Hobbit is phenomenal - it's the best modern game to properly integrate its licensed theme. The music is breathtaking, the display is outstanding, the depth of content is unprecedented, and as usual - Keith can take any playfield and make it amazing with his incredible rules.

Unfortunately it got a bad rap for having a shitty reveal, years of delays, and people not giving a crap about the movies.

On top of that, it's the type of game that can't be appreciated fully if it's in a noisy location and you can't hear it.

On top of that, "hobby tastemakers" have changed, and the appreciation of super deep games like TSPP and LOTR are no longer in favor....people want flow flow flow, 3 minute games.

On top of that, you have people who never bothered to understand the game constantly lying about it...the lies about upper flipper doing nothing or it being hard to understand if you don't look up. Absolute lies. The book on the playfield ALWAYS tells you what to do, there are constant call outs about which ramp or object to hit, and the color coding is CONSISTANT - the mode shots are ALWAYS orange, Dwarves are always purple, locks are always green, etc.

Hobbit perfectly accomplishes what it sets out to do as a licensed Hobbit game...it's a beautiful & long quest-style game.

Wrong. A game can have both, and a "player" can enjoy the entire experience. No part of a pinball machine exists on its own. All elements work together.

I play my games. I'm a "player". I just like a variety of games if they do want they do well. I like long quests like LOTR & Hobbit, I like 3 minute ass kickers like Iron Man. There is an insane amount of great gameplay for "players" to enjoy in Hobbit. It's not just about looks and sound, but - those things are incredibly well done and there's no shame in enjoying it.

Ghostbusters has fundamental problems that keep it from being playable or fun for most PLAYERS. You can say Hobbit is "semetrical" or "boring" ...but all the shots and features work as intended...so, it fundamentally does what the player wants and expects, something Ghostbusters fails at. Hobbit also has tons of content that's relatively random...anyone can play Hobbit and see a lot of different modes, even if they only start a few, something Ghostbusters also fails at.

GB has skated by purely on theme and art.

Hobbit doesn't have the theme love, and while it looks nice, it's still a Photoshopped package which will never get the praise of a 100% hand drawn art package like GB...so, fundamentally those of us who are enjoying it enjoy its gameplay/code.

If you don't like Hobbit, that's fine...not every game is for everyone...but, it's more due to the STYLE of game that it is vs. it being "BAD". I don't like Twilight Zone, but I don't think it's bad. It just doesn't click with me...but I get why people like it.

It's not about that you can't hit them with the lower flippers...it's that the rules set up shots to be hit from the upper flipper. Sometimes when the ball exits from the bumpers, one of the targets below Smaug will flash in light blue to be hit from the upper flipper. There's also a mode where the windlance kickback will launch the ball up to the upper flipper as a setup to hit the targets below Smaug.

You're combining two different things in order to find irony & slam me...

-Math Chess rules are a thing. My opinions on them are opinions. I claim no "truth" about them...other than I don't enjoy them. If you like them, cool.

-When people say you can't tell what to do on Hobbit by looking at the playfield, that's categorically false. The book on the playfield tells you every mode objective. Every orange shot tells you what you should be shooting for during a mode, and other colors consistently indicate other goals as well.

Another 3rd flipper liar, which proves you haven't played the game much or understand it. And you think GB is FUN!?!! All credibility on pinball opinions LOST. GB is the most unplayable fun-sapping box of vomit & designed by a pedophile. It barely qualifies as "pinball" or a "game". I cancelled mine and bought Hobbit - which shoots FINE & smoothly. The rules use the playfield to the fullest and make you use every spot and feature to the fullest. Best choice I ever made, and a tremendous loss for the people who don't get it.

Because they're playing one set up with the back legs low. It's called gravity. Jack the back legs up and it plays fast like anything else that has gravity applied.

I would never pay retail for any of these new games lol. Of course no one should spend $9k on a Hobbit....it if one comes along for about $6k!? I say go for it. At a price between a Stern Pro & Premium, that's a stellar value. I paid $7500 for my Smaug last year. No regrets.

If you enjoy it and don't plan on selling it at the moment, no bath was taken, and market value is irrelevant. When I bought Avatar LE, and I posted how much fun it was, the trolls were in full force berating me on what a monetary loss I would take. They'd never respond to my comments on the fun of the game - only the price. Telling. When I did end up selling it, I got like $200 less than what I paid for it...I enjoyed it for a few years and put about 2000 plays on that machine. There was no "loss" in my eyes.

BTW - how did you end up paying $7500 for X-Men LE? It was about $6300 NIB & the market never really took off on it.

You can change that in the settings. Set Beasts to hard and it balances things nicely.

Who paid that much? The Hobbit pre-orders were $7500 ...the switch to Smaug had no upcharge.

Just played mine and timed it out of curiosity. 22 min game, but only got to Into the Fire.

Still love it.

Bottom line is not every game is gonna be a 3 minute tournament game. Plenty of people hate RFM and call it a "gimmick", but to me it's one of the most fun games to play. Sometimes presentation goes a long way. Hobbit just pulls me in with its amazing music, display, voices, etc. plus it just feels good. The targets, ramps, scoops and beasts are satisfying to hit, especially with Thiel's excellent music and sound design accompanying the action. It's a long quest and that's OK if you don't mind spending some time on one play. Ops will hate it. Tourney players will hate it. People who play one machine with their friends will hate it. Those who want a cinematic quest experience will love it. I still have no regrets buying it. I think it's neat having a JJP game, and I didn't want WOZ or DI.

Because it's the opposite of boring. People used to complain that the B/W games were too easy and simple...and when TSPP and LOTR came out, people were thrilled that you could own these games for years and they were great for home use due to their massive amount of content and long "quests" to get to the final wizard mode. Anyone can see Monster Bash's wizard modes....almost no one can get to TSPP or LOTR's final modes. Depth = an amazing accomplishment to get deep into the game. After those games came out, people loved and expected depth...it's only a recent phenomenon that a vocal group dislikes it and only wants 3 minute long games.