JJP ain’t going nowhere - they’re taking over!

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Yet there seem to be a lot of pinheads who enjoy playing it. Are they all misguided?

I've been relooking at The Hobbit recently, and have come across lots of posts by those who apparently bought one in the past year and love it.

I wasn't thrilled with the Hobbit at first but it is my favorite machine to go to when I want an entertaining experience with some fun Smaug multi-ball, simple modes and awesome visuals and sound. They layout is a bit barren but the game will be remembered as a classic for multiple reasons. It is just third place when compared to the other two JJP machines but you can't blame it for being inferior to two of the best games of all time.

All 3 are amazing but di offers the most variety and neat features imo and is a treat to play/shoot . Woz code is dam deep and good tho which makes it unique to play also. The hobbit uses the screens really well and game has a ton of modes.

There is also a thread of those who owned TH and sold it. I think it's worth reading for unbiased opinions.

All opinions are valid. No game is for everyone. Chastising people and calling them suckers for loving a game you don't is pretty weak though.

I'm not disputing that there are apparently plenty of former Hobbit owners; I've noticed that as well. My point was simply to point out that the quoted poster's claim re: TH is untrue.

I think there's plenty of room for people to enjoy it subjectively, but objectively it's riddled with all kinds of flaws that they're trying hard to mitigate through clever coding. The game never should have been a widebody, and there's a massive disconnect between the left and right hands of the playfield in the upper half (that 3rd flipper is proof enough of that).

There will be plenty of people who like The Hobbit, but over time its flaws will be more and more exposed, especially when compared to JJP's other games. In a thread that compares the three in a head-to-head-to-head fashion, more people will eventually run out of patience with The Hobbit when the other games are clearly better designed. Dialed In is just getting out into the wild now, it's going to steal lots of votes from The Hobbit.

In the overall scheme of things, The Hobbit isn't pure trash or anything, but if you're going to create a scale of great, good, decent, bad, and terrible pinball machines, The Hobbit won't fall into the good category on an objective measure.

Did someone get chastised or called a sucker?

You quoted my post and I never said any such thing.

Not you...the guy who said the only people who likes TH are pre-order suckers.

My "all opinions are valid" statement goes with your quote.

Ah gotcha.

Personally I feel a valid opinion should have some reasoning behind it. I may not agree with the reason, but at least it's provided to support a guy's opinion. And that would be valid.

I would not consider it a valid opinion if someone simply states the game sucks without any explanation to support it.

I’m a JJP fan but I’m objective. A crap game is a crap game. To me TH is a crap game for all the reasons mentioned. It’s one I really wanted to lie and it is beautifully lit.

What you, I, or the next pinhead consider objective, will always be subjective in itself. The enjoyment of pinball and the ranking of games, is and always will be thoroughly subjective. Thus TH will always be considered by some to be a good game. Whether rightly or wrongly according to those who disagree.

Agree 100 percent. I liked it and bought one. Took 3 days of owning it and I beat the whole game. Figured they would come out with more code to make it better but didn't have the patience. Plus those pop ups are not well integrated. I thought it was cool and all having to fight through them but it just got annoying. Not a terrible game by any means but definitely jjps worst

Now if Pat designed the field then they may have a winner cuz the art codeing and animations are killer

You're right. It does look like salmon eggs.

I was about to make an angry post and then I noticed who you are. HAHA! I'm still loving my two Red Smoke mods. I had one buddy who didn't like it but I think he must have forgotten what the tube looks like.

Regarding The Hobbit: I own all three JJ pins and TH is easily the worst. I still enjoy it and the game is just stunningly beautiful (especially Smaug Gold SE) and the sound is fantastic. I agree it would have been better as a standard body and then it feels like it is one gimmick from being truly great. If you'd date a stupid supermodel, you'll like TH.

JJPs worst is still better than most others.

I own both woz and TH, with a preorder on DI (without having played it...ugh).
Woz is simply a masterpiece. Where has there been a game that was hated by so many, and then getting the chance to play it in a home environment and having opinions change 100%.
It's certainly not the best playfield layout, but the coding that was done to make this game what it is today is incredible. There are so many nuances to Woz with strategies, scoring choices and plain simple objectives to get farther in the game.
Woz is a pretty special game once you get time to explore all that it has to offer.

I’ve owned WOZ, TH and DI. DI is still here, regret selling both Th and WOZ. They are all awesome. DI is the most fun out of the gate, IMO.

I have a feeling the new code updates in the works for TH are going to make a lot of people take a second look at the game. Apparently some new code will be dropping either this Friday or next Friday.
There is still so much potential via code additions/tweaks to elevate TH up to WoZ and DI levels of awesomeness.
I have faith in the JJP team because the passion for their games, this hobby and their customers is genuine. Experienced it first hand during one of their open houses a couple years ago.

From Eric ( Hogbog ) today :

Not streaming today, but we have something special planned for next week Friday.

New. Hobbit. Code.

LIVESTREAM. @3pm Central 07/06/2018 on https://www.twitch.tv/jjplive

LTG : )

Awesome!!

