Hopefully 300 pages when the pin ships and when people have it in their house.

If it's 300 when the pin ships I hope it's not at the same rate. Wouldn't want to wait 2 more years, but I believe it will be "Soon" (TM)!

Based on what I am hearing May or June is the start of production. I hope.

Woo Hoo!!! 5000th post!

I have nothing else to say!

Let the next 5,000 begin! I heard shipping starts in May.

Well, I'll see your #5000 and raise you 1!

I am perplexed. At times, the analysis on this forum is spot on and frankly, refreshing. At other times, the comments seem to kind of take the shine off of things. I have a TH pre-order which I converted to THSE. Granted, it has been so long ago since I made payment, I cannot even remember when I did it. Was it 2013? Or 2014? But I think that is the nature of the pre-order. I am anxious about when production begins and honestly, will not be 100% comfortable until I actually receive the game, but at least I am not experiencing the angst of ordering a TBL. Anyway, I would wish we could be more understanding of the viscissitudes of the whole pre-order and JJP deal. The world is a better place with more manufactures than just Stern ( even though I own 3 Stern games). I wish JJP the best, but I expect only the best from them also.

Must admit I am surprised how late this game is. July 2014 originally, then Dec 2014 and now? Yes, worth waiting longer for a better game but from a long term business perspective, delayed products are worrisome.

Yeah really hoping it hits production before July

Extra points for using "vicissitudes" in a sentence!

So, "only" one year late. That should be JJP's next t-shirt for giving away at shows.

"We did it... and only 1 year behind schedule!!!".

One handed clap... especially as this seems to be the current "best case" scenario.

Oh, they need parts! Who could have known parts would be needed for a game! Maybe by game three they will have mastered knowing that parts need to be ordered in advance.

This pin is gonna be great and ship soon. Don't worry guys, it will be worth the wait.

JJP had to get pre-ordering to make it happen, so they had to announce the game at concept. Impossible to predict completion date like that, especially when dealing with third parties (licensors).

When I put braces on a kid, I give a date for completion of the case. What usually make my prediction too short is the third parties (the kid and the parents). The kids knocks off my hardware. The parents won't bring the kid in routinely. Some things are out of my control. When I tell them a completion date, it always is assuming all goes normal.

Hopefully JJP won't have to go pre-order any longer, which will end all of this strife over completion dates.

I think this pin would have aready been in production if Jack did not have to go and change a lot of things due to everyone bitching about changes we all wanted. Come on. What do changes do? They slow things down but for a good reason. A BETTER PIN!!! It's coming and I think a lot of us will have it this year. In the mean time chill out.

Jack said in another thread here that it would be a complete failure if he had not gotten the game out by the end of March. Said it after the changes.

Well, then...it's an epic fail. I'm cancelling my preorder because it's too late.

Double edged sword. It would be correct to say "just make it not suck the first time".

It is also correct to go back and fix it rather than blindly going forward with a flawed design.

But beelzeboob, you game would had had the custom Cheese Pump installed.

Too late now.

LTG : (

I swear the day I meet you, I'm gonna give you a can of Easy Cheez so you can see the shit we have to eat here in New Jersey. You won't be joking then.

If you can do better lets see it..

Yes, but it sounds like you tell them it's a PREDICTION. I'm assuming you don't create a load of happy horse shit that you're contractually obligated to remove them before their upcoming summer vacation because it's what they want to hear....

PS, since I'm not one of those "end justifies the means" guys- please spare me the story that "it's actually BETTER that he misled people becuase the end product will be better."

I'm anxious to see the finished machine but I'll never beleive another word from his mouth that's not backed up by action.

You will meet him July 10th and 11th at Pintastic New England!

He'll avoid me. He's a smart guy.

No I won't. I'll be on you like hair on a gorilla.

LTG : )

Give me a six pack of concussions, 3+ years and around 13 million dollars in preorder money and I'll ship you a buggy code incomplete mess .

