Summary: if you are a fan of Led Zeppelin, do not hesitate to play or buy this pin

I am enjoying this very much. I like Lee zeppelin and listening to them while playing a great and classic machine is awesome. Not too many gimmicks, just solid pinball here. Love the ramps and the flow.

Update: still love it. The rules are deep so it takes some playing to learn them. I’d you love Led Zeppelin , don’t hesitate. If you’re not a fan of the band, another machine may be better for you, this is definitely one of the main reasons to buy this

Update: I own three music pins : Metallica pro, Jjp GNR LE, and this one. this game is super classy , love it, and play it as much as my GNR. A timeless classic it feels like

Really enjoying this game! The Pro was not my favorite, very glad I gave the premium another chance. My 11 year old can't get enough and now loves Led Zeppelin. Win Win !!

This was a pretty fun game! Hopefully the low ratings make it an easier buy in the future.

Nice game plays great music sound quality is wonderful. Shot making is challenging but I can see this being a game that you could master pretty quickly. It’s still a great game that keeps your attention while playing

Great game. 4 ramps. 3 drops. Great spinners. Cool mech. Good rules. Awesome flow. Incredible music. Underrated.

Pros:
- Great music for pinball
- Electric Magic spinner mech is a cool, innovative toy
- Neat light show with expression lights
- Low maintenance

Cons:
- No Stairway! Denied!
- Lack of interactive mechs
- Poor theme integration
- Callouts are generic
- Cabinet art is lazy

I generally like Steve Ritchie games, but I have to admit this one fell a little flat. Whether it was due to licensing issues or a lack of budget provided by Stern, this game is missing several elements needed to take it to the next level. I owned this game for just under 9 months.

First, the good. Rocking out to LZ music while playing pinball is awesome! The stock sound system is pretty darn good but with sound upgrades can be excellent. The song choices were great, other than the glaring exclusion of Stairway to Heaven. I can’t imagine how that came to be, but it did.

The rising/lowering Electric Magic spinner mech is a much needed toy in this game. It’s a very innovative combination of a magnet and a spinner. It also leads to EM Frenzy multiball, which is arguably the best mode in the game.

When you’re hitting your shots and making combos, the game can have some nice flow to it. The side ramp from the upper flipper is very hard to hit, (my success rate was probably around 30%) but very cool when you do. The game also has a pretty good light show and the included expression lighting system really adds to it.

As far as maintenance, the game was very solid. I had to make a few minor repairs and adjustments, but nothing unusual or difficult.

Now the bad. When the EM is lowered, the playfield is wide open and feels kind of empty. The ball can roll from the top to the bottom and bounce around for a while without hitting any switches. This game really needs another interactive mech. I think the blimp was a missed opportunity.

I can understand the opinion of some that this pin is so generic that it could really be any theme and just happens to be Led Zeppelin. The theme integration is definitely lacking. I feel that music pins should immerse you in the world of that particular band. This game fails to do so. I think the cabinet art is better than the pro, but it’s still just an album cover- very lazy.

The callouts are meh. The generic British male voice isn’t annoying, but it definitely doesn’t do anything to draw you into the game. The animations are ok.

Overall, it’s a good game but not a great game. Stern kind of phoned it in with this one. It’s fun to play while drinking with your friends, but that’s about it. I enjoyed my time with it but I wouldn’t consider owning it again.

Led Zeppelin is a game that has an unfortunate reputation. Being released so soon after JJP Guns and Roses it was inevitable that they would be compared to one another. GnR packed with toys and lights, LZ "bare"(even more so on the pro model, I would pass on that model myself). I get it. Here's the thing though, for myself personally, I've played both enough to form an opinion (I do own LZ, so I've had a lot of plays on it), and the playability and fun, and satisfying shots, LZ owns GnR! I mean I've walked away out of boredom from one, while the other has the "just one more game" quality. And when I've had friends over, everyone is thrilled to play LZ and can't understand the hate for it. You've just got to give it a fair chance and spend some time getting down the shots and learning the rules. Once you've got it down it's a flow-monster and a blast to play!

Gonna make a little update to this review. The score will be the same as unfortunately the only things that bring this game down IMHO is the theming and the repetitive art package. I wanted to update though as I'd done a temporary trade with a friend who wanted to give LZ a play for a while. Man, I cannot say enough how much I missed LZ and how happy I was to get it back! My collection has grown since I got LZ and I could easily play something else, but for reasons you can't always quantify, LZ gets played the most, there are many times when it's the only game that gets turned on and played.

And humble brag, I happen to have a pretty good looking old lady, and it's her favorite in the collection. I can officially say that chicks (her friends included) dig this game!!!

