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Theatre of Magic

Bally, 1995 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

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Bally, March 1995. Designed by John Popadiuk (WPC-S, DMD). Single production model — no Pro/Premium/LE splits; the only "editions" are factory ROM v1.3 versus the 2021 community "2.0" balance mod, which changes rules but not the layout.

Skill shot

The plunge rides a wireform to the right inlane. The DMD cycles three awards (10M/20M, 2x Bonus, Advance Clock +2, and Begin Illusion or 2x Combos); plunging locks the one showing, and the first Magic Trunk hit collects it. Once any ball is locked, later plunges instead offer a fixed captive-ball skill shot that always advances the clock.

The Left Lane (Theatre lane)

The backbone shot. Each shot spells a T-H-E-A-T-R-E letter and returns to the right flipper, so it self-loops. Completing the word lights a THEATRE Hurry-Up at the trunk hole (~10 s, 50M base + ~100K per pop hit). Weak shots fall into the Bonus X rollovers — complete both (lane change, read via the back-panel mirror) to step bonus toward 8x. Bonus X resets every ball, and end-of-ball bonus multiplies everything: letters (500K each), MAGIC letters, clock hours, Illusions started, magicianship rank. The tournament meta is simply: 8x first, then Theatre-lane loops — bonuses can exceed 300M.

Theatre Multiball

Spell MAGIC on the ramps (both count for the first two multiballs, right ramp only after), lock two balls at the inner loops (20M each), then shoot the trunk's bulls-eye magnet face to start 3-ball play (4-ball if a Vanish ball waits). The Rear Trunk Entrance is a Secret Ball Lock that spots all of MAGIC. At the start, the trunk hole during the 5-4-3-2-1 countdown is an instant 100M. Jackpots (50M base) collect at the trunk and pump +5M per major shot — the value never resets; relights cost escalating trunk hits.

Tiger Saw Multiball

Three captive-ball hits (later six) light Vanish; the Left Lane then locks the ball (40M — the third Vanish lights Extra Ball) and the right orbit starts 2-ball play. The captive ball is an always-lit jackpot: 30M, +10M per collect, 70M max. Letters and clock stay live during it.

Illusions (8 modes)

Three trunk hits light an Illusion; the trunk's open hole face starts it (~20 s each): Tiger Saw, Levitating Woman, Trunk Escape, Spirit Cards (spinner), Safe Escape (11-04-69), Metamorphosis, Strait Jacket, Hat Magic. Starting — not completing — counts toward the Finale.

Clock, Trap Door, extras

Every right orbit advances the clock an hour: 6:00 lights Extra Ball, 12:00 starts Midnight Madness (magnet catches worth 2M x hour). Four trap-door target hits light Raise Trap Door at the center ramp; the raised door (blocking the right ramp) pays 15M + a Basement mystery. Hocus Pocus standups arm ~15 s outlane magna-save magnets. Combos: any two-in-a-row among the six major shots, 2M and +2M per link, uncapped in factory code, doubled all ball by the 2x Combos skill award.

Grand Finale (wizard)

Light four diamonds — spell THEATRE, play Theatre Multiball, reach Midnight, start all 8 Illusions (the hard one) — then start at the inner loop: one ball, 60 seconds, every major shot 50M + a MAGIC THEATRE letter; all 12 letters pays 500M. Diamonds also set your Magicianship rank (Novice → Master).

How Theatre of Magic plays

Theatre of Magic is a Bally stage-magic table built on two self-returning shots -- the Left Lane and the center ramp -- that loop straight back to the flipper that fired them. Run the trunk's Illusions and stack the multiballs, and light all four diamonds -- earned by spelling THEATRE, playing a multiball, driving the clock to midnight, and starting every Illusion -- to open the Grand Finale.

The loop

  1. Loop the Left Lane from the right flipper to spell THEATRE and chain escalating combos; a full shot rides its wireform right back to the same flipper.
  2. Loop the center ramp from the left flipper to spell MAGIC, which lights the ball locks at the two inner loops for Theatre Multiball.
  3. Bash the Magic Trunk three times to light an Illusion, then feed its open hole to start the twenty-second mode; getting all eight underway lights a diamond.
  4. Push the clock an hour at a time up the right orbit toward Midnight Madness, and light Vanish at the captive ball for the safe Tiger Saw multiball.
  5. Rebuild Bonus X on the top rollovers every ball, sliding the lit lane under the ball with either flipper, and light the four diamonds to open the Grand Finale.

