Greetings Pinball Fans,
Today we are excited to reveal the lower portion of an early Hobbit Pinball Whitewood.

We wanted to show this photo to give some flavor to what the playfield space will look like. No real inserts, artwork or upper shot with ramps are shown yet. In the next couple of weeks, we will reveal most of that and show a flipping whitewood. In as much as this raises more questions and excitement, it goes along the line of showing some of our product development which has helped build JJP's loyal fan base.

"I'm getting very excited to see how The Hobbit is coming together" said Jack Guarnieri. "There are some very cool elements of the game including some things that have not been done before so this game will be another full featured action packed game from JJP. I'm looking forward to showing off a shooting playfield in the coming weeks!"

Unlike The Wizard of Oz where everyone knew the story line and characters, The Hobbit has had many closely guarded secrets including what Smaug looked like. Thankfully our Design Team has access to assets from the Trilogy and must work in secret. This obviously limits what we can show but we are making great progress on the game.

Game Designer, Joe Balcer says, "The Hobbit has so many unique characters, iconic objects, places, weapons, and story content that our team is sorting through everything to have the right mix as a finished product in a timely manner. Believe me, it is a huge challenge to top WOZ as a complete package, but the goal we have set for ourselves is to do just that! The Hobbit is coming along just as I imagined it would from the day we signed the contract. This is an incredible title that needs an awesome game to go with it, and our team will undeniably accomplish that. Smaug lives...you'll see!"

According to Yahoo: Finance, "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" has crossed $800 million at the worldwide box office, with markets still to open. The film, a production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM), has thus far grossed an estimated $242.2 million domestically and $566 million internationally, for a worldwide estimated total of $808.2 million to date."

This video from Graphic Designer, JP De-Win is an early work-in-progress compilation and should give everyone an idea of what to expect to see on that big HD LCD in the backbox of The Hobbit. Music done by Nick Phoenix.

hobbit.jpg

I noticed the reflection in the JJP logo video is no longer showing WOZ

Hobbit HOB.jpg

WOZ WOZ.jpg

I like the video in the center of the screen

but is you adjust for inflation (1939 to 2014) a 500,000 score is actually worth approximately 8 Million

WOZ can break a million

wozscore.jpg

Thanks for sharing, I'm still interested in some sort of achievements system because it would add some additional goals and could be changed or updated over time

You may be over thinking what my expectations of achievement are - maybe a screen at the end of the game that shows what you accomplished during that game, for example:

20 YBR
50 Loops in Munchkin land
07 Witch Encounters

etc

no worries - I would be cool because JJP could add new achievements as updates get released. Initially there was some discussion about achievements like this and I hope that its something that they get to add in eventually.

Thanks for the update

A big update won't prove you wrong, shipping games on time will prove you wrong.

Are you talking about game progress updates or code enhancements ?

I really like the display layout for the Hobbit

I agree that's a lot of space taken up but it's an imaginative view of how Smaug could look.

Thanks for sharing

That's the first that I've heard of this

With all this activity, I thought there was some hot new Hobbit news

rats, I thought there was some news with all the new posts ... bah

Anyone think there will be targets on the back side of the pop-up trolls?

Thanks for pointing that out

Or maybe once up the popup could spin to show a 'scoop' or a troll ???

The new Rudy

I agree and feel totally spoiled with all the lighting effects in WOZ. The only thing that I wish WOZ had more of is localized GI lighting effects.

is that the arkenstone in the near the flippers ?

With all the activity I thought there was some new Hobbit news

I can already feel my wallet getting smaller

Has there been any new information ?

Thanks for sharing the pics

HOB.jpg

Maybe you can aim for the drop targets on the right side ?

If that's the case there's one additional GI light per slingshot as compared to WOZ.

EDIT: added WOZ pic

WOZ.jpg

Part of me doesn't want to see anymore but I can't resist looking once posted

I suspect it will be hard to guess the rules with any accuracy with Keith involved

Thanks for pointing that out, I totally missed it

Hopefully Hobbit is as addictive as the WOZ especially with 4.0 code

I'm looking forward to learning about the new mechanisms and technologies

Here are some pics that I was able to take during the open house

IMG_3054.JPG

IMG_3057.JPG

IMG_3060.JPG

The more I look at the artwork the more I like it

It really looked much better in person.

nice How heavy was WOZ again ?

looking forward to any updates with something new

I wonder if the Hobbit will have internet connectivity that will be used for updates or more ?