This game is a fun game. The music and code are really good but I think a lot of people play the pro model which is missing two key items and then write the game off as being "bare" or dull. The Electric Magic in the center and the upper flipper shot ramp make the premium/LE game so much better but most people never see those on location.

Light show is spectacular. Stern has Expression Lighting added on the premum/LE and the integration is very good. Probably not G&R good but it makes the game shine.

The usual cliché is to say that this game is underrated. Maybe it is or maybe it's just that the pro models and the poor effort on cabinet art gave the title a less than stellar rating. It's not Godzilla but it does have great flow and if you like modern Sterns, Led Zeppelin and like shooting ramps and targets, its an easy game to recommend.

Felt fairly underwhelming to me. What seems like a perfect 70s theme should go hand in hand with Pinball, but just not that exciting. The music is of course great, but when lined up next to other music pins, it just falls a little flat.

premium feels like the complete game, where as the pro is definitely lacking. Great music! if you love LZ music the premium/LE is the way to go. Pro is a little boring.

I’m not a Led Zeppelin fan at all, but I really like this machine! As far as toys go, the center playfield spinner is EXCELLENT. The playfield has great flow, as you would expect from a Richie game.

These music games are all my dad’s music and not my thing, but if I had to own one this would definitely be it.

Great Theme (Great band) perhaps my expectations were a tad too high. play field seems sparse (unless the electric magic is being utilized) the lights are great and the music is great. some very solid ramp shots, but it does seem like it should be a little more fun.

Fast and fun. Music obviously great. On par at least with other rock pins!

Shoots better than thought in the beginning. Fast'n furious. Steve Richie at his best; a lot of similiarities to "older" Steve Richie themes (T2, STTNG, ACDC). Nothing really innovative/new (despite the electrical magic spinner) but the combination of some famous shots works fine in Led Zeppelin. Rock solid built; only metal ramps; no plastic.

Never thought that the EM (Prem/LE) makes the game so much fun to shoot; combined with a very unique and nice spinner sound (in combination with an active subwoofer it rocks!) and a special lightning effect. Your pulse is increasing the more you hit it :-)
Overall lightning fits very well the theme; 70ies style.

The prices for LZ games are amazingly “affordable” in today’s market. Dream theme for a baby boomer like me…wow a new Stern that is actually available for purchase…this must be a sleeper.

So I read numerous non glowing reviews, watched the videos, talked about the game with my pinball buddies (who actually played it), and finally played it myself at Pincinnati. No big lines, so I was able to play quite a bit.

Update- I did get to spend more time on this game and it was very pleasantly surprised. After learning the really good rules and putting 20–25 games under my belt, I feel that I unnecessarily rated this title too low. The game is a lot of fun and the shots are very cool. So lastability, rules, and shots get a bump up in my ratings. Animations and artwork are actually decent, but one can tell there was very limited access to Led Zeppelin assets.

I really really tried to like it… I’m a baby boomer LZ fan..what could go wrong?

Pros- a modern Stern that has decent code and shots.
Lighting on the premium was good (no comparison to GNR)
Rules are pretty easy to understand for a first time experience.
Led Zeppelin songs!
Great professional designer and code crew

Cons- art work- the art itself is fabulous, but poor choice for LZ pinball. The LE looks like a circus, not a tribute to one of the most iconic rock groups. Premium is OK, the pro-only works for LZ die hards.
Song implementation- just background music- not tied into the game
Animations- mainly fuzzy psychedelic footage- not interesting at all for those of us not on acid.
Flow- not much
Gimmicks- not much- center spinner underwhelming.
Very open play field.

This game is not horrible, but is a rare miss for a modern Stern with such a great theme. Yeah, I know you are supposed to get that retro 70’s vibe with the artwork, call outs, and animations. This revives my memories of shag carpet, lava lamps, Chevy vans, corduroy bell bottoms, station wagons, and many other brilliant ideas and fashions of the time which I blissfully experienced.

Update- now own this game. 70s vibe is still weird but growing on me- nothing else like it in my collection. Getting into the excellent code… very cool combos…fun shots! Expression lights with ninja camp speaker lights…awesome. This game is a sleeper and will be the next Munsters/ST. Get an affordable one now while you can.

As a huge Zep fan, I was real happy to get my hands on one of these. I heard so much positive talk about the sounds the spinner made when nailed. True! It's the shot of the game. but...not enough to save the simplistic layout. maybe because other shots are just so-so. I like the fact that the songs keep playing after you lose the ball...that's nice.
All in all, a smooth, easy playfield with not much going on. the music and lights are cool though!

I played Led Zeppelin (Premium) at the New Brunswick Centre arcade in London.

