A peeling sticker doesn't mean their quality is slipping in any way. It does suck though to get a 9k machine and have a sticker that looks like that. I still think JJP is quite a bit further ahead in quality than Stern.

yeah - at least the side art isn't falling off yet like WWE/WWELE. It's not a huge deal and I assume they'll just send me another one, but it is kinda of a buzzkill when you open that expensive of a box that you've waited 41 months for.

2 of my beast pop ups quit coming up after 3 plays and registered an error. I'll take a stab at fixing those myself.

The underside of the playfield just blows my mind. NOT looking forward to a routed/filthy one coming thru the shop in the future.

100% agree...

any info from Jack if this is just temporary or if this is Standard?

what is the solution?

Bottom line is, with a $8,000 game this shouldn't be happening. Looks like they need to fire there decal guy or at least give him a good talking to. It seems like quality control is really going to the way side. I find it hard to believe that the decal peeled like that while in the box. Kinda ironic that Jacks signature isn't on that one either. Almost like they didn't want him to see it or something, or does he not sign all of the games

Thats probably exactly what happened. Glue probably just not good enough or surface not appropriate for type of decal.

Before I start, I am a huge fan of both JJP and Stern. I believe that JJP's entrance into the pinball world has caused Stern to pick their game up. I have both Game of Thrones LE and The Hobbit SE sitting side by side in my family room. I also have in my collection WOZLE and STLE sitting side by side in my hobby room. Without a doubt, Stern is on the rise in quality and JJP is on the decline. I was hugely disappointed in the cabinet artwork on the Hobbit, it looked like a Stern Pro with the wrap around decals and bubbles. I will also say that Stern screwed up in releasing GOTLE with the issue with the left orbit slash inlanes. Their fix for this is to remove the rubber from the drop down inlanes.

Can you provide pics just out of curiosity? I remember metallicas having a similar problem, but I don't think it was common, and I haven't heard of other hobbit's with decal issues other than warning label on back. Just curious.

Yeah this is the second time I heard of "wrap around decals" but have yet to see a picture showing this.

Need pics. Everything I've seen so far hasn't show their cabinet artwork to have any issues.

Every cabinet pic I recall seeing has been high quality and ultra shiny. Wood JJP is using for cabinet bottom is thick and the game is solid and heavy. These do not add up to declining quality.

I have not had any art work issues at all.

The decals on my SE do not wrap around. They are a nice high shine decal with zero blemishes. I would like to see these wrap around decals that some are talking about.

Word on the standard decal from my distrib were that they look fantastic, no need to spend the extra on the radicals unless you obsess over that type of thing.

My back box peeled a little bit but once I used a fine crease to keep it down, I have a feeling it's never coming up again. However, definitely inexcusable like the one picture. However, life is short and guys it's a simple sticker. JJP will be happy to send you a new one if need be.

The game is beautiful. I'm not a fanboy, I judge everything objectively. That being said, I really like the game. It's pretty different from most of the games I've played and the rules are just so cool. It's definitely drawing me in and compliments my collection well.

Are any of you owners still having issues with ball jams under pop ups, or did code fix that mostly?

I wasn't at first but now I am. Happened 2 times this weekend. So 1.01 did not fix the issue.

Was ball search trying to pop ball out though? Not much any more coding can fix if it's just getting too lodged in there I assume.

how did MM address a stuck ball?

I have never had a ball stick in the troll hole on MM. I think the shape/size of the troll head combined with a smaller opening in the playfield prevents balls from being trapped on MM.

I agree. I think TH trolls leave too much space for a ball to get in. It seems like a design flaw. All code can do is open and close pop-ups, but if balls get lodged just right, code can't fix that. A physical mod would be needed.

Is it only the orc pop-ups that trap the ball or does it get trapped in the pider and warg as well?

I'm wondering if its the shape of the figure. Maybe the figures need to be 10% larger to fill the hole more.

I had a ball trapped in each orc last night during a single game.

It wasnt too bad as I was having a terrible game, followed up by 1.4 million with no balls being trapped.

Odd issue last night:

The "c" in lock wouldnt register at all, and it looked like the LED was burned out.

I raised the PF to check and found a group of the fine wires had worked themselves under the leaves of the switch.

Very simple repair. I just tied them up with a small nylon tie.

It tried but there was no way. Too deep.

The ball search will not dislodge a ball jammed onto the orc pop-up.
It ends up being tight enough that the coil cannot raise it.
I had to almost "dig" it out to free it up.

Maybe put a hat (I kinda like this or goggles (mad max anyone?) or horns on the orcs or something to keep the ball out of there.

It could be tested with a spare figure and some sheet metal screws or gobs of J-B Weld applied in various areas until it seems right and the ball pops out instead of into the hole.

Pehaps there is too much clearance between the top of the figure and the metal flap?
The figures are just round enough on their heads to allow a ball to rest there while the mech drops into the PF.

What about washers behind the orcs heads to bring them forward a little so that the ball wont go in too deeply?

