if i got a new game, i would play it a hell of a lot more then twice before i went on the internet! congrats on the game, cant believe you were able to break away for a review. thanks for the write up

Congrats on getting your new game!

Setting up the rear legs by yourself? (must be the HULK!)

Check that the shooter and plunger is centered on the ball, some people have had to adjust a little.

2.3 mil is a great score!

Mid 100k is a good game here on location. If you're getting in the millions already you must be an IFPA top ten player or have a much different setup than our location game.

Im averaging over a million and am trying to break 3 million now, its possible just keep playing!

Great score and awesome machine. I second the recommendation for those on the fence. Keep it. I'm still trying to figure out how to kill smaug myself. I love this game. Nice write up. Now, go play more.

Congrats on Hobbit SE

Great to hear you hung in there. Mine might be here next week hopefully. Thanks for posting your early experience.

I think a lot of us are focusing on completing the modes right now and for me its killing my scores
Soon there will be completion bonuses for modes, so I guess Im practicing modes as well as trying to kill smaug.
And trying to complete into the fire.

Wow, you must be a great player. Those are some crazy good scores. I played at a local venue never got above 500k or maybe 400k plus.

Some of the other Hobbit threads have some scoring advice and description of how to kill Smaug as well as the rules for Into the Fire mini wizard mode. After about 100 plays, I feel like I have a good idea of what is going on and what to do in each mode. While the rules might seem daunting at first, they really aren't too difficult and the display gives you pretty good information about game progress. Glad to hear you are enjoying it, the game will only get better with future code updates.

I think it's really important that players get enough time on machine learning the objectives before making a decision on the game. It is very daunting at first but once you learn it, it's really not that bad to understand. Seems like many people make a decision on it after playing one in the wild a couple games and not at correct set up and then are down on it.It is really just a great game and yes, I do love the playfield as is.

What's a good intro to Hobbit's rules? I finally found a location game that isn't a dollar per play and I put a few games in, but I had a hard time figuring out how to actually start modes, even after (seemingly) qualifying them. I love all the new callouts, though I do have to admit I have a hard time reading the text in the book.

The right ramp when lit "mode" starts the modes.
Into the fire starts when insert is lit and you hit either hole.

Looks like my Hobbit might be here Monday if I understand correctly. Looking forward to it big time.

My SE arrives in the morning. Doughslingers is delivering it . Can't wait!

Pictures of stuck ball?

Well, I haven't seen that one yet. Can the green box move up any or bend the ramp down some?

Can't wait to get mine. Had a few games on location and loved it. I've got both Hobbit and GB Pre on order and I'm looking forward to Hobbit more.

Does the ball stay stuck like a stuck on magnet (loose or broken wire?)? Or does it move if you nudge it (increase PF pitch?).

On these games if a wire is unplugged somewhere the computer does very strange things that may not even be related to the location of the missing unplugged wire.

Gently comb through all the wires with your fingertips (start at the bottom and work your way up, it seems endless but its not) and gently tug them to see if something has a bad contact. Everything should be snug. Sometimes a connector is not plugged in tight enough (unplug and re-plug as you go).

One of the toughest bad wires to find is a bad crimp in a molex housing (wiggling/tugging them usually finds them).

It definitely sounds like something is unplugged or a wire fell of.

Exactly. The one I played was set up by itself in a seperate room to all the other games. Sound was up really loud, lighting low. Levelling perfect and fairly steep. Flippers strong. Plenty of time to learn the basic rules. All combined made for a good first impression.

I could imagine playing for the first time in a busy, noisy location, with sound turned down, bright lighting, not steep and not level. Like at a pinball show. It wouldn't leave a good impression.

This game is all about immersion in the theme. Sound, lighting and video are light years ahead of anything else on the market. The layout is something different, but works well. Cookie cutter games made to a formula have their place in pinball, particularly on location, but get boring in a home environment. Hobbit will shine in a home environment.

Is it mechanically hanging on something or is the ball itself magnetized?

Less than a day and the game is already malfunctioning. That sucks.

My green box does not go over the ramp. Is the box loose.

Good thing you posted the glowing review after 2 games and not 3

There still seems this odd combination with JJP of "built like a tank" but not quite perfected QC....

You will have to manually roll a ball down into that area and see what its sticking on.

There is a diverter in the green box to make the ball drop into the smaug area.
Maybe it came loose and is sticking out below the wireform.

I had the lower diverter to the windlance fall off. I reinstalled it and put a drop on blue loctite on the screw. So far its stable.

It looks like the wire gate for the diverter feed assembly has come loose.
You will have to lift and pull out the playfield to its service position to reach the screws that hold the green plastic box in place and remove it to get to the diverter for inspection. Possibly remove or loosen something else too.....its pinball....

There is a bare listing of it on pages c-48 and c-49 in the manual that you can download for free here:

http://www.jerseyjackpinball.com/game-specific-downloads/the-hobbit-downloads/

I couldnt find a picture of it exposed on the net, maybe Lloyd or someone here can take one for you if needed.

It doesnt look too hard to fix, its probably just loose or a screw fell out. Screws usually fall down into the cabinet and can be found sometimes stuck to the speaker or on the big metal box.

Got mine last night. Only able to put a few games in out of the box as it was almost 1AM by then. So far so good. I had no significant issues although I did take the time to tighten a lot of the screws under the playfield as most were maybe 1/4 to 1/2 turn too loose (maybe more if I really cranked down but I didn't try to kill it.)

Did yours have the updated beast ball 'blockers' mod?

What was the suggested fix for the diverter issue? My game arrived last week so it's probably the same vintage as yours and has the exact same problem. Your pictures look exactly like my ball hang. I can see the edge of the diverter holding the ball. I was thinking The green sculpture needs to be removed, and the diverter needs to be bent down some. Is that what they suggested?

Also when I took delivery, Jen said beast hole guards have not started being installed on production games yet, but corrected left wire form ramps have.

Thanks,

Jim

For those of us who have had the game for 3 months, when are we getting the beast hole guards and corrected left wire form?

Per my conversation with Frank a week or two ago, he's sending me pop guards and a new wire form once they figure out a few other issues on mine. So it sounds like if you contact them, they have them ready is what I gathered.