A little bit of a locational problem. He's in Chicago. Factory in jersey

Exactly.

Wonder if Clif is working on a cliffy for the vuk's. The game could surely use them. Think he needs a play field for measurement (?).

My Hobbit has landed. Pics and reviews tomorrow. Time to drink beer and play.

I posted this on another thread, but it seems better placed here:

Hi All !
Just got my SE on Monday afternoon serial ending in 073. Smaug is still spelled smuag on the box stamp.
First off I want to thank Jack and Team at JJP for an amazing and beautiful game, there is really nothing like the look, quality and feel of these games.
The box was crushed and "popped" at the top, looks like someone strapped it too tightly near the top and it broke the packing tape.
I was a bit worried about water damage due to it shipped all the way to Reno during the rain and snow last week in the Midwest.
The driver from R&L was wonderfully helpful and patient, he suggested I inspect everything while he waited, so I did.
The open box let a lot of dust inside but otherwise no damage at all, the packaging was superb.
Moving it to my game room seemed heavier than the WOZ!
Setup was easy, I set the angle to 7°, leveled left to right with a torpedo level, checked for anything loose or bent, excellent quality over-all.
Game booted right up everything except the spider pop-up worked perfectly under the tests.
The spider was rubbing on the left side of the wooden hole. It looks like it is not centered in the hole properly, but there is only about a 1/16th" of space to play with. I'm going to have to remove it and elongate the bracket holes a tiny bit to get it to center properly. Running a drill bit through and side cutting the holes slightly is a simple fix for this.
I have seen this exact problem on a couple of the videos, (spider wont pop up).
The USB cable end connector fit very loosely on my USB stick, and would not register it for a back-up of the settings (my WOZ fits tightly) I did not have a spare handy so I pulled the cable from my WOZ, did the back-up and installed version 1.01 code. (I'm sure I have a suitable cable laying around for a replacement later).

The flippers were a little weak on factory settings, I couldn't get up the right ramp easily with the right flipper. I set them up higher by 4.
This was way too hard and the ball moved so fast it would fly off the wireforms. I lowered the settings by 2 and it seems perfect, I could probably lower it by 1 more.
I played 10 games and once the ball trough failed to deliver a ball so I increased its strength by 1 only. I also increased the right VUK by 1 only.
I also increased the upper left sling by 2 ( I think this one is just a matter of taste).
Gameplay:
Let me say that the comments on being slow or floaty do not apply to this game at all.
My game is fast and crisp playing and FUN!
The pop-up monsters are amazing and FUN! The game is easy for the novice and deeply challenging for the experts!
To compare it to the WOZ is just impossible, they are 2 different and distinct accomplishments from JJP.

Again, this game is a winner hands down and will be a permanent fixture on my collection for years to come.

Best score I can do so far.

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got both the Hobbit LE and Smaug # 10's the other day and I want to say I am a bit disappointed of JJP quality control. Smaug was okay...but the LE has all kind of issues

1. the start button dies not work...it cam loose ...easy fix.
2. Sticker back of box is all messed up and just needs new one. It was so bad. I was just better peeling it off. but will wait to put on new one.
3. Side panels are all marked up and chipped. Plan on putting on side mirrors so that will cover that up but Will contact JJP to make them aware of chips / marks.
4. It plays but none of the lights work on the playfield. .. Can someone help me on what that could be?
5. Plunger is bad and does not work...very weak...I can't even get it out of the channel unless I hit the plunger forward hard.

I am going to call them on Monday to address some of these and I am sure they will make it right and I know it is pinball and there is always times that you are going to have issues right out of the box.....But the chips and some other the simple things....COME ON JJP....LET'S not loose sight of what got u there to where u are and that is your customers.

To me it's worth the money. ....I just hope they don't loose sight of making it great and catching those things before you box it up and ship it out. Some of those things should have been caught before it left the factory.

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Don't settle. I agree 100%. QC needs to be addressed.

The LEDs plug into boards fastened to the bottom of the playfield, start there and be sure connectors are on tight. Then look carefully around the rear of the metal box with all the boards, behind it and along side. Something came unplugged.

LTG : )

Back of the head is a sticker? I don't get it or the photo...?

The yellow words are on a big black sticker, not silk screened directly to the wood.

LTG : )

Just another cheap way ...What was bad was the sticker for the Limited Editions. Really....They could not do a plaque of some kind or something. Nope....They put in a cheap sticker for your Limited Edition. That was bullshit. Come on JJP....you are slipping. But I guess it was not peeling off...so that is some good news.

I don't understand what the issue is with putting a sticker on the back of the machine?

No. And way easier to replace later if the back gets scratched or something.

LTG : )

It's not the sticker on the back...Even though that will get fixed by them. I am sure and positive they will send me another one....very easy fix.

It's the Sticker for plaque. It's a sticker. They could have done something way nicer. I don't even really feel that the a hobbit LE is a limited edition. I just like the theme and I know it's a great game. Just making a point that they need to pay attention. I got a great price because I got in early and I bought the other LE Version in Smaug. But i know all can be fixed and I will just probably make my own. I like JJP and I have been a true fan of his machines. But I have just noticed some times that I would consider cutting corners. They are better than that. ...But time will tell.