Can the figures be moved outward some via washer's behind them possibly? I'm not sure how they're mounted, but if so, that would reduce space in front of them.

Right now, I think the ball jams is my biggest concern. Once this is solved, I may pull the trigger, but until then, it seems like a frustrating problem always removing the glass to release balls. Has anyone heard of a coming solution from jjp yet on both wire form and orc pop-ups?

Have a chance to pick TH up in a trade...Right now Im torn between all the mixed reviews and the issues take about here....Looking forward to updates from owners.

Not yet. I bent the end loop on the left outermost return wireform up a bit and that eliminated most of the bounce outs (still get the occasional one on a very fast moving ball). Also haven't had a ball get stuck between the wireform and the side wall since.

The pop-up trapping the ball needs to be fixed, especially on location games but I think I've had the ball get stuck three times in the pop-ups thus far. Had a tournament at my house a couple weeks ago and the Hobbit was played for about 8 hours straight. Had to remove the glass once because a ball got stuck in a pop up.

I wasn't around the machine all the time but I don't remember seeing anyone banging on the left side of the machine to clear a ball trapped between the side rail and the wireform.

I have owned it for 3 weeks. The ball has gotten stuck about 3 times in the pop ups. So, once a week not to bad.

Found out my TH SE is leaving the factory tomorrow morning. I hope I was able to get some of the fixes into my machine. So excited .

Congrats.

My THLE was delivered last Friday. Very few problems out of the box. The start button wasn't lighting up and got stuck the first time I pushed it. Easy fix. Book screen surround was not lined up with the screen perfectly. Another easy fix. Both of these were probably due to the 2000 mile road trip it took to get here. Loving the game so far and know it's going to get even better. I'm really glad I got it. I do have one question for anyone who has received their TH though.... Has anyone else had theirs show up without the LE or SE number on the apron?

Yes why do u ask?

Just asking about the LE and SE number sticker on the apron. I've seen pictures of them on pinsiders games posted here, and in person on the one I played in California. Mine doesn't have one.

I have a SE #661 and its on there. Do u have a standard? I did notice a friends sticker on his SE the number looking different than mine. His was a generic looking number

Thanks for the response. I have an LE. I've seen it on them here on Pinside and the one I played at the Pacific Pinball Museum was an LE and had it. I'll ask Jen about it I guess.

Yeah ask Jen. When u ask, ask her what is the fix for the ball getting stuck under the pop ups. I asked and she never respond.

I just talked to Jack about all ramp, wire form, and pop-up issues. He said all problems were on early production games, and new games being built have been addressed. Wireforms are now positioned differently, and pop up mechs have been changed he said. Those are his words, so it sounds like they addressed the issues moving forward. Early build game owners can contact distributors for needed upgrades basically. I feel more confident to buy knowing that now.

Anxiously awaiting our Hobbit LE... Great news and nice to hear JJP is open to feedback and improving the game not just with sw updates, but taking care of mechanical concerns as well.

So the early birds don't get the worms.

Mine is on its way to me...will be here within the next week or so. I'll report any issues or if these are fixed.

What are these "Hobbit™" upgrades?

I am very interested as are others.

Lloyd?
Jack?

I'm sure the build dates will depend on issues, not when you receive it. From what I gathered, the wire form is mostly the same, but slightly moved to the right differently. Would have preferred different style form, but he said it works now. Pop-up mech has been changed to not allow ball in, so I don't know what exactly the change was, but again he said it's different. "Early birds" probably just need to contact distributor and jjp will make it right I'm sure. I'm curious for any updates from people getting games now.

Doubt anyone has ever said, "I'm so glad I got the first ones off the line".

The positive trade-offs are getting it sooner and getting to experience the game as the code develops.

My game is supposed to arrive next week, I'm hoping it squeaked by and got the latest fixes .

Agreed. I wanted mine to be several months into the build so that they can correct issues as they go. Same thing happened with WOZ. Just the way it works.

So I have a couple questions, The VUK under Smaug doesn't make the leap sometimes. I got in the menu and noticed it was turned down a little from basic settings, but I turned it to default and it still doesn't make it usually once or so before it works. Is this a power setting issue where I should just turn it up? or could there be anything else? Also I noticed on the "modes" where you fire the spear from the ring button the kickout always fires really weak. When it is a normal kickout or anything else it is fine. I also tried adjusting the power on this coil and noticed a difference on normal kickouts but it is still always soft on the spear mode to the point where it barely makes it over the first sling and onto one of the flippers. My assumption is that the higher on the spear you hit the ring button the hard it will fire. Is this correct and I need to adjust something or could I be playing the mode wrong?

I needed to turn mine a little past the default to get a consistent feed.

I think you are playing it correctly. However, you are supposed to be able to hit the MAN targets. If the kickout can't reach those targets when the indicator is at the top of the spear, something may need to be adjusted.

Its kinda the same there are pictures posted in the stuck ball threads that show it.

There are fixes and upgrades in the works.

I got a message from Vic at JJP and it appears that we will have something very soon.