Well, it now blows up on day 2 if you are close to finishing all the modes.

The only thing I think the game needs is that it needs to be more of a battle against smaug. You don't feel like you are fighting Smaug during Smaug MB. It would be great if it was much more obvious that you were making progress towards something.

I think that it's a bit easier to get higher scores with the new code. The ITF mini wizard mode is easier to defeat, but I don't know what else may have changed. I played 2 games tonight and got 4.8 million on the second one. The only changes I have made is to set a 5 second ball save on launch and increased the lower flipper strength by 3 points to help to be able to make it up the ramps on back hand flips. I'm set to 7.0 degrees. And the glass is always on . The game is definitely a bit easy due to the wide playfield. But you have to pay attention to what is going on and choose what to shoot for and when. And what modes to play and when. I always focus on which Arkenstone modes need to be completed to advance to the mini-wizard modes. Lately I have all but given up on "The Bait" and just hold the ball(s) until it's over because that mode will usually cost me a ball when I try to complete it. I do try to win all of the other modes though unless I'm trying to kill Smaug. I am a pretty good player though and play a lot. I find that being patient and letting the ball bounce off the flippers and settle and then controlling it makes a huge difference in keeping the game going and scoring well.

Stay lit for attempted.

Great to see the latest round of polishing. The game keeps getting better and better.
Looking forward to (fingers crossed) the modes getting fine tuned to give value to mode order and completions.

That's already there!!!

Settle down partner, I was just kidding man. And yes, I do suck at pinball (so, you know...I've got that going for me)

EDIT: Wait, wait a minute. Did I just get called a loser from a troll account LOL. I feel special.

Are purple lights at the beginning of the game supposed to be all the dwarf shots needed?

The Smaug light effect made my jaw drop. Beautiful!

it is awesome effect ! i think it should be used at the start of smaug multi ball as well.

I think that there is a bug that has persisted through all of the updates. When starting the game and at other times the Radagast light isn't on when all of the other corresponding lights are lit. Is this just my game or is it like this for all games? The light works at other times throughout the game, so I think that it's the code.

IMG_3170 (resized).JPG

Hes not a Dwarf. Notice in your picture Gandalf and Bilbo are not lit either also because there not Dwarfs.

I too love the end of game light effects. The attract lights seem a little "Oz-ish" before it goes into the cool sweeping motions of he previous code and feel a little out of place imo.

No final

20170623_001829 (resized).jpg

Yes...needed for Feast Frenzy!

Nice game, awesome score! And on ball 2. . . So what was your final score?

Apologies if mistaken but I was thinking of rewards for things like starting all the modes or playing the modes in the order they appeared in the movies or actually completing groups of modes, ie man, dwarf, etc. or a reward for completing a mode that gives progress towards a higher goal.

Keith is a master at these types of rule sets so I think he has more in store for us.

Yup, and when you get them they turn white. They used to be orange instead of purple.

I never really noticed them before when orange. The purple really sticks out and emphasizes the shots. Good upgrade imo. Thanks

That's good to know. So even though a players grid may be complete it doesn't mean that they beat all 31 modes.

Theres a big difference between attempted vs completed modes when it comes to beating the Hobbit.

It would be cool if Keith could have a gold band or some type of marker on mode hexigons that are completed. Then have a count listed on the grid screen for attempted modes and completed modes.

I asked for the differentiator between played and completed modes long ago and it never made it in...maybe a future update?

There is some graphic difference when you complete - but it's SUPER SUBTLE. I have a hard time telling the difference, and I'm usually good about picking up on those subtleties.

I don't think so...I specifically asked about it before. There is a difference between Qualified and Played modes, but not Played vs Completed modes.

Great code update - spectacular! We love the reserve ball setting and have been playing it that way since the beta was out (1.95P). Light shows are great, more call outs help, and the added book instructions during the main major arkenstone modes help to polish this game. Future completion modes that are hoped for (even by Keith) would be great.

Just to vent ... With all these modes and things (like specific call out shots) that need to be accomplished in the game, it cracks me up every time one of these "great" pinball players say that any pin (but especially the deep coded JJP pins) is easy and boring. Fine - after you set it to the hardest setting and do the same, move on to the next game to conquer and ridicule. The majority of the owners love the theatrical entertainment value of the JJP pins. This is a "Owners Thread". Yes, it could probably get "old" for those that are super great "serious" players ... ok ... so ... move on. The rest of us will have fun just playing them ... and for guests to have fun too. That's what mostly sells to homes (fun), and I'm pretty sure that is JJP's main target customer. The locations get the games exposure for those to discover them and want one for the entertaining adventure of figuring it out, polishing their skills, and attempting to conquer it. The fun pins get into homes to be played. Personal special themes sell, but if the game is not fun, it sets ... and guests would soon move on to the fun games very quickly.

