Tales of the Arabian Nights

Williams, 1996 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open Tales of the Arabian Nights in the Pinball Genie app →

Everything on this table eventually points back to two things: the Lamp and the Jewels. Spin the Lamp and you're building one of the only real count-up bonuses in modern pinball. Collect Jewels and you're working toward Genie Battle, the two-stage finale where you fight the Genie himself for the Princess's freedom. Almost every other system on the playfield — Harem, the Bazaar, Fireball, Tiger Loops — exists to feed one of those two goals.

The Lamp Is The Game

The Lamp sits on a nearly frictionless rotating disc dead center on the playfield, and a solid shot to either post can send it spinning around a dozen times at once. Fourteen blue lights track your spins toward Lightning Lamp, a short scoring frenzy that retriggers every 15 spins for the rest of the game, worth 250K or more per hit once it's running. Post angle matters: horizontal posts (like a clock reading 9 and 3) are easy to spin hard and can even send the ball straight into the Genie if you split them; vertical posts are nearly impossible to work cleanly and turn into a drain risk instead — leave the Lamp alone when it's sitting that way and go for the standups instead, since they're wide open.

This all matters because of bonus. Every Lamp Spin is worth 10,000, every Genie hit 10,000, every Jewel 50,000 — all multiplied by a Bonus X that climbs when you fully hit a lit captive ball, up to 12x. Both the raw count and Bonus X carry across balls, so working the Lamp hard early in a game pays off on every ball after. Done right, the Lamp alone is worth over 14 million in bonus — more than the replay score on most machines.

Multiball, Harem, And The Bazaar

Hit the Genie five times to spell G-E-N-I-E and Lock lights at three spots at once — the Left Orbit, the Right Orbit, and the center Lock lane. Fill two of them and the Genie lights for the start; hit him and his magnet pulls the ball into the playfield to kick off Multiball, where spinning the Lamp raises a Jackpot collected right back at the Genie. Separately, Harem lights automatically every ball at the Left Orbit — spell H-A-R-E-M there, or catch three lucky bounces out of the Jet Bumpers into the Harem Sneak-In, and Harem Multiball begins with every switch paying the Jackpot.

The Bazaar scoop spells B-A-Z-A-A-R from its two nearby standups, or from an unlit scoop shot directly, and pays a random award once the word is complete — everything from small points to an outright Extra Ball. The same scoop does double duty for Make A Wish: hit it while Make A Wish is lit and choose Jewels on the left flipper or a random award on the right. Take the Jewels almost every time — it can finish a Mode outright without you having to play it at all — unless you're specifically chasing an Extra Ball on Tiger Loops or sitting on a big Bonus X worth cashing in early.

Seven Tales, One Jewel Each

Five Golden Symbol lights mark the shots that matter during whichever Tale is running — both standup banks, the Ramp, and both orbits. Tap the left flipper before a ball starts to choose which of the seven is lit, complete whatever it asks, then shoot the Ramp to collect its Jewel. Only one runs at a time, and none are timed, so losing the ball just picks up where you left off next time.

• Sinbad and the Rocs — one Jet Bumper hit lights the Jewel; the rest is just points.
• Ali Baba — spell S-E-S-A-M-E across both standup banks. Genuinely hard; a fine one to Wish away.
• The Flying Horse — smash Golden Symbol "statues" hunting for a randomly hidden prize. Also worth Wishing away.
• Scheherazade — hit any lit Golden Symbol once and you're done.
• The Great Camel Race — four or five Symbol hits, in any combination, wins it.
• The Flying Carpet — one Ramp shot lights it, the next one collects it. The easiest Tale by far.
• Cyclops — hit either captive ball once for the Jewel; it stays live afterward for escalating bonus points.

Two things are worth hunting for along the way: light one Shooting Star, then light the second while Make A Wish is already lit, and the Ruby turns your next Wish into two Jewels instead of one. And watch for a weak shot that falls off the Ramp's spiral — it's rewarded with a free Secret Ball Lock, once per game.

Genie Battle

Collect all seven Jewels and the Genie lights for the wizard mode. He takes the Princess and summons Skeletons in her place — every Golden Symbol shot and both captive balls kill one, and after roughly six to eight kills the game locks a ball and serves another. Once locked, the real fight starts: unlimited balls, every shot pulling the Princess toward you while the Genie pulls back on his own, and the Shooting Stars completely disabled, so balls will drain constantly. Launch every ball the instant it's served — leaving one in the plunger lane only speeds up the Genie's pull. Win, and it's a flat 20 million points, the single biggest award anywhere on this table.

Goals in Tales of the Arabian Nights

Every goal below is tracked step-by-step, with shot paths drawn on the playfield map, inside the app.

• Three-Basket Skill Shot skillshot · Hard

  Three holes sit lined up front to back in the plunger lane, and plunge strength alone decides which one the ball drops into.

  Reward: 50K climbing to a 125K cap

• Super Skill Shot skillshot · Medium

  Land any of the three baskets and the Ramp lights for a follow-up shot worth double on top of what you already banked.

