New playfield is a big improvement on the whole vibe of the game, looks good installed.

What a difference from the original! The red and gold Smaug looks great.

I'm sure they're going to add something to dress up and explain the "fire" button on the lockbar. Hopefully it will be creative and better than the boring lettering on the ramps. "Book Time" reminds of going to the library as a preschooler for story time and cookies.

Nicely polished, very high end looking. Maybe something Disney himself would have been proud to own (and Disney Inc might also have loved). Hopefully some vids from CT Pin Party will surface soon.

Could improve with any of these small tweaks - better lockdown bar button, metalize the axes, paint column sculpts, change book frame, create side panel art, add special ball (ceramic or such) and we can call it complete. Shipping by Christmas! ...a tad optimistic I know. But it would be great to have a complete one by July 4th.

Yes, really digging this one.

Thanks for the pictures. Now this finally looks nice!

I believe that "Book" and "Time" are two separate lights that indicate two separate things.

--Luke

Liking the new changes made. Still not wild over the brown block scenery around the back and side of Smaug. Other than that, huge improvement.

What's the latest information in terms of when these will be on the assembly line at JJP?

I think I would go with black rubbers and flippers, but that is just me

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hobbit-release-date-febmarch

lol

Can't believe that I missed that!

Yet another missed deadline by one of the new pin makers.

Any videos on the latest machine?

It's looking pretty good. If they made a SMAUG body to go behind the head it would finish that area off nicely.

Yes, that's all it's missing. Not ceramic balls. Also, the book (moreso the LCD in it) should be closer to the player. Maybe in the apron.

Looks great with new playfield art, big improvement!

But I would like to have the bumper bodys and wafers in black (like WOZ) instead of white.

Looks fantastic. Can't wait to get it. My first NIB.

I know JJP introduced the Smaug edition to free up LE spots for sale, but in my opinion it's the best looking model, and it's hard to believe they will really limit demand to orders received by the end of the year. My guess is they will introduce a Special-Special Smaug type edition somewhere down the road to satisfy demand like Ruby Red and TWD Premium.

So I went to the event tonight, played TH, and had a great conversation with Jack. Personally I think this game has come along way. It is definitely not finished by any means. I noticed smaug has no teeth and eyes do not light up yet, not a big deal to me since I know its on the way. I wanted to play as much as possible but since I have mine on order I wanted to let some others get a chance. The game is a challenge and not as easy as I expected. The codes are not all finished so it takes away from the game play and I didn't want to feel disappointed by playing an unfinished product. But I can tell you this, even from what I did play, there was no disappointment! The new play field looks fantastic. Kudos' to Jack and his team. I am impressed. I am not a big fan of drop targets but after a few games I got a good thrill out of hitting those drops & pops. Jack is working hard on a few other Ideas and I was pretty pleased to hear what some of them were. I actually got that WOW factor feeling going. All I will say is that If you were in and now your out, well...... You will probably want to be in again. This is going to be a really intense game.

THERE WILL BE NO MORE HOBBIT EDITIONS

Hobbit LE
Smaug Gold
Hobbit Standard

Then

Pat's Game

Talked to Jack and his lovely wife tonight and got to finally see the game...even met Gabe (who makes me very jealous because his name is on WOZ and he seems to see and hear all when it comes to JJP!). I want to congratulate Jack on a great product. This is the most exciting pin coming out in the next six months...especially since that "other" one seems to have gone belly-up today!

Excited!

I had a feeling that was you lol! I had intended to give you a dead arm when I finally got a chance to meet you. I was presently surprised! The pleasure was all mine. Next time you should stay and chat. Maybe at Pintastic!

I'm a slippery little bastard--you wouldn't have gotten near my arm. I move fast...they don't call me the White Tornado for nuthin'!

Hope to see you again soon when I'm not in so much of a rush (my wife kept me at Ikea for an extended period today). If you're at ReplayFX, I'm sure I'll see you there. Pintastic is too far for me...I drove 100 miles today just to decide on the Hobbit LE instead of the SE.

Be well. I'll continue grumbling to myself whenever your name (and others) flash across my WOZ screen...

Game looks great Jack. Really love the new playfield.
I'm excited to be in on a Smaug Gold. I love my WOZ and looking forward to Pat's game.