I suspect that the major appeal of Led Zeppelin is playing it, at home, with the sound at full volume. As an example, you can choose which Led Zeppelin music you want to accompany each game. Unfortunately, the music was turned down in the noisy arcade and I’m not a fan of Led Zeppelin. In fact, I couldn’t name a Led Zeppelin song if my life depended on it.

The result was that I was playing a somewhat mediocre pin with a near-empty playfield, some flashing lights down the side and a lot of abstract artwork - often featuring zeppelins (and angels). The only spark of interest came from a ball lock that rose out of the playfield with a spinner on it; this was mildly entertaining.

In short, I’m sure Led Zeppelin fans love this, but - otherwise - there are better pins to play.

Very underrated game. So many complaints about it being a barren playfield, yet it has FOUR metal ramps, a drop bank, a completely unique disappearing spinner/magnet mech, another spinner, and two custom molded toys (one huge, one on a jumping mechanism). This is a great Steve Ritchie layout. The rules are unique, thematic, well thought out, and very fun for beginners right through pro level players. The art is as true to the theme as possible, using actual album artwork. The A/V assets are great, and I love the tour poster based custom animation. Just a solid total package all around. I'm not a huge fan of the band...some great songs but not a theme that captured my attention on its own. It is great pinball playing music though, and do not get me wrong, the band is iconic for a reason. I hope more people discover how good this game is, because I honestly do not understand the criticism.

Alright so this is the first game I am giving a perfect 10. Some people are gonna think I am nuts, however I will try and explain my thought process. So first of all theme is excellent for me. I personally like the psychedelic look of the playfield and mix the expression lighting in with that and it really pops out in my opinion. As far as the cab artwork I know some people think it’s boring and lazy, but in my mind it screams zeppelin and is very iconic. I wish it had more than 10 songs but the songs included are most of my favourites so I am ok with what is on this machine. People also complain about the grainy concert footage but once again I feel it fits the mood of this machine perfectly. So now on to the most important aspect the gameplay. So let me start off by saying I like open playfields and am not hung up on cramming toys and as much things as possible on a playfield. The open playfield allows insane flow and combos. The flow is my absolute favourite part of this game, when you get flowing and in the groove to a favourite song that feeling is unbeatable. The ramps are very smooth and very back handable. The upper flipper shot is a difficult shot , but when you make it feels amazing. The electric magic spinner is the toy I never knew I wanted. I love open playfields but when that spinner is up it changes how you interact with the playfield. The magic spinner is kind of like a mode in my opinion as when it’s up that’s all I shoot for and enjoy it when it does make an appearance even though it removes the flow in a fun way for a while. Ripping the em spinner is amazing and that sound affect us great. Em frenzy multiball is amazing. The rules are greart for this game and let you attack the game in various ways. Bought this without playing it and no regrets. This may finally be the first machine I keep longer then a year and possibly even bolt it down to the floor. If you are on the fence about this game or just been hearing the pinside hate , then go do your self a favour and track one down to play a game and decide for yourself. Also I haven’t played the pro so I can’t knock it but that being said I would very much so miss all the premiums features. I think this game seem like a premium or bust.

This game is a slow burn. It took me a few days of owning it to really dig into the rules and understand what to shoot when. It’s important to start a tour as soon as you can, so that you can progress to Tour MB while cranking out gold records.

What made me give this game a chance? Lots of love from great players. It’s frustrating to play for just a few games, because the shots are much harder than they look, thanks to the very steep middle and right ramps. But give yourself 20-50 games to get those shots dialed in, and you’ll see the absolute genius of both the layout and the rules. There’s a LOT of backhand shooting in this game. The spinner, left ramp and right ramp are all easier to hit backhand.

I’m usually a Pro buyer, but a few things moved me to Premium for LZ: the Electric Magic, Expression Lighting and the song completion on the back panel, which seems like the biggest miss for the Pro. I also like the Premium cab/translite best of all the versions. Classic, iconic and simple.

really better than the pro , fun , excellent flow , nice multi ball

I really wanted to like this, but it is *hopelessly* boring. Lackluster shots, slow gameplay, soft feel, grainy old concert footage... no excitement. Sounds are great... obviously!

