Hi All !

Just got my SE on Monday afternoon serial ending in 073. Smaug is still spelled smuag on the box stamp.

First off I want to thank Jack and Team at JJP for an amazing and beautiful game, there is really nothing like the look, quality and feel of these games.

The box was crushed and "popped" at the top, looks like someone strapped it too tightly near the top and it broke the packing tape.
I was a bit worried about water damage due to it shipped all the way to Reno during the rain and snow last week in the Midwest.
The driver from R&L was wonderfully helpful and patient, he suggested I inspect everything while he waited, so I did.

The open box let a lot of dust inside but otherwise no damage at all, the packaging was superb.

Moving it to my game room seemed heavier that the WOZ!
Setup was easy, I set the angle to 7°, leveled left to right with a torpedo level, checked for anything loose or bent, excellent quality over-all.

Game booted right up everything except the spider pop-up worked perfectly under the tests.
The spider was rubbing on the left side of the wooden hole. It looks like it is not centered in the hole properly, but there is only about a 1/16th" of space to play with. I'm going to have to remove it and elongate the bracket holes a tiny bit to get it to center properly. Running a drill bit through and side cutting the holes slightly is a simple fix for this.

I have seen this exact problem on a couple of the videos, (spider wont pop up).

The USB cable end connector fit very loosely on my USB stick, and would not register it for a back-up of the settings (my WOZ fits tightly) I did not have a spare handy so I pulled the cable from my WOZ, did the back-up and installed version 1.01 code. (I'm sure I have a suitable cable laying around for a replacement later).

The flippers were a little weak on factory settings, I couldn't get up the right ramp easily with the right flipper. I set them up higher by 4.
This was way too hard and the ball moved so fast it would fly off the wireforms. I lowered the settings by 2 and it seems perfect, I could probably lower it by 1 more.

I played 10 games and once the ball trough failed to deliver a ball so I increased its strength by 1 only. I also increased the right VUK by 1 only.

I also increased the upper left sling by 2 ( I think this one is just a matter of taste).

Gameplay:

Let me say that the comments on being slow or floaty do not apply to this game at all.
My game is fast and crisp playing and FUN!

The pop-up monsters are amazing and FUN! The game is easy for the novice and deeply challenging for the experts!

To compare it to the WOZ is just impossible, they are 2 different and distinct accomplishments from JJP.

Again, this game is a winner hands down and will be a permanent fixture on my collection for years to come.

20160418_150239_(resized).jpg

20160418_150254_(resized).jpg

20160418_150346_(resized).jpg

20160418_150226_(resized).jpg

20160418_150527_(resized).jpg

I don't think its a huge problem per se, Its just that there is very little room for error. If I had 1/64th" more space it would be fine.
Maybe they could put 2 layers of masking tape on the sides of the holes during assembly to insure a little more clearance and then remove it before the next step.

I have a question about the windlance settings.
When it fires the ball back into play, how far should it go?
On my game it goes up the alley towards the pop bumpers, but not into them, and slides back down into play.

Thanks, I guess mine is working perfectly then

Interesting ball hang.
The ball was fired onto the wireform via the dwarf drop when it reset, bounced off the glass and stayed put like perfect Tee shot to the green!
My game pitch is between 6.5 and 7 degrees. A higher pitch wont stop this one as its in the gully of the wireform unless its at 12-15 degrees.

I had the pitch steeper and the flippers ramped up but the ball would not stay on the wireforms consistantly during high inertia modes.

I think I'm getting this baby dialed in almost perfectly for me right now. My last good score was 864,000, mostly by completing the modes.

20160430_000400_(resized).jpg

What are these fixes, can you elaborate?

I wonder what changes were made. Mostly the mechs work great, they just needed adjusting on my game.
Now the ball trapping in the mechs is a troubling problem that may need some new ideas, I think.