  Reward: Doubles the Skill Shot value

• Spinning The Lamp progression · Easy

  A low-friction rotating disc holds the Lamp dead center on the playfield — a good hard shot can spin it around a dozen times in one go, and post angle changes everything about how it behaves.

  Reward: 10,000 bonus per spin, more from Lightning Lamp

• Lightning Lamp mode · Medium

  Complete the blue path of fourteen spins and the Lamp itself turns into a scoring frenzy, retriggering every 15 spins for the rest of the game.

  Reward: 250K+ per spin while it runs

• Multiball multiball · Medium

  Spell G-E-N-I-E to light three separate locks, fill them, then hit the lit Genie to start — the Lamp raises Jackpot value the whole time it runs.

  Reward: Jackpots that relight easily

• Tiger Loops progression · Easy

  Each inlane lights the opposite orbit for a Tiger Loop, and enough of them across the game lights an Extra Ball — sometimes two.

  Reward: Extra Ball around six loops, a second around twenty

• Light Harem mode · Medium

  The Left Orbit spells H-A-R-E-M one letter per shot whenever Harem is lit — a second, independent route into Harem Multiball.

  Reward: Opens the Jet Bumpers, then a shot at Harem Multiball

• Harem Multiball multiball · Medium

  Three lucky bounces into the Harem Sneak-In — or spelling HAREM at the Left Orbit — starts it, and every shot you make pays the Jackpot once it's running.

  Reward: 10K-25K Jackpot on every shot

• Bonus & Bonus X progression · Medium

  A real count-up bonus: 10,000 per Lamp Spin and Genie hit, 50,000 per Jewel, all multiplied by a Bonus X that climbs on the captive balls.

  Reward: Over 14 million possible from the Lamp alone

• The Bazaar secret · Medium

  Spell B-A-Z-A-A-R from the standups or an unlit scoop shot, then cash in a genuinely random award once the word is complete.

  Reward: One of a wide list of random awards

• Make A Wish strategy · Medium

  The same Bazaar scoop, hit while Make A Wish is lit, offers a choice between Jewels on the left flipper or a random award on the right — Jewels almost always win.

  Reward: A Jewel, or a situational random award

• Fireball mode · Medium

  A Ramp shot while the purple light is lit starts a 20-second countdown to hit the Genie, worth more every time it's lit again.

  Reward: 400K base, +200K per saucer hit needed to light it

• Keep The Shooting Stars Lit strategy · Easy

  The standup banks light the Shooting Stars, which try to grab a draining ball before it reaches the outlane — a used star stays lit, so relighting them is a habit worth building.

  Reward: Ball saves at both outlanes

• Light The Ruby secret · Hard

  Line up one Shooting Star already lit, Make A Wish already lit, and then light the second Shooting Star — do all three at once and the next Wish is worth two Jewels.

  Reward: Two Jewels on the next Make A Wish

• Modes & Jewels progression · Easy

  Five Golden Symbol shots mark whatever Mode is running; complete it, shoot the Ramp for the Jewel, and Make A Wish can shortcut the whole thing.

  Reward: One Jewel per Mode, seven total

• Tale: Sinbad And The Rocs mode · Easy

  The Left Orbit forces the ball into the Jet Bumpers, and a single bumper hit is all it takes to light the Jewel.

  Reward: Jewel on the first bumper hit

• Tale: Ali Baba mode · Hard

  Both standup banks spell S-E-S-A-M-E one letter per hit — a genuinely hard mode that's a completely reasonable one to Wish away.

  Reward: Jewel once SESAME is complete

• Tale: The Flying Horse mode · Hard

  Five statues, one per Golden Symbol shot, hide the Jewel randomly inside one of them — often frustratingly the last one you try.

  Reward: Jewel hidden in one random statue

• Tale: Scheherazade mode · Easy

  Every Golden Symbol shot lights at once, and a single hit anywhere technically completes it — the rest is just extra points if you want them.

  Reward: Jewel on the first Symbol hit

• Tale: The Great Camel Race mode · Easy

  All five Golden Symbols light at once, and it doesn't matter which ones you hit — four or five total shots usually wins the race.

  Reward: Jewel after roughly four or five Symbol hits

• Tale: The Flying Carpet mode · Easy

  The easiest Mode by far — one Ramp shot lights the carpet, and the very next one collects the Jewel.

  Reward: Jewel on the second Ramp shot

• Tale: Cyclops mode · Easy

  Golden Symbols sit this one out — it's specifically the captive balls, with one hit lighting the Jewel and every hit after worth more than the last.

  Reward: Jewel on the first Orb hit, climbing 10K per hit after

• Genie Battle wizard · Hard

  Collect all seven Jewels to unlock the wizard mode — kill Skeletons across the whole playfield, lock a ball, then fight the Genie with unlimited balls for the Princess herself.

  Reward: 20 million for the win — the biggest award in the game

• Buried Secrets secret · Hard

  A free lock from a mis-hit ramp shot, and a hidden million-point Cow for anyone paying close attention to the Bazaar.

  Reward: A free Lock, and 1 million for A New Cow