Thats horrible, where is there quality control???? I know they are probably in a hurry to get games out the door but this is just ludacris. I hope he atleast makes it right.

I would rather my backbox sticker come off in lieu of Sterns backbox decals.

Did you give a review of the game Skyemont? Want to see what your thoughts are.

Even as a JJP fan I agree with that. Its bad enough Stern puts a tiny metal plaque on LE's that you can barely see but a sticker is worse.

Every JJP LE and SE should come with a wood apron with a cool plaque mounted on it like on WOZ ECLE. JJP should have made that a staple for all of their LE and SE games.

Totally agree.... shouldn't be taking a step back from the standards that were set... won't mention topper...

Nothing is free. JJP can add all of these little things (real plaque, wood apron, etc) and they can send people out to adjust new games that have issues (e.g. I spent 8k on a game and it should be perfect....) but all of that is going to cost and that means JJP may not be profitable or it will drive the price of games up.

I want good games at a reasonable price. I don't want to pay more for things like a plaque or a wood apron or service calls.

I think paying $8000 for a game is far from "reasonable" for most people. I'm in on a THSE and I really hope my game doesn't come from the factory with a lot of issues. That is totally unacceptable!

True it is not cheap but I don't want to see it get even higher. I guess what is worrying me is that it seems like the increased popularity of pinball has led to growth in the number of people expecting a plug and play experience. I fully expect that I will need to do a fair bit of adjusting to get things right and I don't think that is unreasonable. I also don't want to pay even more for little things that frankly I don't care much about. I'm just worried that meeting plug and play expectations and providing all of these little things will just make things cost even more.

Wish the wooden Apron with plaque was offered as an extra $$$ add on at least!!! Whats a few more hundred when your already over $9k for TH SE Smaug with RAD-CALS... Still can't wait to get mine to set next to my WOZECLE!

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm doing so poorly on TH that I just set it to 5 ball. At least I'll see more of what the game has to offer that way.

LOL. What's your high score. I just played and got 890,000

390,000 on 3 ball, but most of them are much lower.

There should be no hang up point there. What is your pitch? There is a diverter on that side which you can check in settings to make sure its firing properly.

What about the drop targets gears -- SEEMS LOUD when it is like resetting -- Any suggestions on that or is that something I have to live with?

from all the ones that i have heard, that is normal. there are 11 coils that are all powering up in a relatively quick amount of time.

Opening up my new Hobbit today and first thing I'm greeted with.
Why are they not screening the backs? The one we got a month ago was screened.

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That is bad! JJP needs to sort this.

The decal sucks-you would think it would at least cover the whole backbox! If its going to look like that, I'd rather not have it at all.

wait until you get the game open though. It is probably the prettiest game I have seen yet. Even though programming is not finished so gameplay has yet to be determined, the sheer beauty of the thing was impressive.

Put your own sticker on with no JJ signature? Poor show...

Oh man, that sticker peeling off the back is not good. Just the idea that they put a sticker on there to begin with is bad enough. Making it so small seems weird too (as someone already said, it should cover the whole backbox). Then to have it peel off before the box is even open? Not good. I expect better than this for my nearly $9k after shipping.

The only NIB pin I've bought was Star Trek Pro. Got bored of it quickly and sold it. I don't seem to remember anything at all on the back of the backbox. I remember it was metal though. Are JJP pins metal construction on the backbox?

Wood.

LTG : )

well, some very light pulling and it would be right off easily - with no residue or anything.
Maybe I'll screen the back with a Williams/Bally screen.

And for the record, mine didn't come with a Jersey Jack signature. Just the date written in marker.

Wouldn't screening it cost less than a sticker???

That is strange...It looks like it was hit with a heat gun or pulled on...Hope this works out.

I'm not sure what to think about this honestly. I've bought a dozen+ sterns NIB and can't even remember what the back of their backbox looks like.

I think we can all agree that it looks like poor workmanship if nothing else.

I couldn't remember what the back box looked like on my Stern's either so I stuck my phone behind my METLE and snapped a pic.. The screened lettering is not on the backbox its on the back of the cabinet.

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Yep, I think the backboxes are blank on Sterns. Not sure why JJP went the sticker route...it can't be much cheaper if at all. Who cares either way? It's the back.

It's similar to bitching about a dirty fingerprint on the bottom of the cab. Who cares?

It's because these NIB games are now $8k+ and attention to detail / quality assurance is expected when dropping that type of dough on a pinball machine of all things.

I recall the late Steve Jobs making a comment on how he wanted to focus on the back of the iPhone just as much as the front of it. He was on to something in terms of caring about the look and feel of an entire product. Even though it's the back of the game WOZ and those Hobbits with screen printed backs + the Jersey Jack signature stand out more and exemplify a high quality product.

Except JJP is still a start up...if you must cut somewhere that's where to do it.

The "quality gap" between Stern and JJP keeps narrowing...

What do you base this on, pinside posts?