Have put about 200 games on LZ LE and I really enjoy the game. It is very fast. It is so fast it makes Star Trek feel slow by comparison. There is a fun risk reward element to the rules which keeps the game’s exciting and relatively short.

The open play field is actually a pro rather than a con. It allows for unprecedented speed and flow.

The only feature I gave less than high marks is the Magic Spinner. At least for me, it disrupts the flow and is a real drain hazard.

Game looks amazing in person.

Update: another 200 games in so approximately 400 total... this has to be the best speed/flow pin ever made. if you like speed and flow as I do, this game is a must for your collection. the code at 1.02 has added more reward to the Magic Spinner which offsets the drain risk, makes all the difference. The Spinner is still a hazard but the reward makes it worth shooting for and more exciting.

as far as cons, the shots are pretty tight/tough except for the center ramp which is easy peasy from both main flippers. the upper flipper is an extreme example of difficulty. to put it into context, i'm about 60% success on the spiderman upper ramp shot, 30% on star trek but only about 1% on LZ LE upper ramp. i mean, what's the point? the good news is that shot is completely irrelevant to the game rules so you and can ignore it (thank goodness). took some points off of my rating for this though.

Exceeded expectations. Sound quality is excellent and of course the music is great. I hope they add some more songs but then again I would like to see the whole catalog available. Lighting and animation is very catching to the eye. I have logged a few hours and look forward to the next few.

Being a huge Zep fan for nearly half a century, I had high hopes for this pin. Being a pinball fan for almost as long, after seeing the announcement vids however, some of those hopes were a bit dashed. Now that I've played this pin, my lowered expectations were dismissed as I jammed with Pagey, Plant, Jonesy and Bonzo on this machine for an hour or so. This was the first time that I truly experienced jamming on a rock and roll pin with great music. The Beatles pin was a bit too quaint for me. Metallica and AC/DC are great pins, but each band has only a few songs that I like. Kiss and Aerosmith had great music, but were just barely above-average pins. This freakin' thing ROCKS! Great flow, great lighting effects and challenging but rewarding shots. It has some cool features and great animations as well. Even the archival footage of the Hindenburg wreckage is a cool (and VERY Zep) touch. With the flow that this pin has and all of the different multiball modes, this pin will rock your world. The art package barely exceeds the simplicity of the Swan Song art, but with brighter, more intense colors. But it works. My only caveats are that the dirigible toy over the left ramp is completely inert and I wish it had some purpose or a multiball or something (Note to Stern: the band's name evolved from a Keith Moon joke, not from Hindenburg airships). I also wish there was some of the additional, better Zep songs like What Is and What Should Never Be, Four Sticks, When the Levee Breaks, Achilles Last Stand, I could go on. With more of Zep's library, each game would be a party. I would like to own a copy and will, if possible.

This game exceeded my expectations. Finally a music pin with ton of hit songs and from best rock group ever. Ramps and layout are great. Super fast. Invisaglass, good playfield, good art. The electric magic found only on premium and limited edition is fun and very unique. Light show from several LED lighting on cabinet sides are in sync with the music. This is a Stern first and really sets this pin above the rest. All I can say is "Rock On"

I have had this machine for just over two weeks now. I have to admit that as a huge fan of Led Zeppelin, I had very high expectations (maybe too high). I am in the minority that actually liked the artwork and colors right away. I know the history of the band and their record label. Swan Song Records logo was the same colors and I like the integration of the historical color palette. Now that I've seen it up close, I can say that the pearl in the blue is great and cannot be captured sufficiently in photos or video. It ties in well with the rest of the art and really stands out (in a good way) next to my other machines. Now for the playability, flow, shots, callouts, and music...When I first shot it out of the box, I wanted to drive up to Illinois and personally deliver Steve Ritchies head on a platter to the entire pinball world. It felt like they used Covid as a B.S. excuse to mail in the design on this one. I was beyond disappointed and downright pissed off. However, having waited so many years for this title, I felt I owed it to myself to give it a fair shake. The more I played it, the more I liked it. I usually don't add games into my collection that I have not played, and I don't buy games that I don't immediately like, but having had an initial negative vibe on Willy Wonka, then later realizing that I really like the game, I have matured a bit in my selection process. That said, the flow of the ramps, the Electric Magic toy, the sounds, and most of all the music have me really falling in love with this pin. I watched a Pod Cast review where the reviewer (well known Podcaster) made a big deal that the middle ramp could not be made with the top flipper as the designers claimed. He is just wrong! It can be made. In fact I have made that shot more times than the kicker return wireform shot that brings the ball across the playfield. Those two shots alone are challenging and rewarding enough to keep me coming back. The ramps are fairly easy to hit and make for some of the best flow (Theatre of Magic worthy) of any game I've played in recent memory (credit to Steve's well known penchant for this gameplay style). I thought that the ball launch missed the boat by only being able to hit the LED standups. I hoped that maybe an adjustment to the launch trajectory could potentially allow the ball to go into the cross-field kicker wire form. Well I have now learned first hand that a game really does need to be broken in. The auto launch now hits that shot about 2 out of 10 times and I've been able to make the shot manually a few times as well. I still think an adjustment is required to make this a choice every time you launch the ball. I really like the Electric Magic (EM) toy more that I thought I would. The sound of the spinner is great and ball lock mode with follow on ball release is really a blast to shoot. Making the ball go through EM and up the ramp is one of my favorite shots. It's even better when you hit the captured ball and make that one up the ramp. The call outs are adequate, but I sure wish they would have had an actual Brit doing them. The code (as expected and predicted) is early and needs some real work. I am confident that will happen in true Stern style. The lighting is fantastic. I am a huge fan of the Expression cabinet lights. The playfield is sufficiently lit even in low light rooms. I'm not planning on buying Pin Stadiums for this machine. Now...even if you're not a big Led Zeppelin fan, the music feels right. As a huge LZ fan, I can think of a dozen other songs I wish they used, but when I'm shooting this game and hearing the music it really hits the mark. I also enjoy the DJ mode that allows me to rotate through the setlist without starting a game.