I know some of the "great" pinball players that play tournaments all the time might disagree ... ok ... so what. If I was that great at pinball, I would still have my favorite "fun" pins. Variety in pinball is a good thing.

Keep up the great work JJP employees, contract help and suppliers!

The thing that annoys me is that someone says a game is too easy, therefore it sucks. No. Set your game up HARDER! Open the outlanes, remove the center post, change the angle of the game, tweak the software, add lightning flippers, etc, etc. Heck, I can make a Monster Bash play as hard as an IM. Tweak your games people if it's too "easy".

Oh ok - there must have been a misunderstanding then. I could have sworn someone explained the difference between played and completed - and I just couldn't see it. Now I know I'm not nuts if it's just not there. Would definitely be nice if some effect for completion was added. A sparkle or glow or spinning icon or something.

Yeah...I suggested a gold outline if complete, and like blue or something if just played.

I cooked up these decals for the dwarf stand up targets. What's your opinion?
IMAG0208.jpgIMAG0204.jpgIMAG0205.jpg
Cheers
/mima

those are great!

Nice job!

Not sure if this was in the previous code, I can't remember... but once you lock 2 balls for Smaug multiball, Smaug awakens and follows your ball around the playfield. Much better this way...

It's been in there for a few patches - not a bad effect. Also, I think it would be good to have smaug say clips from the movie while he is doing that. (especially after the 1:40 mark)

good stuff here too....

(though he used some already - needs more )

That would be cool. Although, I don't think he's technically following it any. Didn't Williams or whoever have a patent on that feature? I'll have to pay more attention next time I play, as I never noticed smaug alive until mb started.

He is "following" the ball...he'll turn to face whatever the last switch hit was.

That's awesome! I really never noticed that. I'm surprised due to the whole patent issue that other games dealt with apparently. Can't wait to go try it.

I finally updated to new code and can't wait to see Smaug following the ball.

Patents expire...

The Bilbo and Smaug scene is one of the best in the entire trilogy. I'm surprised a mode featuring this scene is not in the game. The scene has a lot of dialogue from Smaug that could be used with the Smaug toy. Maybe it could be incorporated into a final wizard mode?

Maybe a mystery mode? Basically he talks to you and then you have to make a shot, then he talks some more, then you have to hit a shot...something like that...?

Or instead of a mystery mode - it will 'unlock' the Smaug dialog mode when you complete all the Bilbo modes. NO telling how far down he could go with the amazing mode based game JJP (and Keith) has got!

I am still trying to get the mode bonuses based on completed modes. Awesome stuff!

That sounds like a cool idea. It would be nice to have that scene represented somewhere in the game as its pretty much the main Smaug scene in the trilogy. Seeing the Smaug toy move to the lines from the scene would be awesome.

One of my favorite new things in 2.0 is the "there's something about you line" from Smaug at the end of the game. Very cool! It would be great to see more Smaug dialogue added to the game and synced with the main toy.

Yeah no doubt - Keith has a lot to work with and he can continue to make this pin even better. Already one of the best ever in my opinion.

Just played and noticed this. Well done. This game is so cool and immersive. Thanks for the work.

Question, while playing a big game, the right spinner stopped registering. I've had issues before with it not registering. After the game was over, I started another game and it worked perfectly. Is this a code thing, or physical problem? Anybody else notice this issue?

I haven't noticed mine stopping working during a game. I would suspect it needs adjusting. Perhaps go into testing and see if you can figure out what it may be. Lloyd may have some ideas....

My spider head came loose again today.
I put some blue loctite on the screws upon reassembly this time. It should b fine now.

Its probably good to check all the heads for tightness each time you have the glass off for cleaning.

I lost a spring clip reinstalling the trap door somewhere, I imagine it will drop down in the cabinet.

Its a good idea to have spare clips, they are tiny and a pain to install, fortunately I have spares.

My spider came loose as well - so I put loctite on mine as well. Seems to be holding strong now. No issues with the other 3 beasts.

Good idea to keep an eye on it from time to time - those bottom beasts sit close to the flippers - and you can really nail the hell out of them.

Do you know what size they are? I lost one and can't seem to find it. Tried out home depot but all of the sizes are bigger.

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/12-6227 Snap onto a 3/16th inch shaft.

I found them at ACE Hardware.

LTG : )

Hobbit down!

That rubber was torn from the factory install. It's the one behind the barrels.

bummer... Noticed that JJP's store doesn't have white rubbers?

hobbit down (resized).jpg