Are you sure its not the reason your selling it? You say game hasnt clicked with you maybe its the playfield protector effecting the gameplay for you? Ive never knowingly played a game with playfield protector so i dont know how much they effect gameplay. Did you play one at a show that you really liked then bought one with protector and it didnt feel the same, just a thought.

On your Hobbit vs GOT thread i originally said id get rid of Hobbit first but since the 1.95 update Hobbit has been owning GOT here.

I don't think it's the playfield protector- it's the long ball times.

understand, game sure does have super long epic ball times. Ive had lots of 1+ hour games.

I've never even broken 3 million points and I know I've had games that have lasted a half an hour!

you got to kill Smaug before you sell it, definitely one of the best parts of the game(or any game really) in its present state of code.

Yeah, if I sell it I'll take off the glass and cheat and see it that way! Lol

I noticed that when smaug talks his voice sorta cuts out some. I remember others mentioning this also. Any known fix for this?

Hey guys, does anyone own a Black Arrow edition yet? Impressions? I'm thinking about buying one of these in May. I'm curious about the "Black Ink" body armor? In the photos it looks like standard black powder coating. The other editions have a high-quality coating and I'm wondering if Black Arrow is of similar quality?

My only opinion is that each time JJP announces yet another "LE" they devalue all the other "LE's" pretty much just assume everything they do is a "Standard" otherwise you are a fool.

I think the Black Arrow edition looks cool.

I have a Black Arrow SE and love it. The powder coating is much nicer, higher quality and looks better than the flat black that you'd find on a Stern Pro. Plus, the cabinet art is different and looks better IMO. Can't go wrong with a Black Arrow!

Another black arrow owner here. Love the eagles so the cab art is the best imo. Black armour suits the colour scheme, it's very cool. Get one mate.

I get what you're saying.

The long ball times are laborious because they are necessary to progress deep into the game.

I prefer it when a good long ball represents an achievement, not a requirement.

I finally got around to installing the cliffy kit and when I was doing the one on the bottom I noticed the kick back screws were out quite a bit. Is it normal for those to be so loose after 800 plays?

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that's a lot of kickback action!
Was probably loose from the factory...

Reminds me...I probably need to go through and tighten everything. I did that before I played my first ball because of the stories I was hearing of loose stuff. Sure enough, I could turn EVERY bolt at least a half turn sometimes more without too much effort.

Sounds like JJP needs to install a gym in their factory and buff up those installing these bad boys!

You might put blue loctite on those screws.
And any loose playfield screws should be glued in with titebond.

My post stopper for the kickback won't go up. I can go into the test menu and it does nothing until I pick up the plunger a quarter inch. I put a piece of cardboard under it and now it works fine.

Any ideas why it won't work?

Check to make sure that the rubber grommet is there! If it's not, the plunger wont activate as most of the plunger is plastic! If the rubber grommet is not there the plunger sits too low and when the coil activates it wont fire the plunger as there is not enough of the metal plunger inside the coil to activate it!

Thanks I will check that

Where exactly is the left kickback supposed to fire the ball? Mine launches all over the place but nowhere consistently. Should it be heading towards the right spinner?

Mine fires to the upper right flipper and through the spinner.

Thanks. I have to see if I can adjust that as it makes sense for the the ball to travel there.

Yup I second this. And if I hold the top flipper out it hits the tip of the flipper and comes back over the rollover targets

What do you guys/gals think? A gold (brass plated) captive ball.

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My Warg face broke off today :-/ $24 for a new one?!?!

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They break off if they get loose.
All my beasts were super loose, I used blue loctite on the screws and so far they are holding up strong.

Do you need to remove the mech to tighten?

Really cool until the gold wears off and you have flecks of gold all over from it.

LTG : )

If a little loose and you have skill and tools, no. To put blue loctite on, yes. If screws came out, yes.

LTG : )

GOLD balls I got your GOLD balls!

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Just received Hobbit Smaug SE#777 today. Pics later.

Mine goes in the right VUK 99% of the time. How do I turn it down a notch to have it hit the right spinner - or land right on the middle of the top flipper?

ooh, I like those gold balls!

where did you get them...and will they hold up? Are they same weight has the 'standard' ones?

pinballcenter

That's a nice lucky number! You should buy a lotto ticket.

or go play the slots!

I got them from the pinball plating website

http://pinballplatingandmore.com/t/pinballs

I asked them if they would hold up enough for a captive ball application and they claim it does just fine there. I only got one to try out. they seem the same weight. I'm guessing the finish would not hold up too well with normal play, but the captive ball doesn't see much abuse.

I also got the gold (brass) plated coin slots and just installed them. It brings them out and makes them look good. Still undecided though ... maybe they should just stay black and "blend in" with the black coin door.

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Should be in the settings menu under coils power? It will give you a warning about adjusting but try turning it down until it goes above the upper flipper

How do you properly test it though without starting a game? Since the post needs to be up so its in the exact position

Can you put the post up in the coil tests menu then test the plunger?

Hey I just got my LE NIB. Came with some simple frustrations, most are fixed now permanently some are band aids until I find a better solution. I will list some of those below but I am hoping you can send me a list of things to consider checking now before something else happens down the road. I want to do any preventative checks now on common issues so I don't end up with anything crapping out early because I didn't tighten a bolt.

NIB issues
loose cables/usb (LED lights werent working)
Plunger was hitting auto kicker and causing plunger not to work, ball wouldn't leave shooter lane. (Plunger still seems weak, I can't hit the top target on DWARF target bank at full plunge, is this normal?)
Right speaker wire had loose connection at speaker causing intermittent audio issues.
bar lock down mech is completely F'd, I must have played around with this for hours and it still isn't locking properly. I need a better solution for this.
Flap that stops balls from falling out when playfield is up sometime gets in the way of ball being kicked into shooter lane

All comments welcome. Thanks everyone, loving this game.

Weak shooter: stretch the spring or buy a stronger one. Very common issue. I replaced mine.

I feel like the shooter rod should be a half inch longer, it has to compress quite a bit in order to just make it beyond the auto plunge that the balls sits against.

How do the front hangers look for the playfield?
Are they bent back or bent at all?
They should be perfectly straight against the playfield.
Bent hangers will push the playfield away from the shooter.

I swapped for a stronger spring a while back. Worked great for a while, then stopped working so well after several months. I went back to the factory spring and more carefully adjusted the shooter rod to hit ball in center and it's been working perfectly since then.
Make sure your game slope is around 7-7.5 degrees. It will help the trough ball stop stay back. Also, my woz needed the redirecting trough bracket to be slightly bent to allow ball to properly eject into ball lane. Should be old threads on that adjustment. Double check all nuts and connections under playfield to. It's a great game once everything has been adjusted. Congrats on a great choice

Just picked up my The Hobbit le today.The build date was my wife's B-day,still wondering if that's a good thing. What would be a good setting for the game to play fast?

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I think most people are around 7

7.2ish incline and turn slingshots power up a little. Experiment with the settings. Enjoy this awesome game.