I am really happy I decided to buy this game, and continue to enjoy it more and more each time I play it. I know that code updates will come and that they will improve the gameplay experience even more. Like everyone else who buys a new Stern, I wish the code was better out of the box, but that doesn't seem to be in cards. This pin will be in my collection for the foreseeable future and is rapidly becoming one of my favorites. One additional note, the biggest surprise has been how much my wife and kids have taken to LZ. I expected this one to not get much attention from the family, but they too have become huge fans of the game. I think it is the flow of the ramps that really sucked them in...

Amazing game, flows well, great music and will only get better with more code development.

Just got my LE today and am having a blast with this game. So far I’ve put about 30-40 games on it. My last Steve Richie pin was a STLE and this pin is faster and has more flow! The music is amazing and the integration with the expression lighting is cool. The shots change and evolve while the song progresses and the lighting changes as well. Those are the pros with game play.

Cons with game play is some of the shots are far back and require a lot of power; I think this is a skill issue and not entirely game play. Two complaints I do have is that their is not a physical ball lock for the zeppelin and also their isn’t a mechanical ball saver. Toys could be better but that’s what mods are for!

As far as the art, and music I absolutely love it but I’m biased as I’m a huge Led Zeppelin fan. Think the psychedelic art, acid drip video, and live concert footage is a cool throw back.

Looking forward to how the code evolves; I’m thinking stairway will be unlocked during a wizard mode.

fantastic game- the updated code made a great game even better. Wow- just noticed 6 people flagged my review. having owned this game and virtually every other rock pin I like to think i have a pretty good handle on what makes a game great. Mainly the desire to want to hit the start button over and over. LZ has this in spades. I also host/stream many events and this is by far the most popular game to be played. from a tournament standpoint the scoring is extremely well balanced. Music is great, flow is among the best of any machine i've owned. (currently i have about 40 games in my collection). I did have a playfield issue on mine but Stern backed it up their warranty with a populated playfield swap.

This machine looks barren but do not let that fool you . It is a blast to play and hearing complete led Zeppelin songs while you rip the spinner mech is a rush ! I did have to bend spinner posts out of the box as has been suggested on pinside but no issues otherwise . The video goes well with the theme and the rules seem to be fairly easy to grasp . The top flipper shot not as hard as I have seen others say . Still in the honeymoon phase with this pin but it is a keeper . Right by GNR in my collection and holding it’s own ! Lights added by Stern add to the effect . Not as many lights as GNR but the playfield is well lit and awesome to behold. Come play it today at The Pinball Palace in Brunswick Ga .

I just put a full hour on a Led Zeppelin LE this morning. Last night I got a text from the boss that they just set one up in company headquarters, and to check it out (having a pinhead boss is great!). I’m going to give you my thoughts on this machine, and rate it. I think a lot of the early reviews on these are biased as the only people who can review are the early adopters at this point in time. Here are the opinions of someone who played it with no skin in the game. Bear in mind my experience was on a brand new machine with the code it shipped with and had not been tuned up in any way.


What’s broken: The ball got hung up on that lifting spinner mech a lot… like a lot lot. In my 8 games I had the ball get stuck behind it, at the bottom of it, or beside it no less than 3 times. 3 in 8 games. Even worse, the way it is set up now the ball save does not cause the spinner mech to rise up and down. The game waits about 60 seconds, and then just ends your ball. To add insult to injury, the first 1 of 2 balls in play on the next ball that drains ends your ball. So one hung up ball ruins 2 of your 3 balls. As it is currently setup it is almost game breaking.

Layout: Everything is soooooo far from the flippers. Look at how far back the targets are on this vs. Ritchies other recent games. This vs. BKSOR or GOT LE… the shots are all miles further back on this.

Spinner mech: Shooting the lifted spinner was really satisfying. I thought I would hate the mech but its actually really fun.

Art: This has been beat to death already. In person the blue looks fine. I’m still not a fan of the naked dude background, but it is what it is.

Expression Lighting: Very favorably impressed. I have not played a Guns’ N’ Roses, but this is better than and offers more features than pinstadium IMO. With pinstadium, they are all on and can change colors. With these, they can change colors and operate independently. It’s hard to describe, but for many of the songs the action on these is more like that of the display on an old school equalizer. It doesn’t “light the playfield” like pinstadium, but does provide cool ambience effects. If I had to choose between expression lighting and a physical knocker and shaker, I’d take the expression lighting. If I had to choose between a physical ball save and these, the physical ball save would win. Overall… cool. I’d say they added $200 worth of value if I had to give it a number.

Rules: The rulecard was in Spanish. Took a bit to figure things out but it seemed to be spell Led Zepplin, hit the spinner or the scoop to start various modes. Finish various modes for mini wizard and wizard modes.

Ball times: I played 8 games in the 1 hour I had the machine.

Skill shot: No skill involved, you can hit it every time.

Mechs: After seeing the game in person I can guarantee you that Zepplin was designed to physically lock the ball at one point in time. Guaranteed.

Overall, this is a fun game to play but not one that I see rotating through my basement in the future. It’s a fun game… it’s pinball, but its my least favorite Steve Ritchie game, and he’s my favorite designer.

Just got my game today. It is a wide open playfield but numerous shots that are difficult and fun. The expression lighting is awesome. The artwork and quality are great. This is a great game I will have in my collection for a long time.