What’s the best one now? I still say WOZ rules them all.

My order:
WOZ
GNR
Pirates
Wonka
Hobbit
DI

WOZ
GNR/POTC (Jury's still out...it's too early!)
DI
Hobbit/Wonka (It's a tie for worst!)

They are all great. I would put woz or potc at the top though.
I have not played GNR yet, however.

I have a WOZ, Hobbit, POTC, DI and Wonka. My favorite is whichever I'm playing at the time. All great!

Hobbit above DI. Interesting. What is it about the Hobbit that makes it better?

For me, theme.

I only have experience with three of them.
DI - POTC - WONK

I think DI is just fantastic.

Hard to top DI, but POTC is pretty close. POTC has been ignored by JJP for almost 2 full years now, and it is unfinished, so it brings it down a bit in my eyes. Hobbit is also incredible, as is WOZ obviously. Haven't had much time on Wonka and none on GNR, which is supposed to be awesome.

Wonka for me over all others (pending playing GNR which I have not).

If you only look at game play DI by far is their best game it is a shame the theme is their worst

I would love to own one of their games but theme and gameplay have yet to meet. Give me The Hobbit theme with the DI layout.

POTC for me. Followed by DI.

DI by far, although I haven't tried a Hobbit.

I have to say DI if at home since can adjust the angle, believe mine is at 7 or more, I have been to a number of places and when I try DI it feels floaty due to the default angle, so I can see where people do not give it the shot it deserves, my second would have to be GNR it is a fun pin with light show would I give up DI for it no.

I enjoy all JJP pins, just wanted to say that before you read below lol. I'm sure a good number of people will disagree with me.

As of today I would say The Hobbit is the best pin JJP has made to date. It's taken me a while to come to this conclusion and playing a lot of other modern pins. Yes the game doesn't have the best layout of all JJP pins but in my opinion it has by far the deepest level of theme integration ever created for a pin. Most mode based games are lucky to have a half dozen modes that feature the level of choreography (animations, video, music, sound effects, etc all timed to shots) that the book modes in The Hobbit contain. TH contains 30 main modes, the book modes, that not only feature great choreography but also excellent sound / music. Then there's the 3 Arkenstone modes that are deep with multiple stages.

There's also the toy / feature aspect of The Hobbit. It's beyond loaded. 11 drop targets, an interactive dragon toy that moves / talks, kickback, 4 molded beat pop ups, laser etched metal ramps, subway, two magnets, and a mini LCD toy all in a widebody pin, damn. All of those mechs are used in interesting ways thanks to the incredible code work by Keith Johnson, and Ted Estes. The sound design by David Thiel is among the best in pinball. Hell, there's also dozens of custom tracks in the game created by a Hollywood music group, Two Steps from Hell.

Pirates may have the better layout but the lack of licensed assets hurt the game deeply in my opinion and is why I sold it earlier this year. There's 125 main modes in Pirates but it might as well be 1 considering there's little mode choreography in them due to a lack of assets as well as only ever hearing one voice in the game. The pick a character feature mixes things up for the how modes are played / scored but its not the same as the deep objective based modes in The Hobbit. If Pirates had the same level of licensed assets as Hobbit it probably would have been my favorite pin.

My favorite pins are objective based, that tell a themes story through its code, and have a variety of modes with multiple levels / stages with great choreography. The Hobbit does that the best in my opinion.

I base my rankings of JJP's 6 great games on having only owned an ECLEWOZ, but having played the others sufficiently, including GnR.

1) Guns N' Roses (I am not even a fan of the band);
2) Wizard of Oz (Emerald City);
3) Pirates of the Caribbean;
4) Dialed In!;
5) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory;
6) The Hobbit.

I like all of these titles and each has its own unique appeal.

People love it at my house. Opinions and all. It’s long and the depth is ridiculous.

I still like WOZ the best.

love my Hobbit amazing game, it is a real pinball players game. Everyone who sees and plays it loves it. So Immersive and engrossing, spectacularly visual and mind blowing sound and call outs. Also love Dialed In totally different style of game but do much fun. Packed playfield and another Lawlor classic.

You can’t go wrong with any of them. All very different, all offer top experiences of different kinds. Miss my TH quite a bit.

Wonka

All are amazing and offer different experiences...

I’ve have yet to own a JJP machine, but played a lot on all machines at Museum of Pinball in Banning, Ca.

My perspective: Walking up to a game for the first time, I’d rank them:

DI or Wonka and everything else.

Games you can play quicker tend to favor a bunch of new comers.. but the long journey games that carry longer ball times are desirable as well.

For home settings: ALL.

Each game has their own purpose in a home collection.

There is a desire to have games with longer ball times that contains a journey. Hence, Hobbit is King followed by WoZ.

Pirates... I’ve have not played through with all characters to give good assessment. Fun, lots to do, but I’m not a fan of the series. I’m sure people would say it’s a fun journey.

Dark horse is DI. It’s a fun game and my kids like the selfie mode. If I had loads of cash I’d pick this game up first.

1. DI
2. Wonka
3. WOZ
4. Hobbit
5. POTC
6. GnR