How is the reliability of this game? How often does it break? I’m shopping out a broken one that was operated. Every toy down to the plunger broken, mini display, Smaug, pop-ups beat to death, every drop bank broken, sling pivots really beat up. I’m sure it’ll be fine in home use but do they break more on location by a large margin?

I updated code before checking but it’s had many thousands, trails well worn on metal ramp. It’s had a lot of maintenance. All drops, pop ups and slings all show signs of repeated work.
New cleared playfield, plastics and sleeves all going in. Close to getting it 100% fixed and playing before swapping playfields.

Playfield swap on this one is probably as involved as it gets.

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It wasn’t too bad, it just needed a complete tear down to clean and every toy was broken so while I was at it… I got the playfield on sale cheap and had it cleared locally. Cliffys going on too. Polished the ball rails and installed, that is the part that scares me most but got it done. Grind off the barbs and take the sharp edges of the guides to make installation easier.

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I was on a tear, had 3 others being done so I threw it in the mix. Didn’t really need it and not sure it will wear any better than factory clear but it sure do shine

Swap coming along, reassembly half done.
If you have never done one, let alone a beast such as this, it’s really not that hard.
I take pictures of the playfield from every angle being sure to get at least one image of every visible post. Take more pictures than you think you’ll need.
Then remove plastics and ramps, leave rubber on. At this point you can see what post goes in what hole.
Repeat picture series.
Remove remainder of top hardware.
Then from the bottom, for this game specifically I removed all the major assemblies, 3 drop banks, 4 pop-up target assemblies. Take a lot of pictures again from every angle. Then I marked the playfield bottom with pencil what light board went where noting wire colors rather than disconnecting the boards from the harness. Then I unscrewed all the led boards and gi from the wood, leaving them on the harness. Take pictures if you think there is a chance something might get mixed up when putting it back. Once the harness and boards are free from the wood, slide something sturdy enough to lift the whole thing off the playfield without straining any wires or connections.
Transfer “T” nuts to new playfield, remove them by screwing in a screw a little and pry off with a claw hammer. Then be sure to straighten out the barbs with two pair needle nose pliers or they won’t seat on the new board. I used a flat punch to seat these.
For reassembly I’ll start by installing all posts, rail guides and rubber. Then from there reinstall everything on bottom after cleaning and repairing as needed. Finish on top with ramps and plastics.
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Plug another monitor in and see if it clears. If not swap cables. Go from there

These trough boards seem to be problematic. My Hobbit project was missing the receiver board. (Assume needed for another game or was bad) and the replacement I got from JJP ended up being bad out of the box. 3rd time was a charm.

Confirm setting?

I am still just wailing away and have no clue what I’m doing one the game save 1 or 2 modes. Much to learn.

First I seen these, must have in my opinion.

I'd remove it and heat it in an oven at around 120f then stuff something inside to reshape it to cool.