And don't hold me to any of those, you know, 'cause making pinball is "hard"

Jack is a braver business person than I am, but I at least have the sense to not run my mouth again and again just to be proven wrong. I'm glad he's out there toiling away making new games. But if the whole world ran on big promisers, exceptionally late deliverers the world would NOT be a better place.

You're right. I forgot he is the only one on "PLANET EARTH" who does this..

The Hobbit is a great theme and JJP has access to great sound, image, and video assets - so the game should look and sound fantastic. My only worry is about the gameplay with the redesigns - though they made a good point about having a way into the poppers via Bag End.

My other worry is that Pat's game is going to be so nice it may trump The Hobbit on gameplay (and perhaps even in the look and sound). So - do I keep in The Hobbit, or wait for #3

Well, he said he was going to make a great pinball machine with the Wizard of Oz, he backed that up and then some!

Maybe we will get an Easter update guys

Yeah but PL's game is easily a year or 2 away so why not enjoy The Hobbit in the mean time and then sell it towards Pats if its a must have. It could be something your not even interested in, I'm looking forward to what animations will be like without a movie to show clips from could be great. I also don't want a kids game with a overly family friendly theme, I want it for those of you with families but a cool space/sci fi theme which is still family friendly would be amazing, time will tell.

But Hazoff they promised Pats game for this summer?

No way will we see pats game anytime soon they did not even start hobbit yet

Umm, no. Especially the "or 2" part.

The reveal, not production.

That's a big word like "marmalade"

considering what jpop and skit-b buyers are experiencing, this thread should be a joyous celebration about the amazing hobbit pin that's going to ship soon.

Dude you thought Stern MSRP was real life pricing a few weeks ago so keep in mind you are not aware of whats really going on. I'm not being a dick, I'm just keeping it real. Don't take offense.

I don't know what's going on either & I expect 2015 to rock but IMO late = problems. At least that seems to have been the case with every other late game ever made or not made yet.

I am curious to see how a preorder based company fares on their next title after quoting ETA's years off base on possibly 2 games in a row while other companies closed with preorder money likely gone forever still stinging collectors.

People have to be tired of expensive incomplete late shit or even worse.... nothing.

Hobbit keeps improving, the theme is awesome & I love the LCD art/animations so let's hope things start happening soon!

JJP will premiere it at Expo.

LTG : )

I expect that JJP will abandon the pre-order model as soon as financially possible.

What are saying that we will become aware of Pats game soon and within a year is will be available? or the other way that 2 years is still too soon to expect a finished PL JJP game.

Yea, but will it ever be financially possible? Without an assembly line approach to building and delivering, one pinball every two years will never get you to that point. They are probably doing good to break even. While I am not a huge fan of the Stern machines, I am impressed how quickly he can take a concept and turn it I to a mass production.

I hear people will see Hobbits starting in late May and code will be decent from day one. Good times!!

Man I love love love the LCD stuff @ work on this game.

What if the collectors abandon it first?

I heard that was happening Mid 2014. Maybe I misunderstood or the info was from an unreliable source?

Pats reveal may be this summer that's about it.

In the TPF presentation, Jack implied he is still 30 days back ordered on WOZ and continues to receive multiple orders daily. Assuming he can run only one game line at a time, it seems he would be motivated to continue to produce WOZ and delay TH. At this point, each new WOZ order is bringing in "new" money, and probably at decent net margin. He is into the most profitable portion of the production cycle, so he will want to continue to make WOZ as long as there is demand. Interestingly, he stated he has already shipped 2500 WOZ's (I wish Stern published his numbers.....I wonder how many Wrestlemania's he has sold), continues to build more, has TH ready to go, has Pat's 3rd game well into development, and even mentioned a FOURTH game! It appears he has withstood the viscissitudes(there's that word again, ha ha) of developing a new pinball business from the ground up. Congratulations Jersey Jack!

We will know about it late summer, play it at Expo and buy it in 1Q16.

I hope your right but I would say The Hobbit is still being built and shipped 1Q16.

I hope not. I will be happy to get it by Dec 25th