All the playfield are the same I believe. It's really just cosmetic and personal preference. Black arrow has a black ball I think in captive ball. Black arrows are still available nib, but others can be found at great prices. My preference is the LE with more character art, but smaug edition is sweet to. Any are great.

LE and Smaug have hammered powered coated armour. Looks incredible, extremely high quality. Probably the nicest factory powder coat on a pin. Black Arrow does not, just flat paint. Standard has stainless steel armour.

Think of all but the standard as variations of LEs.

So for the LEs they included things like Invisiglass and probably the shaker. I'm sure there was more but I'm forgetting.

Radicals, super-duper extra shiny and heavy weight side art were a $400 option even for the LEs.

You can pick up a used Smaug edition for $6000-$6500. I sold one for that price. Personally I think it’s the best looking version.

$6500 - $7000 seems more in line with the average pricing. Sure there's been some quick sales closer to $6k but average price is above that.

Hobbit looks and sounds amazing- here’s a few of the last sales on pinside. Good prices

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Graphics, armor colors, black arrow has one black ball and a very very small amount of code difference meaning a splash screen.
There's literally nothing overly special from one version to the next. Just make sure it's running the latest code and has all the hardware fixes and get ready to go on an adventure.

Yep, I purchased my Smaug for 6K and my buddy snagged an LE for 5.7K. They’re a hard sell at much beyond 6K.

One sold here locally not to long ago for $7200. Condition (HUO versus routed) and location impacts pricing as well. $6500 - $7k is still the average price range for a perfect HUO game.

Lowest priced sales don't automatically equal the new average pricing.

Play Field is the same on all of them just have different cabinet artwork, powder coat, and other cosmetic things my personal favorite is the Smaug edition.

Both of the games I referenced were purchased HUO with less than 200 plays. I’ve had mine for over a year so maybe the market has rebounded some? Though, a base game was advertised in the classifieds of our local paper for $5,799 around June. For reference, my home is an hour from NYC and Philadelphia, and 15 minutes from JJP.

I happen to enjoy the game, but most of my guests become underwhelmed and move on to another machine after seeing the Smaug clips a few times.

You're right, it's all relative. I've paid it a bit of attention and my recollection is that the machines selling in the low $6s were all routed at some point, however briefly.

One thing the OP has going for him is the fact that since the pins started shipping three years ago there's probably folks like me that have gotten to the point where it's getting to be time to shake things up and thus they are ready to sell.

Black Arrow's have gloss black hammered powder coated armour and all playfield fixes.

The LE and Smaug also have;

-molded barrel pop bumpers
-gold Smaug (vs red on standard)
-moving axe on slings

I assume the Black arrow has these as well but I’m not 100% sure.

You can't state truths that Hobbit has tanked because current owners will get upset. You have to say its the greatest pin ever and worth more than it is. lol

I’m an owner, but I think a lot of folks are in denial on pricing. Any toy that is still worth half of what you paid is a good deal in my book.

Red on LE’s as well

Most of the differences between the pins are cosmetic. Molded barrels, Smaug, armor, decals. The moving axe / sword on the slings is the only mechanical difference I recall. I owned the standard and never felt like I was missing much vs the upgraded models. It’s is all personal preference and some people really like the cosmetic differences. For me, i typically go for the standard / pro models unless the differences are drastic (so I have some more $ for additional pins). That being said, LE versions can be found around the same price as some of the standards I have seen. I have seen prices vary widely based on location and it does seems that the standard version is harder to find than the LE in the used market.

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Sold a smaug gold recently for 6800 and know of a few others that sold for 6600-7200. Its a lot of pin for the money and the new code is amazing. I really enjoyed the pin while i had it and the new owner and his family absolutely love it.

My black arrow has a hammered or textured powder coat on the armor. I have a GOTLE that has shiny smooth black powdercoat. They are definitely different.

Black Arrow is the most exclusive with 750 released. Not sure if it's the Smaug or LE but one has 1500 released and the other has an undisclosed number released.
Possible that Black arrow will hold value a smidge better for that reason. I paid a little more for mine than i wanted to for that reason (could have got an LE cheaper).

Love reading this old post the game goes for 9500-10500 now lol

Wish I had bought 1 back then. I made offers on a couple and backed away thinking that at 6K I might not get it all back if/when I sold!

Believe I bought my huo Smaug for 6K and I thought I paid too much.

You did, game blows