Check your side to side level first, the mechs kinda "hang" loosely in their weldments (to allow for the 4 or 6-way motion maybe?).
Next check your playfield pitch, 6 1/2 to 7 degree's, I have mine at slightly less than 7.

The mechs might have enough play in the mounting holes to be moved slightly (after loosening their mounting hardware) away from where they rub.

Lastly, thin washers can be inserted to tilt the mech away from the edge that it is rubbing on.

On my game the mechs can be extremely close to the playfield wood and work perfectly, they just cannot rub or touch the wood.

Upon delivery of my game:

Orc pop-up was rubbing ever so slightly
Goblin and Warg were perfect
Spider did a peek-a-boo then dropped down (needed adjusting).

The spider needed the most adjustment.

Currently after many games there are no more problems other than the before mentioned ball traps under the flaps, mostly under the goblin and orc figure.

Congrats on the new game! Its always nice to see no or little box damage! R-L seems to be a good and patient pinball carrier over all.

Out of the box I had similar feelings, I didnt understand the game, I didnt know what I was doing, game felt off.

Skyemont has it right, the games were setup factory, but not fun! I have also found out with a lot of testing, and making assessments after each adjustment and then numerous plays.

The pitch makes a huge amount of difference in this game, not only in regard to the speed of play, but in the over-all feel.

7 degrees, flippers at 25 is fast and furious, ramps are easily made from clean or cradled shots, Not slow or boring at all, but you might get a lot of air balls if the flippers are set too high. Balls can fly off the wireforms. Flipper fatigue is a lessor issue on long games.

6.5 degrees or less flippers at 22 can be super smooth but a little bit floaty on missed shots. Ramps are hard to make even if the PF is freshly waxed, very few air balls, game behaves but seems docile, doesnt have a crisp rewarding feel. Flippers at 22 can feel fatigued on long games. Ball speeds can be too slow to register the ring save without nudging.

My game is currently set at slightly less than 7 (6.85 degrees?) flippers at 25. Game plays aggressive, balls stay on the wireforms, less air balls during multi-ball, ramps can be made from either flipper from a cradled position. flipper fatigue is felt less on longer games, game feels crisp and rewarding.

A huge part of the game is managing the ramps. You have to be able to make them consistently to select or reject the modes, from either flipper.

One of the things that makes pinball fun is the ability to fire the ball fast if needed, flipper settings are key to this.

Personally Im not a fan. It will indeed protect the game, but so does partial Mylar. It will reduce but not eliminate dimpling.

For home use its not necessary, I think for heavily routed games, It makes sense.

One thing hat has come up is dust getting under the protector, grinding into the clearcoat and being difficult to remove without a big tear-down.

Also the game plays differently, plays slower, but the ball might go over the mech flaps and roll-overs better.

WOW! Congrats!

Nice to see they spelled "Smaug" correctly!

And I see that you have a cool number sticker on the box instead of the regular stamping.

You might have all the tweaks and fixes that have been rumored to be available.

Im anxious to se if there are any differences on your game.

(I had to wait a week to unbox my WOZ...It was all I could think about for a week)

Ouch, caught me between edits, thanks for catching this, my typing is terrible

My game pitch is just slightly under 7 degrees.

I have a couple hundred plays on my game now (7 weeks of NIB ownership).
Last night I had trouble making ramps with backhand shots. I upped the flipper power but it didn't help.

I put the PF in the lower maintenance position and checked the flippers.

Flipper coils were very warm, but not burning hot, as I had been running it for a hour straight.
There was no binding in anything, springs were perfect.

EOS switches needed adjusting a little, mostly to close a little farther up.
The coil stop screws had loosened a little on both mechs (half a turn to a full turn), I tightened them up (no blue Loctite yet) the mounting screws were slightly loose like a half a turn. Ill check it in a couple hundred more plays and probably Loctite these like on my other games.

I reset the flipper power to 25, started a game, and WOW! WAY more powerful than ever!

Played a game, put 1.5 million on the board, and had the best game ever!