This is with out a doubt one of best themed and executed games in the premium and limited format. First off it hits you like a concert in a box. Pick the song you wish to start with, fire the ball and rock on. The sound and the lights make you feel like it a rock concert and not a pinball machine. I can imagine customizing this further with a fog machine underneath just for a cool effect as it would add to the concert in a box feel to this machine.
For me it has what I like in pinball machines. Long orbits, a long launch shot, rails and ball scoops. The upper midfield flipper allows for a wicked orbit redirect into the up down scoop if you time it right. The Icarus bash toy is simple and nice. A satisfying pop up when hit correctly.
The left orbit spinner is one of my favorite spinners ever. You can power shot into it and when you nail it, it spins and spins releasing one of the best sound effects found in a game. The satisfaction of the sound makes it remarkable feature and gameplay element.
With the premium the left spinner is not the only one on the playfield, set up your shots right and unlock the real fun of this machine. The Electric Magic bash toy spinner. This is why you should only play this on a premium as the gameplay of this is feature is incredibly fun and satisfying and without it this game drops its replay value tremendously. I can't imagine playing this game without this feature. it brings so much to the game and a thrill as it rises up from the lower depths of the playfield. An absolute must have feature.
I like this game and hope one day to add it to the collection. I think there is longevity in its gameplay and features to make this machine an instant classic.

i played this at a loud location and couldn't hear the music but really loved the game even so. the blimp, the angel, most of all the elevator that comes up in the middle are very cool! the lights and images were captivating it was fun too play i kept going back to it. seemed like a big step up from the pro version which i played at a different location.

Let's start with fundamentals: I tend to enjoy wide open playfields with shots that are far back, so it's not a huge surprise that I enjoy the way the game shoots. You've got classic Steve Ritchie butter smooth shots that are backhandable (that's a word, right?). The upper flipper side ramp shot takes some flak, but I personally love that it's challenging. And it's satisfying as hell when it's hit and the ball comes flying back at you on that ramp with a quick 180 turn.

But a game that shoots well can only go so far unless you have good rules to back it up. Thankfully, this game delivers that. Tim Sexton and Raymond Davidson found a way to make the paltry 10 songs feel more than enough given that you need to pretty much play completely through them if you want to get to the wizard mode. This means that you're likely to have some long games, especially when the game hands out extra balls like candy. Fortunately, this doesn't feel like chopping wood, due to playfield multipliers (Icarus shot) and solid multiball rules where locking a ball during some of them can X your score during multiball. You're actively engaged in pushing your luck and/or scoring as many high valued multiplied shots before the shot multiplier timer runs out.

The game is also fairly open ended in the way it can be approached: choose what song you want to play, choose what tours to do, choose to focus on song shots, or starting multiballs, or going for that epic playfield multiplier stack. Choice is yours, and I like that. This is more of a "score chasing game", rather than a "mode completion" based game, even though the songs function essentially as modes, albeit, they don't feel that way to me (and that's a good thing in my book).

Speaking of multiballs, if you know what you're doing, you're probably going to spend 75% of the game in a multiball. So if you don't like hearing that, then maybe this game isn't for you. Personally, it works with this game, as it's a long playing game, and you'll need the safety of being in multiballs to help get through the epic journey of playing through some of LZ's best songs.

Finally, in terms of rules, there's a number of mini-wizard modes. Again, this helps keep the game from feeling like chopping wood by breaking up your main task of getting through songs, by being rewarded with a mini-wizard mode. They are fun and they are varied enough.

Lighting is excellent. The expression lighting system, while not as as impressive as GnR's lighting, is a fantastic touch, and in some ways, not being over the top may be favored by some compared to GnR's lighting. To each their own, I personally like both.

The main toy, the Electric Magic (EM), is clever. I've joked in the past that Stern thinks a spinner is a toy, and in a true, "hold my beer" moment, they've made a spinner the feature toy in a game. But to call it just a spinner would do it a great disservice. The EM sits below the playfield for most of the game, and is enjoyable when it makes an appearance. Maybe 20% of an average game you're interacting with it. This makes it something to look foward to, rather than something that gets stale quickly and overstays its welcome. Ripping the spinner is incredibly satisfying, thanks to great spinner sounds and lighting that accompany it. Once the spinner is hit enough, you hit it again and a magnet captures the ball and takes it below the playfield. This is cool.

The art seems to be a low point for some people, but I disagree to an extent. The playfield art is fine, if not maybe even good. It's not overly busy and touches on the psychedelic theme that combines very nicely with the expression lighting system. The cabinet art is from LZ's iconic first album, which I personally dig. When you have something as iconic as this, it doesn't need to be amazing hand drawn original art by some artist. Where the art falls apart, is that the black and white cabinet clashes with the colorful playfield. It isn't cohesive and looks a bit jarring. I'm personally hoping to remedy this a bit by adding powder coated rails.

In all, I love this game, and I'm having a blast. I'm tempted to call it "AC/DC 2.0". It's a Steve Ritchie music pin with great feeling shots, classic rock, and a set of rules that I think improves on AC/DC's stellar rule set . Sorry Stern haters, this game is great.