The reveal was scheduled for 2 years from now, but in light of this thread they have fast-tracked it for next week.

Thanks!!!

I don't think they will announce it this year. They need to sell as many TH games as they can before this one is unveiled. Hobbit sales will slow to a crawl when they reveal it.

Are we putting money on this?

No way they announce it this year. They have too many Hobbits to sell.

People always pick these dates out of thin air. "Expo makes sense!!!" Yes, just like it "made sense" that PPS would announce AFMr at last year's Texas show, despite the fact that they just started cranking out MMs. Remember the steam that rumor gathered?

No, it doesn't make sense. Why make an announcement that might cost them sales of a game they've spent literally YEARS and countless $ on getting into production? They are finally rolling them (slowly) out of the door after three years, and you think they'll make an announcement that will likely slam that door shut?

Not gonna happen.

Actually I was hoping to bet you. If you win, feel free to do what you want with it.

Deal?

Apples and Oranges.

Stern makes 3-5 new titles A YEAR.

JJP makes a new title every 3 or 4 years.

In the case of JJP, it makes absolutely no sense to reveal the new game right after they've finally gotten their second title into production after countless delays, unless you think they don't like selling pinball machines.

The reveal won't happen at Expo. It won't happen this year. I would think the end of next year is much more realistic.

The pinball industry in 2016 operates at a positively glacial pace - how is it that you haven't noticed this? It's partly because of unexpected delays, and it's partly out of design. Wait? "Glacial?" That's it! The new Pat Lawlor game is snowstorm/ice age themed! And what better place to announce a "cold" game than in Chicago in October?! It was right under our noses the whole time! This is a bigger tip-off than the AFM martian on the flyer for Texas last year, when AFMr was announced!

We will have to agree to disagree on this point. Hobbit costs a lot of money. If credible word and photos about the "next greatest pinball in history" - the PLD project - leaked today, it would most certainly affect Hobbit sales. It's just human nature that many potential Hobbit buyers would keep their wallet in their pants with the reveal. Not everybody can afford to buy two $8500 pinball machines.

Same with Stern for that matter. A sudden reveal of a Star Wars game with LCD screen etc would slow GB sales to a crawl, and quick. Not to say they wouldn't make those sales up later (after all Metallica is still selling) but there would be an immediate effect. That's why Stern staggers their release announcements. It's not rocket science. this is how pinball companies have always operated, at least this century.

Well, I'm not betting you!

Staggering announcements is relative - when you put out 4 games a year like stern, that's 4 announcements a year. When you put out 1 game every 3 years like JJP...well you get my gist.

You do make a point about not losing sales to competitors. But that would mean JJP would need to be ready to go, or ready to go enough that people are willing to (gasp!) pre order and pre-pay. Everybody knows that the Stern game is gonna show up in their home within a month or two of the announcement. JJP it could be years, if they aren't selling a finished product. If they don't have a game ready to sell and ship, they are still going to be losing these hypothetical sales to competitors who are selling actual pinball games, not spots on a list.

I think it comes down to if the game is really ready to go, but given their track record...

That's nice and all but Jack was FAMOUS for doing the "best pin ever!!!" routine on every soon-to-be-released title - EVER - when he was a Stern distributor. Didn't matter what poop was rolling off the line. It was a running joke on RGP because guys who bought every pin (D-man!) were always telling us how they were convinced to buy because Jack said 24 or WOF were going to be the best games ever to come down the pike.

I don't disparage it all, he's a salesman, that's his job. But...grain of salt people.

PLD don't do confusing 3rd flippers.

I don't really care either way, but clearly on a modern pinball machine with a 3rd flipper, people REALLY expect there to be a specific, go to purpose. A jackpot shot. A ramp. Something important that you can't hit with the bottom flippers.

On Hobbit it was just thrown in there like a 1970s Sonic game. It's hard to dispute that - even the apologists are like "well, use it or don't! It's still cool to have it!"

I'm never gonna own that game so it's not like it matters to me, but it's silly to pretend people don't have a legit reason to be bemused by that thing.

Just like every other PLD game ever made, it'll take about 2 seconds to deduce what any extra flippers are "for" on JJP 3.

Name one.

Yeah that thing is kind of stupid. It's not really a flipper though.

I use it all the time (I like going for the swamp - so sue me) and THING flips is a great feature and one of the game's trademarks. And also "using it to guide the ball to the lower flipper" is a thing you can do with a flipper and something skilled players like to do.

Not useless. At all. You obviously don't have a use for it but to argue vehemently that it serves no purpose serves no purpose except to be contrarian.

When somebody spends $9,000 on a game and waits several years for it, there simply isn't room for that kind of perspective.

My favorite is when someone starts a post with "X...we know you HATE the Hobbit, but...."

Nah. I don't really care for the layout. I've spent at least 5 hours on the machine (old code), I'll pass on playing it again unless I run into it in a tournament.

On GOOD games, this stuff just sinks in. I never read instruction cards back in the day - ever - and it didn't matter. Stackability and the best way to do things would present themselves. Code is much deeper now, but on the fun games it STILL doesn't matter. I learned all of the rules on Thrones and the best way for me to approach the game because I played it. A lot. Because it was fun.

Not every game has that quality.

The issue with the Hobbit isn't that people have differing opinions.

It's that the ONLY people who seem to be in love with it are those who have bought it. That's a pretty unique phenomenon in this hobby.

I don't know man. For good players, there really isn't that much difference between home and location providing you have a good location that takes care of their games. Some of us spend a LOT of our time out there playing the games.

Yes, I have spoken with everyone who has played the hobbit.

The only people who are in love with it are those who own one or who are selling one.

meh