I was always intrigued that after WOZ came Hobbit, such radically different layouts between the two. I never really liked the hobbit movies because of the, in my view, unacceptable deviations from the book, which I adore. For instance I was so looking forward to that long trek through Mirkwood forest with great cgi (I think they spent about two minutes walking through the forest), but then the way the hobbits escaped from the forest elves made me want to get up and leave the theatre (but I didn’t, but I never saw the third part). So there’s that.

In my view, Di has the best theme in modern pinball and it’s the only game I’ve ever bought NIB (and before somebody feels the need to comment on this just consider how often we have to read silly comments from people not liking the theme). DI is all about the modes (ah, but what modes!). In fact everything else is just kind of a distraction (multiball, bob modes, theatre multiball) which I think is a bit of a shame - but perhaps compensated to a certain degree by the sim card shot - sinking the ball in the sim card hole after completing a mode - truly sublime. I think also DI was the first JJP game to benefit from Mr. Lawlor’s guidance - like putting the electronics back in the backbox where they belong.

yeah well that's not enough to save it, its tedious to play.

Better than Wonka?

Well I have been fortunate or unfortunate enough to have owned 3 JJP games and played all of them. I can honestly say for me Dialed In is by far the best machine of the JJP lot. Looks and game play of JJP machines must be disproportionate because Dialed in is the worst looking one of the group but for me the best playing. The other pins are stunning to look at but by God I can't stand any of them. Dialed in is the only one I have left, it is a ton of fun to play, modes everywhere and great tributes to other Pat Lawlor machines of the past hidden in this one. It has been solid and fun unlike my Hobbit and WOZ. With JJP current pricing I doubt I'll ever own another one, there are much better machines out there for far less money. Just my 2 cents.

That's where I'm at as well. My first game of Hobbit lasted 30+ minutes and I actually walked away from it with no interest in playing it again. Really dig DI though.

I have Hobbit Black Arrow and a Dialed in LE and love them both. Hobbit (new for me) is getting most of my attention now and is so incredibly fun. I love DI too. The one thing they did that hurt Dialed In on the last upgrade is speed up the speech to fit in with quicker call outs. It sucks. They should have re-recorded them with faster natural speech vs just speeding up what they had. It sounds bad to anyone with any kind of a trained ear. Should I be telling this to DR Light?

I guess the poll was wrong.

Excellent choice! Hope your family is enjoying it.

I'm not a big fan of either, although I've only played a handful of games on each.

Problems with Hobbit:
Too symmetrical
Pop-up targets can annoy
A widebody that feels like a widebody. (Arguably)
Habitrails give spin to the ball which sometimes sends it to the outlane. (There may be a fix for this, I don't know)
Outlanes were tiresome to me.

Good things about Hobbit:
Back-stabbing the beasts is fun.
Axes on the sling shots are cool.
Lots of modes, if you like that sort of abundance.

Problems with Dialed In:
The mechanic is creepy and cheap-looking.
The world under the glass kinda feels like a run-down amusement park.
Sim-card shot is arguably bad game design.

Good things about Dialed In:
Holograms are cool.
Some of the sound effects are great.
Interesting layout.
The lasers that travel towards and then shock your flippers are, at the very least, a clever idea.

I'd give it to Dialed In. A hologram is a thing of beauty and a joy to treasure, and this is no exception.

Edit:
Didn't see the above post. Sorry. Hobbit's also good.

I have owned and sold Hobbit, Pirates and DI.

Upgraded the sound system with Pinwoofer on Hobbit and it was great. To me Hobbit is in a way like EHOH and BM66. a lot of code and visual effects on a relatively easy shooting play field. I guess you need an easier shooter to get thru the depth. I liked playing Hobbit like once every 3 months after awhile of owning. Would have a 20 to 30 minute game and turn it off for another couple of months. It is one heavy SOB! Sold it one day after looking under the play field and wondered how I would fix the computer if it ever failed.

I liked DI's shots. Super smooth. I did not keep it long ,as for some reason every game felt the same to me. Most likely my playing versus the game design. Certainly, DI is the more value pin in this market

I waited for Wonka to come out before buying DI, I played the hell out of Wonka because I love the theme but it didn't click for me.

I will say a DI playfield in a Wonka outfit would have been my ultimate game, but I chose gameplay over style.

Hobbit is a very beautyful game and the theme is super. The Pin is a longplayer, if you want to play it with friends, it might take hours to finish a game. A friend of mine owned it and he was satisfied with it. I also liked playing this pin and the videos are amazing.
I own a DI LE and for me it‘s a perfect pin. It resembles to the B/W-times, but it‘s absolutely a modern pin and so smooth to play - I really love this machine. If you play the Hobbit for a while and you want to sell it - buy a DI, it‘s still underrated (if you can say in these times that a pin is underrated ), but you get a lot of fun and a high quality for your money.
Sorry for my English if I wrote grammatical mistakes - I’m still learning.

Nah, in the end the only person's opinion that matters is the one making the purchase.

Then stop asking us!!

I see myself defending JJP more and more with collectors based off of themes, gameplay, playfield issues, etc etc

I tell people that you cannot compare a Stern to a JJ. You can’t. Stern pins, to me, are games of varying fun. Some are great. Some are not. Jersey Jack pins, for the most part, are more of an “experience” to me.

I don’t play my GNR often, but you cannot compare the song mode to most any other Stern modes.

I don’t play Deadpool often, but there’s NO Jersey Jack mode like Mech Suit multiball.

I’m getting off of my soapbox now. Lol

I'm married, I know the feeling

Such a solid choice. I think I have Wonka and Hobbit as 1 and 2 for my personal JJP rankings as well, but I am still in honeymoon period with Hobbit. I would love to get a Toy Story if that is the next one!

Check out Lawlors other pins if you like Wonka and might consider DI in the future. That man knows how to build games!