100 miles thats nothing. Another hr and 45 min and you would have been at Pintastic. I could get a dunk tank for the out door flee market for you if you like. All proceeds go to charity of course!

Is this an Iron clad a promise as the "WOZ will be our only game that features the LE model"?

There is a Hobbit LE

Mind saying what made you choose the LE? I'm on the fence about the SE but not close enough to see in person.

I'll tell you why many went Smaug:
1) AWESOME image of Smaug on cabinet
2) nut sack goblin on LE
3) prominence of white Orc on right cab of LE is an odd choice.
4) composition of the LE cab is...off
5) extra Smaug attract mode
6) nice border on Smaug cab ties it together nicely

^
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This.

The wireforms are not gold in the gold edition? Will need another $200 to gold plate them then.

They look gold in all the pictures posted in this thread.

They are the same gold color - YES -

They are NOT REAL GOLD!

LOL

Iron pyrite base

Stop killing the Poetry with technical terms You won't see many customer askin for an Iron Pyrite finish... Still gold to us. Fool's gold may be, but Gold nevertheless...

JJP: I am impressed. Congrats for reacting so fast to harsh criticism. With good (perhaps great - can't tell until I see it for real) artwork and Keefer on board, this game could be (will be) great.

Personal decision. I really like the colors with the dark seaside bronze...it fits the color scheme of the machine better. (I really wasn't a fan of the gold, either in pictures or in person.) I also like how colorful the LE cabinet is and that it features all of the characters from the film, not just the dragon. There's too much gold and too much dragon in the SE. It's a book, movie, and game about a Hobbit, not a dragon (who isn't even in it for very long). At the end of the day, you're also paying an additional $500 for an attract mode.

I stayed LE for pretty much the same reason.

Jack/JJP,

Since there is a small delay - you may be able to incorporate some of the image/print assets from the 3rd movie? If so, can/will the Smaug SE cabinet be able to include a different image of Smaug to prevent mirroring of the same image on both sides?

Why do you care? Are you in on the machine? Just let those of us actually buying TH worry about shipping and production dates. I'll wait another six months provided the final product looks good and is fun to play.

What's a standard cost?

Why do the decals from the dwarf city (from inside the mountain) spill over into the water falls area?... Stuff still seems to be thrown together...where is the attention to detail? If you want that area to represent the white water scene then make it look like it. You want to add rocks or a mountain scene, here is the place for it... It's not difficult or expensive nor should it require the masses to point it out.

Who is the team lead? Is anyone taking responsibility for the overall vision of this project? It better not be Jack because I would assume he doesn't have time for all the detail stuff...

It still looks disjointed fellas! Both upper areas look like there are elements missing, the windlance doesn't seem like it's shooting the dragon, the third flipper looks like its made to destroy the ramps from the side...c'mon pull this puppy together before we have to make a final decision or at least give us better details as to what is being worked on or missing.

If I'm complaining... then why don't I just pull out? (Haven't yet) It's because it still seems better than the other new offerings that are out there... (but not by much!)...

Why am I complaining? Because it seems there has been so much "left on the table" with this title...and a benchmark in pinball was missed.

This is a perfect license for pinball and for all the people that love the theme ... I can't shake the sense that the Hobbit has been orphaned...

Nope, I don't play the preorder game.

That doesn't mean I'm not interested in this pin. And I don't care if you believe me or not. I will continue to give my opinions as I see fit.

Is this where you come in and tell me again that "you don't like me one iota"? Lol

Jack, latest revision looks good. Polished.

Any chance the domes can be different colors corresponding to the plastic upon which they rest? The yellow dome looks fine on the gold pile, but looks a little off against the other scenery in some of the other places it rests. I suppose colored light control that I am not aware of could make this moot.

Really nitpicky with this, I know. But only because nothing stands out as off to me at this point!

I can't wait to HEAR Smaug.

Will you be offering subwoofer upgrades?

No. It's where I admonish your grammar; the end mark of punctuation goes inside the quotation marks. If you’re going to quote me, please show some deference to proper usage.

"lol?" Are you a 16-year-old girl?

For example

image.jpg

Well you sure showed me!

You so smart. Me not compete with you!

Lame!
image-541.jpg

Are you channeling Ek77?

So, does this mean you still don't like me one iota?

Even if Rob left out every other word and spelled the remaining words backwards he would still have better grammar and sentence structure than Ek. Lol.