I don't think the problem was flipper fatigue per se....

So, I guess if you are constantly raising the flipper power, and it doesn't work or give the desired result, tune up the flippers a bit?

It is for all versions, I put it on my SE and It ROCKS! Very nicely done, team at JJP!

This epic game is more epic every day!

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hobbit-setup-tweaks-and-adjustments

You might have very good power there.

Power is a big issue. I have 4 games running on a single 20 amp circuit. If all games are being played, the flippers are slightly weaker so I ramp them up a notch on the hobbit and WOZ. MM gets a little weak and harder to make the dragon ramp, ToM just never slows down no matter what and always plays like a rocket.

So if I only turn on the hobbit by itself, it plays well at 7 degrees and the flippers at 25. I had it at 7.3 degrees flippers at 26-27 but on a long game (45 mins) the flipper coils heat up and have noticeable fatigue towards the end. Im thinking of putting in flipper fans.

I have fiddled with it a lot. Im happiest at 6.9 degrees and flippers at 25-26.

Definitely your best bet. I measure all around and take an average based on the dead center as a guide.

I like how one can tag the Newton ball from the upper right flipper and avoid a dead drain SDTM.

Has anyone installed Pinblades™ on their game? Or mirror blades?
I was thinking of adding the black mirrors, but I would like to know how the vinyl pinblades™ look.

Did you update to the current 1.10 code?

Im not having resets, but my pops are not set at the defaults either. Each one is different, they seem more random this way. I turned the top one down as it was sending SDTM too often.
I wonder if its a power distribution issue, since power is controlled via software to the coils.

I think "exploring" the game is very accurate. The game is an adventure, it's a battle, it has slow fun modes balanced by furious and exciting action modes.
Its all I play now and cant get enough!

Next code update will blow this game thru the roof.

Looking at the "curl" of metal holding the LED. On my game (an earlier build) The curl is hammered flat on the top so as not to scratch the glass I think. they must have missed a step in production on that one. I hope you got a new glass in the mail.

I have a question:

My lock bar is kinda loose compared to all my other games.
I adjusted the brass screws but there is not enough adjustment to tighten the lock bar without messing up the inner lock handle function.

What has been done for this very minor annoyance?
I saw that one fix to put rubber feet on the cabinet to take up the slack.

Any other solutions?

WOW Congrats on the new game!
It was worth the wait, and it looks like you get all of the current fixes!
40 months and now its here! YAY !

Yay !

Its listed somewhere maybe in this thread.
It involves 5 different levels of killing beasts or making ramps and orbits.
In general terms at about your 5th smaug multiball, if you have attempted to keep your ball in play as long as possible,
You are close to killing smaug.

When it happens its amazing.

I dont think one can consciously kill smaug without laying the groundwork first IMHO....

Make sure you have a clean perfect version of the software. Some times it gets corrupted in the transfer.
Use the USB update function in the game menu.
Use a different USB stick of a different manufacturer, if it wont read. They are not all equal.
Format it to fat32 , but it should come that way pre-formatted.
Have only the unzipped "Hobbit_update" folder on the usb stick
Follow the instructions in the manual or the website exactly.
Also if you cant get any type of USB stick to read, check or replace the USB cable.

The USB stick should fit snugly into the connector end on the cable

Sometimes it has to do with wall A/C current.

On a high power day my VUK's actually bounce the ball off the wire-form and go back down to the actuator.
On low power days it might take 2 attempts for the ball to get to the top.

This is happening while leaving the settings unchanged.

Congrats on getting an amazing game!
Lucky 777 !

I think all of the arkanstone modes should have a video and pause the game when completed like when you kill smaug.
That would be spectacular (and give a little time to catch your breath).

Yes

Its pretty easy you just have to keep track of the opto wires and the little plastic diffusers under the text cutouts.

working slow and cleaning everything underneath and drilling out the old flaps plus installing the new ones took me 45 mins.