Pinball FX is the latest in a series of pinball games made by Zen Studios following Pinball FX (2007), Pinball FX2, and Pinball FX3 (2017). It consists of a large and increasing number of tables both based on physical tables made by Williams/Bally in 1980s and 1990s, licensed original tables, and unlicensed original tables. Many of the tables from Zen's previous pinball games are also included, but remastered with substantial updates to graphics and physics.

Released on Epic games store in early access on March 31, 2022^[1][2] development continued for the next year until its full release on February 16, 2023 on Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PS4, PS5, and also moving from the early access phase on Epic to full release^[3]; and on April 13, 2023 for Steam^[4]. The Nintendo Switch required further optimization from the builds used for other platforms and was released with a smaller roster of tables on July 6, 2023^[5].

Most previous Zen pinball games were developed on Zen's in-house game-engine, PinFX. With Pinball FX, Zen moved development to the Unreal engine 4 for faster release of tables and less training for newly hired staff. This also made it much easier to port the game between platforms.

There is a cabinet mode which can be used for those who have built a physical cabinet with 2 or 3 screens. This can also be used to place a (user provided) backglass image on a second monitor when using a desktop PC.

The game includes support for HDR, ray tracing, and upscaling.

Pinball FX is intended to be Zen's main platform for years to come.

Throughout the later development period, and early access Bobby Marsh and Rose Camara hosted The Pinball Show on an almost monthly basis. Many of these had an appearance by Mel Kirk, COO of Zen, and Akos Gyorkei (marketing manager of Zen) in a Let's Ask Akos segment. This series began in January 2021^[6] with the initial announcement of Pinball FX, and ended January 2023 including a look at The Addams Family which was one of the new tables for the full launch of the game. Future tables were sometimes hinted at by the changing items on the back wall. Music for its intro and outro was unusually catchy.

After the full launch this series was replaced with Pinball Bites, with shorter episodes released on an ad hoc schedule when there was news to reveal (typically new tables). This was hosted by Akos and Linne (community manager) from Zen Studios in Budapest with appearances by Mel Kirk, but less often than on The Pinball Show. Akos departed Zen in late 2024, with Linne (now promoted to marketing manager) joined by co-host Balti^[7].

Additionally Linne and Akos built their own pinball cabinet from scratch in a series between February 2022^[8] and September 2022 when they finally got to play it.

Mel Kirk also gives an extended interview to the Blahcade pinball podcast^[9] hosted by Chris Friebus and Jared Morgs usually near the end of each year. This includes a summary of the year, and discussions about future plans for Pinball FX and other related pinball projects.

The base game is free and includes 3 fully playable tables, with a time-limited trial system to sample the others. Tables are bought as DLC either individually or in packs or bundles (larger pack of generally older tables). Steam also has a legacy bundle system where most remastered tables have bundles of the same tables in FX3 and FX, making them substantially cheaper for those upgrading from FX3. FX3 remains available to purchase on all platforms (with the exception of Epic Games Store, as it was never released there).

As of December 2024 Zen has begun to release remastered tables on Nintendo Switch available at no cost to those who previously owned the FX3 version; on other platforms this type of approach may be taken with other remastered tables in future subject to not being blocked by the platform holder.

Zen are known for their relatively frequent and deep discount sales in previous games, and this continues with Pinball FX.

In early access there was a ticket system where tickets would be bought in bundles for money, then tables bought with these tickets. The plan was for all tables to be available on all platforms with a single purchase for each table, and a bulk purchase system was introduced shortly into early access to give savings when 3 or more tables were bought together. Unfortunately Zen couldn't get all platforms to agree to this so tickets were abandoned before the full release of the game and returned to the traditional way of DLC tied to each of the platforms storefronts (and free transfer of tables to a platform of their choice for anyone who bought tables in early access). Also in early access there was a subscription model introduced called the Pinball Pass where all tables could be played by buying it instead of the tables themselves. The cross-platform aspect of this never materialized and so proved generally unpopular with pinball coins and the option to purchase the pass removed from the game in 2024.

On selecting a table players can choose one of the following :

• Classic. The most common choice, this is a standard 3 ball game
• Pro (Williams only). Settings on harder difficulties, no extra balls
• Arcade. Same as classic but can select various power-ups. Generally not played much on this setting
• Hotseat. Local multiplayer for up to 4 players.
• Flips. Get as many points as you can with 200 flips. Infinite ball save with loss of 1 flip on draining a ball (unless in multiball)
• 1 ball. No extra balls, lose your game and apart from bonus count its game over.
• Time. 300 seconds to get as many points as you can Infinite ball save.
• Distance. 200 units of distance to get as many points as you can. Infinite ball save.
• Practice. Infinite ball save. Time limited to 1 hour and no leaderboards.

Leaderboards show the top 100 scores in each game mode and challenge, and the score either side of the players score.

All tables have "realistic" physics setting, in addition the more recent releases have "normal" physics which is generally more forgiving.

Zen run tournaments are called events. These award season points to unlock collectables. Each season runs for 3 months.

Player run tournaments are those in the tournaments heading. There are various filters to find those of interest, and a 4 digit code can be shared to find a specific tournament. There are many tournament series run by players often through discord, two of the largest are LUPs club which also has its own forum and sometimes hosts other tournaments; and ConsGang which has a wider variety of type of tournament.

Each questline consists of a series of 10 challenges on 3 tables which are from the same pack. Completing these awards 5 items that can be displayed in the pinhall or used for customization of the players profile.

This is the space that collectables can be placed in. Consists of small objects that can be placed on shelves, large statues, a carpet, posters, and in the tournament room cups from playing in the grand tournament type of event.

As of December 2024 there are 130 tables on Steam, 132 tables on Playstation, Xbox, and Epic; this is because on Steam System Shock and Camp Bloodbrook have only been released on Pinball M. Nintendo Switch has a smaller roster as not all of the older tables have been ported to that platform; however all tables not brought forward from FX3 have been released on it.

Pack refers to the pack on Steam, some of the remastered tables are in larger collections on other platforms. Zen originals are tables made without any third party IP. Williams tables are recreations of physical tables made by Williams/Bally, some of which also have an additional third party license. Wild Cards are single tables from one IP placed in a general category.

Each table has an in-game table guide, although this won't reveal all the tables secrets. There are 2 main online resources, the Pinball FX fandom wiki and table guides hosted by Zen which is all tables from FX3, and most Williams tables. Some tables (especially newer ones) don't have a guide beyond what is in the game.

Pinball M is Zen's pinball platform for tables not suitable for the PEGI 12 restriction of Pinball FX; some Pinball M tables have had the gore reduced for a less bloody FX version and released in both games (with cross-buy between the 2 games on consoles and Epic).

Zen Pinball World (released December 12, 2024)^[10] is the new mobile platform featuring many tables released in Pinball FX. Additionally for mobile there is also Zen Pinball Party (released September 3, 2021)^[11] on Apple Arcade, and Pinball Masters on Netflix games.

ATGames in partnership with Zen Studios are releasing many pinball FX tables on the range of Legends 4K pinball machines. These are physical tables with playfield monitor, backglass monitor, and DMD. In addition to the numerous tables Zen are releasing onto to it, Gottlieb games from The Pinball Arcade, tables from Magic Pixel's Zaccaria Pinball, and ATgames specific tables made by Magic Pixel.