How many plays is that?

Thousands, I'm gonna have to check the machine to have a clue. (this number will change to less than a hundred if I ever sell )

Also doesn't the counter reset when the software is updated? If so I can probably back into a number based on the number of games since the last update to v6.06

So things are not going the best with my Hobbit so far.

I'd like to make it clear, that I still do think it is a fantastic game (in theory) but there are a lot of annoyances making the ownership experience not so good right now. I documented a bunch of them in video below, is there a good way to share this info with JJP so they can look at addressing some of the issues?

1) Coils melting
There is clearly a bug with the pop-ups. If the switch triggers multiple times (because the "troll" target switches a little shoddy and vibrate back and forth quickly, even after multiple attempts to adjust them) then it keeps pulsing the power to the coils (so it seems) Eventually the coil melts, it's hard to tell there is even anything wrong, until it’s too late and you have a pop-up error it won't go down anymore.
My Warg melted after 24 games, and my Orc melted after 125 games. There should be a safety timeout in the software at the very least to stop it melting coils.

2) Balls falling off the far left wireform all the time.
This one seems like such a bad design, no idea why it doesn’t have sides like the other wireforms, which would make it so much more reliable. Trying to adjust this wireform perfectly is so frustrating. On mine, the ramp is bad and has a lip which causes the ball to ski-ramp off the wireform, over the ball save post, and down the drain

3) Ball hangups
On pretty much every machine I own, there are little clear plastics attached with angle brackets (either from the factory – or as operator service kits) that deflect balls away from areas in which they can get stuck. On Hobbit, there are a few places where the ball can hang (and have happened to me a few times) so it looks like we need some deflectors to fix them (I have some photos of ball hangs) I think they are made worse by the popups and drop targets sometimes launching the balls in the air.

4) Inability to “rescue” a ball mid game.
On most pins, you can “pause” by opening the coin door, removing the glass and then returning a stuck ball to the shooter lane (especially important in competitions) but on the Hobbit, when you close the coin door (in order to be able to put the glass back on) it immediately fires the ball out, so you can never save them.

5) Playfield lamps “freeze” or crash
During a long game, the playfield lamps will eventually freeze up (some on, some off) and will not return to working until the game is power cycled. I have been told to try swapping the USB cable ports, so I will try this when my game is working again.

6) Parts breaking or falling off
I am collecting a small number of screws of unknown origin in the bottom of my cab, again I am only on 125 plays, so this should not be happening already. Additionally I am finding bits of broken clear plastic appearing in the bottom of the cab (see video) - the source of these is the pop-up mechs, there is a clear plastic U shaped light guide under all the popups, these are clearly not strong enough and are smashing to bits. My first one dropped broken pieces into the bottom of the cab in less than 24 games. This part needs replacing/upgrading on all 4 targets

7) Lights crash if you perform a GI test
After a GI test, playfield lamps will not work at all until the game is power cycled. This is of course a minor issue for software.

8 ) Can’t set the time.
No matter how many times I re-set the time to the correct time in the menu’s next time I check , the time has changed +/- 2 hours. The minutes are always right but the hours change themselves and are never right.

9) Can’t properly disable broken features
If something breaks (see melted coils above) you can disable some of the mechanisms in settings, but there is no broken feature compensation, therefor, the game cannot be played properly and advanced to Into the Fire etc. This is more noticeable on my machine due to the length of time it has spent with popups not working, so therefor not fully playable

10) Rails under playfield do not line up
The rails (with black rubber stoppers) were clearly designed to line up with and “stop” on the lock down bar mech, but the rails miss the mech and are instead leaning on the cab. The problem with this is that it is going to over time damage the front of the cabinet

11) The popups can swallow a ball if they drop down when a ball is at the front (I understand this is going to be fixed)

Obviously these issues are of different levels of importance, but I would like to see some of the more frustrating problems resolved sooner rather than later. I’ve not had much dealing with JJP so far, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt, and assume they will fix things for now (unlike a certain other pinball manufacturer that is completely incapable of dealing with feedback)

Video links :-

Wow, you got a lemon.

Sorry to hear about all these problems, they will all be sorted out JJP is a good company.

Definitely you need some support and replacement parts from JJP.

On the left wireform:

This has been a problem from the beginning. See my hobbit tweaks thread for some info on this:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hobbit-setup-tweaks-and-adjustments

With a little patience and some bending (bend the loop up a bit) I got mine working pretty good.
Fortunately JJP has a redesigned wire-form available now, or add a post and bend the loop up.

There is an upgrade kit coming very soon to fix the ball traps in the creature mechs. Fill out a repair ticket on the JJP support site.
There will also be some drop target springs and maybe replacement ramp flaps for those that are curling.

You definitely need to contact JJP or your distributor I think about the software lock-ups.
Version 1.3+ is available real soon.

