I can't speak for Pirates but Hobbit got old fast. I've never seen a game on location get less plays after a month. It's just relentlessly grindy and all 956,074 modes are some variation of shoot the drop targets or shoot the troll things we stole from Medieval Madness. Maybe if troll modes are your favorite part of Medieval Madness, but you felt what was really holding the game back was it just didn't quite have *enough* troll action, Hobbit is for you. And I'm not a Jersey Jack hater. I think Dialed In is one of the best games of the last decade. Woz is fine and I've only played two games on the prototype Pirates, but I liked what I saw.

Unfortunately there aren't any Hobbits close to me anymore. There are five Dialed In in a twenty minute drive. I'm willing to give it another shot, but I just wasn't fond of the layout. The center is completely bare except for the "trolls", the ramps are super easy to hit with great flippers and nearly impossible with weak ones, really the only satisfying shots were the orbits. Not to mention the troll pop-ups were constantly broken.

I'll definitely give it a shot the next time I'm an hour south or 45 minutes north of Seattle, but it was so, so terrible for the first year it was out that my opinion is likely forever spoiled.

It might have more potential as a home game. I know the ruleset is deep as hell, even if the individual modes to navigate it were either "kill the trolls" or some variation of "blinking drop target sniper".