I know its been available because I was able to SSH to the WOZ

I'm just wondering what features it will bring when the HOB game is released.

What am I looking at

from the email

"We are currently building 75th Anniversary and Standard WOZ games as we prepare to change over to The Hobbit in late December! "

looks like production won't start until late December

This kind of reminds me of the rainbow plastic reveal for WOZ

rainbowfield.jpg

_{Post edited by B9: added pic}

Zooming in doesn't provide any additional clarity

H.jpg

Wait a minute, there's a reflection

Because there's no real new info available, the void is being fueled by whatever

It appears that I can stop reading this thread until after Expo

Is there something new between the speakers ?

H0B.png

This was posted in another thread and the source is https://twitter.com/BrooklynPinball/status/519629740433354753

H0b2.png

It would be cool if the crossbow shot out a laser light when activated to show where the arrow hits, with a sensor on Smaug in the "sensitive" spot.

bah

I also remember hearing this and hope that its still a possibility

Almost time for the Expo update

I really didn't expect to read 30+ game modes!

I wonder if the jaw moves on the Smaug toy when talking ?

Almost time....

Yes the poster is real

http://www.jerseyjackpinball.com/wp-content/themes/responsive-child/brochures/JJP_Hobbit_Flyer_SE.pdf

Thanks for posting, I enjoyed watching it

Sweet! I look forward to seeing what's changed

Thanks!

IAPPA starts today

Ok, looks like we'll need to wait one more day

Thanks for posting that pic

Looks like there's going to be some new information to digest soon.

I hope so

Can you make the left ramp shot with the upper right flipper ?

I never thought that to the the eye and just thought it was there for lighting. Looking at it now, I think it would be cool if that was the Arkenstone.

Someone did it about 18 seconds into this video

It works much better than that on mine

Totally agree!

Now I just need to imagine Smaugs eyes with LEDs

I think the yellow flasher could become the Arkenstone

Any videos posted showing the new playfield in action ?

Whoops, I thought someone posted a video

Any new video available ?

Couldn't you have the best of both worlds and get the SE and buy the LE super thick replaceable artwork ?

I just went back and got a chance to look at the videos that were posted

That sounds great!

Thanks for posting

New Year's bump for those that missed the Hobbit music post

Are the letters individually lit on the ramps ?

Take a look at how the interface has changed from the original posting at the beginning of this thread (12 months ago)

Original
HOB-INT-0.jpg

Current
HOB-INT-1.jpg

I'm hoping that modes can be added over time to keep the game fresh (I know, probably just a pipe dream)

I don't think this video from EAG has been posted yet

tack on a sticky not with two zeros if you need it

Sure I may have exploited the Haunted Multiball scoring bug to get such a high score but I've at least got a picture

219026.jpg

Any new Hobbit news ?

Don't contracts (SLA's, SLO's) get broken all the time ? Where there any penalties ?

At this point I really don't care

I just want the Hobbit pinball to be the best it can

I enjoy watching the LCD when someone else is playing

Edit: Whoa post 4000

For some reason I imagine using it to whack down the pop-ups, kind of like whack-a-mole.

I'm in a holding pattern, just waiting for the opportunity to play it

here's a picture of the grid

HOB-GRID.png

It would be cool if as you progress more modes show up on the right hand side, therefore not limiting the number of modes to 35

11/26/2012

I know the feeling

Thanks for posting the video!

I look forward to reading your report

Thanks for the update

One thing that hasn't been talked about for a while is the incorporation and use of WiFi. Is this going to happen with the launch of Hobbit ?

Any good pictures of the new smaug head with teeth in the game ?

Amazing that this thread has made it to 100 pages

Thanks for the video

Same here

Exactly!

check out the bonus screen

HOB_Bonus.jpg

LOL