Reading the lights

  • Bonus X Rollovers (lanes) — lit: The two top rollover lanes, read in the back-panel mirror, stay lit until you roll them, and Bonus X drops to its base every ball, so it is never banked for good and must be rebuilt from scratch each ball. · then: Line the lit lane up with the ball and complete the pair to step Bonus X one notch toward the 8x ceiling, past which each pair simply pays five million. The easiest farm is Theatre Multiball, when the diverter sends every Left Lane shot up into these rollovers, and because end-of-ball bonus multiplies your whole letter, clock and Illusion haul, 8x can be worth hundreds of millions. · control: Either flipper button: a tap of either flipper button shifts the lit rollover sideways to the neighboring lane (as the ball crosses the top lanes, fed by a soft Left Lane shot or a right orbit sent up by the diverter)
  • THEATRE Lane (letters) — lit: Each shot up the Left Lane lights the next letter of THEATRE, a lit letter is one you have banked, and the letters carry ball to ball until you cash a hurry-up -- and it is the safest full-power shot on the table because it returns to the very flipper that fired it. · then: Keep looping and the combo climbs two million higher each time with no ceiling, and every seventh letter completes the word to light a fifty-million-plus hurry-up at the trunk hole. Collect it inside its short window, then drop right back onto the lane.
  • MAGIC Ramps (letters) — lit: The ramps light the letters of MAGIC, and the center ramp's wireform always comes back to the left inlane, putting the ball on the left flipper for an instant re-shoot with no trap -- both ramps spell it early, but once you have run two multiballs only the right ramp still lights letters. · then: Spell MAGIC to light Lock at both inner-loop entrances, bank two balls there, and the trunk swings to its magnet face -- shoot that to begin three-ball Theatre Multiball. The rear-trunk hole is a shortcut that spots the whole word plus a free lock for those first two multiballs.
  • Magic Trunk & Illusions (mode) — lit: The rotating trunk shows four faces and only some pay -- a green jackpot light, a magnet bulls-eye, and an open hole, while the fourth is dead and rejects down the middle -- so three hits on a scoring face light one of the eight Illusions and swing the open hole toward you. · then: Shoot the open hole to start a twenty-second Illusion, the timer even pausing in the pops, and only starting one counts toward the Illusions diamond, so you never have to finish them. Getting all eight underway is the toughest of the four diamonds and worth chasing all game.
  • Vanish & Tiger Saw (status) — lit: Hits on the Tiger Saw captive ball light Vanish, three for the first of the game and six for each one after, and with Vanish lit a Left Lane shot pays forty million and drops the ball into the hidden lock where it vanishes. · then: Start the two-ball multiball at the right orbit and farm the captive-ball jackpot, which needs no relight and climbs thirty, forty, fifty, sixty to a seventy-million cap while you trap one ball and feed it with the other. Skip the right orbit to leave the ball vanished, then start Theatre Multiball and it joins for a four-ball stack.
  • The Clock (ladder) — lit: Every right orbit winds the clock forward an hour -- skill shots and Basement awards add hours too -- and the hour you have reached is lit on the dial and is also worth a million apiece in bonus. · then: Reach 6:00 for the first time and an Extra Ball lights at the Left Lane; reach 12:00 and Midnight Madness fires on its own as the Midnight diamond lights. In the frenzy, bash the trunk magnet face for two million times the current hour as the clock rewinds -- twenty-four million a catch at midnight.
  • Grand Finale Diamonds (status) — lit: Four diamonds track your progress -- one for spelling THEATRE, one for playing Theatre Multiball, one for driving the clock to midnight, one for starting all eight Illusions -- and each stays lit until the Finale is played. · then: With all four lit in single-ball play the Finale opens at either inner loop -- one ball, sixty seconds, no save, every major shot fifty million and a letter of MAGIC THEATRE. Collect all twelve for a five-hundred-million bonus, then the diamonds clear and the climb starts over.

Lane change: the flipper buttons move the lit lane. Either flipper button slides the lit rollover across the two top lanes; tap it as the ball rolls up there, off a soft Left Lane shot or a diverted right orbit, to drop the lit one onto the ball's path. Completing both lanes steps Bonus X up one 2x notch to the 8x max (five million per pair after that), and since it resets every ball while end-of-ball bonus multiplies your entire stack, rebuilding it early every ball is where the huge scores come from.

Start scoring

  • Ball one — Take whatever the skill-shot menu is offering off the plunge, then live on the Left Lane from the right flipper -- it spells THEATRE, feeds the Bonus X rollovers on soft shots, and never leaves your flipper. Rebuild Bonus X toward 8x early. — Trunk Skill Shot, THEATRE Lane Loop, Build 8x Bonus
  • Building — Spell MAGIC for Theatre Multiball, light Vanish at the captive ball for the low-risk Tiger Saw, and start Illusions at the trunk. Keep winding the clock up the right orbit toward Midnight Madness. — Theatre Multiball, Tiger Saw Multiball, Start an Illusion, Clock to Midnight Madness
  • The big one — Light all four diamonds to open the Grand Finale, where every shot is fifty million and all twelve MAGIC THEATRE letters pay a five-hundred-million bonus. The biggest single jackpot lives in Theatre Multiball, where the countdown trunk hole is an instant hundred million. — Grand Finale, Theatre Jackpot Cycle

Does Theatre of Magic have an action button?

Theatre of Magic gives you two flippers, a plunger, and nothing else to press. The feature people mistake for a magna-save button is automatic: hitting either Hocus Pocus standup arms the outlane magnets for roughly fifteen seconds, and they grab the ball off a sensor with no input from you at all.

Goals in Theatre of Magic

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

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