I had a lot of loosened screws after about 250 plays.
So I went over the entire game and tightened and wood-glued in any that were super loose.
I also had to tighten the flipper coil stop screws and added a drop of blue locktite, so far so good.
I just checked my work after another 200 plays and everything has stabilised, no more loose screws.

Im not sure about the little clear plastic switch support in the creature mechs. Yours are definitely cracking or were installed to tightly? Or were too brittle and from a bad batch????
Or it may be that the U-clips? cracked from vibration during the long ride to the UK. The heads would bobble and bounce a lot during an extended journey.
Im going to check mine tonight and see if there is anything wrong.
JJP will probably send you some, but you will have to pull the all the affected mechs again to replace them, that sucks.

I also noticed that the hobbit PF support rails were set quite a bit wider than the lock bar mech, and barely settle where they should. As you said this is trivial, one could probably rework the supports and bend them in a bit, but its trivial.

duplicate post

Due to loose screws mentioned by others I actually tightened all before I played my first game. I'd estimate every screw was 1/4 to 1/2 turn too loose. I had 2 missing screws which I simply added with extras I had laying around.

Other than that I've not had one other issue. My pin did come with the new habitrail which works perfectly. Pop up fix wasn't pre-installed on my pin but so far I've only had one ball get stuck in the spider and that quickly cleared on ball search.

I do have the issue where the glass is a little too narrow but I got a message from JJP yesterday that they are sending me a fix. I'll report about said "fix" once I see what the deal is.

Sorry to hear about all your issues. I'd open a ticket with JJP and let them work it out for you.

Thanks again for the response. One more question: You have a sub woofer on your hobbit. Did you use pinnovators.com for hook up or did you run speaker wires directly from the sub to the + and - terminals in the cabinet sub using alligator clips?

Ran the wire!!

Can't believe I am saying this but unlike Stern JJP should make it right. So disheartened by Sterns lack of reaction to the Newer games ghosting.

I just joined the club this weekend. Played the game a bunch at ReplayFX and loved it so much I bought a SE at the show... without evening telling my wife. Luckily she loves it too:

https://www.facebook.com/theleahcrane/videos/700999696713779/

The se at replayfx had radcals. Is that the same one you bought? The radcals did look nice in person. Congrats BTW. You'll love it.

According to the audits both recent and lifetime games are right around 5000.
So if these reset when the code is updated then total plays since acquisition are in the 15 - 20k range.
Does anyone know if the audits reset when updating the code?

Yes, there was a SE available for play that had radcals, but that one was not for sale. I bought one that was NIB. Both of the NIB SEs available at the show had the standard decals, and I got one of those. The radicals looked great, but for me not enough better to make it worth ordering one when I could take one home.

I agree it's not worth ordering. I didn't get them either and machine looks great still. Nice purchase.

Yep, most people are positive about JJP fixing issues, so as I say, I will give them the benefit of the doubt that it will all get resolved in time.

I know all about Stern's attitude towards their customers

Lukewells,

Same here with the lockbar not lining up with the rails. The right rail doesn't sit on it and tries to sit on the plunger instead. I have to be extra cautious and pull the plunger out when working with the rails. I'm hoping they come out with a fix for it too .

It certainly sounds like I need to go over the whole under-playfield and tighten everything up. Not sure why there is a such a big problem with lose screws on these, as it is affecting local people as well, not just people that have had them shipped long distances.

My wireform is defective, as it does have 2 prongs that stick out too far (on the main two straights that the ball runs down) so I don't think any amount of adjusting mine will make it 100%, so needs a replacement.

I am interested to know if others are having the cracked plastics under the beast mechs, it can't just be me surely.

Also I have not heard of others getting melted coils as of yet?

I played v1.30p tonight.

I have to say there are certainly some improvements in the right direction and love that they are adding new features.

Nice to see the magnet lock being used now

"Hey why is the left orbit green, it doesn't normally do that"

+1 Ball on next mode

"Oh cool multiball modes!"

Just needs a fanfare adding to it now

I noticed that when I have the final lock lit, you can change the lock rollovers from red to green, so I imagine that does something related to the final lock, but I have not managed to light all 4 red yet, so will have to wait and see

As they are adding more multiball modes, I would however like to see them separate out the main multiball and beast multiball, or make beast progressively harder to get. It seems so easy to stack on beast multi-ball from the main multi-ball (and vice versa) so I always seem to have both running at the same time, which can make it feel a little over the top on the multiballs.

I noted the following minor bugs on 1.30p during my tests

1) If you right drain during the ball save timer, you can get both the automatic ball saver and the Gollum ball save chance at the same time.

2) If you have load arrows and are getting ready to hit the ring button for the skillshot, and a mode ends, it stops showing the skillshot so you can no longer achieve it

3) Some of the speech keeps repeating in a loop still "he says we'll blunt the knives, he says we'll blunt the knives" and "turn around don't come back, "turn around don't come back, "turn around don't come back" etc

There was another, but I forgot now, so never mind.

I think you might win the contest for most plays in a HUO environment.

Hi , I have the same worries