Date: 7th February, 2013

Jersey Jack Pinball's Jack Guarnieri revealed The Hobbit as the company's second game after The Wizard of Oz back at the end of November 2012. Now JJP have released a teaser flyer featuring a shot of the game's cabinet and backglass artwork.

The JJP teaser advertisement

This picture shows the Limited Edition of the game complete with gold trim, legs and lock bar, and gives us our first glimpse at the expected look of the machine.

The Hobbit's cabinet

The full title of the game - The Hobbit: Motion Picture Trilogy - makes it clear it is based on all three movies, the final installment of which is scheduled for summer 2014. However, the cabinet art shown here is all from the first movie - An Unexpected Journey.

Also released was this clearer shot of the artwork on left side of the cabinet.

The left cabinet side

This montage of scenes created by artist Jeff Busch from the first movie presents a timeline, from the arrival of Gandalf, through to the gathering of the Dwarf leaders at Bilbo's house, through to the start of their quest to reinstate Thorin Oakenshield on the Dwarf throne.

The central image from the left side artwork

The right side will feature scenes from the second and third movies and so will probably not be revealed for some time yet.

The cabinet front

Jeff is not exactly new to creating pinball artwork, having worked on games for Sega Pinball and Capcom Pinball, including Apollo 13, Batman Forever, Baywatch, Independence Day and Pinball Magic.

Jeff said, "I'm very excited to be joining the JJP Team! To be part of a group of such incredibly talented people with so many years' experience under their collective belt is a dream come true. And the fact that 'The Hobbit' is my first game with them is just the Middle-Earth icing on the cake."

You can see more examples of Jeff's creative talents on his personal website.

Also working on the new game is Jean-Paul de Win, who created the animations and display designs for The Wizard of Oz. He described his excitement at working on JJP's second game too. "I'm very happy to continue my work for JJP and I'm looking forward to work on The Hobbit. Being a huge Lord of the Rings fan, The Hobbit for me is a great theme to work with. Can it get any better? Working in Pinball and animating Middle Earth! I've learned a lot during the Wizard of Oz project. There's so many possibilities with the screen, they're endless. I'm glad I can now further explore how we can make even better use of the LCD."

A slightly clearer shot of the game's backglass image
complete with the LCD monitor

Early reports suggest orders for more than 900 The Hobbit machines have been made by private buyers and JJP distributors. There will be 1,500 Limited Edition machines made, with an unlimited number of the regular model.

Pinball News will be bringing you all the latest information about The Hobbit, just as we did with The Wizard of Oz.

So keep checking the site and our new The Hobbit section for all the breaking news - First and Free.

© Pinball News 2013