The Full Story of Williams’ Tales of the Arabian Nights Pinball

Released in May of 1996, Tales of the Arabian Nights revolutionized the concept of pinball being a complete sensory experience with its fantastic John Popadiuk design, beautiful Pat McMahon artwork, and iconic music by Dave Zabriskie. For the occasion of its 30th anniversary, the game–often abbreviated TotAN–was brought back into the spotlight by Italian manufacturer Pedretti, who announced it as the second game in their Bally/Williams remake series following a 2024 remake of Funhouse. With new visibility for this classic game, there’s no better time to be whisked back to ancient Baghdad and read up on the rules. 

Playfield Overview

Tales of the Arabian Nights has just two flippers in the conventional positions, with a standard Italian bottom of one out lane, one in lane, and one slingshot symmetrically on each side. TotAN has surprisingly few of what might be called “major shots”, but more than makes up for it with diverters, secret passages, and generally having multiple ways to use almost every shot. 

From left to right around the playfield, you’ll find:

• The left orbit, which can send the ball down the right orbit, into the lock lane via a magnet, or into the pop bumpers in the back right;

• The left captive ball and saucer;

• The left ramp, which can feed the ball to the pop bumpers, right in lane, or left in lane in several different ways;

• The Genie toy, which starts modes and Multiball;

• The magic lamp, a free-spinning toy, which starts the big-score Lightning Lamp mode and qualifies the high-value Make a Wish player’s choice feature;

• The lock lane, which requires a sneaky shot past the Lamp;

• The Bazaar scoop, which collects Mystery awards and Make a Wish;

• The right orbit, from which a strong shot will come down the left orbit, but a weak shot will fall down a hidden lane and be spit out in front of the Genie;

• and finally, the right captive ball.

TotAN broke the trend of pinball scoring, knocking almost 3 place values off of commonly seen scores. Software designer Louis Koziarz mentions in this Reddit post that he felt scoring had gotten out of control, and wanted to slim down the number of digits in player scores to have more room for other animation on the DMD. As a result, the replay score on TotAN usually starts around 8,000,000 points, with very good games reaching the high-eight or low-nine figures.

Getting Started with TotAN

• Shoot the Genie 5 times to light locks for multiball. Locks are lit at either orbit; the first lock can also be made by shooting the lock lane from below, just behind-right of the Lamp. When 2 balls are locked, shoot the Genie for multiball. In multiball, alternate between shooting the Genie for a jackpot and the orbits to relight.

• Shooting the Genie also starts Tales modes when no mode or multiball is running. Modes are untimed, carry from ball to ball, and are completed by shooting the left ramp after the mode requirements are met. Several modes can be ready to complete after just one shot.

• Hitting the posts that support the Lamp toy causes it to spin. Spins add to the end of ball bonus, which carries from ball to ball, and every 15 spins starts a Lightning Lamp fast scoring round as well as lighting Make a Wish, a player’s choice award that can spot entire mode completions.

• Lit captive balls advance the bonus multiplier. 10,000 points times bonus multiplier for each Lamp spin registered during the game would be good on its own, but additional bonus is also earned for hitting the Genie or earning Jewels from completing modes, making TotAN a game where tilting, especially later on, can have massive ramifications for your score.

Skill Shot

The plunger sends the ball up a ramp toward three holes. On the DMD, the holes will be depicted by pots, with a snake sticking out of one of them. Plunge the ball into the hole that corresponds to the pot with the snake in it to charm the snake and complete the skill shot. The first successful skill shot scores 50,000 points, and successive skill shots score 25,000 more than the previous, to a maximum of 125,000.

Making the Skill Shot qualifies the Super Skill Shot, which is available at the entrance switch to the left ramp for a few seconds. The ball does not need to go all the way up the ramp to score the Super Skill Shot. The Super Skill Shot is worth double the value of the Skill Shot that was just made.

The Tales: Genie modes

In single-ball, non-mode play, shooting the Genie will cause the ball to stick to a magnet in front of the Genie as a mode begins. The mode that is started will be whichever one is flashing in the arc of lights near the flippers. At the start of each ball, the left flipper can be used to rotate which mode is flashing; otherwise, this is done during gameplay with each slingshot hit.

Most modes require shots to one or more Golden Symbols. The Golden Symbols are yellow circles with silhouettes of people on them, and they are located at the lower left standup targets, the left orbit, the left ramp, the right orbit, and the standup targets behind the Lamp. To complete a mode, you must make any and all stated shots, then shoot the left ramp to collect that mode’s Jewel. 

The 7 modes are:

• Sinbad and the Rocs: the left orbit diverter moves so that any left orbit shot goes to the pop bumpers. Hitting even a single pop bumper qualifies the Jewel at the ramp.

• Ali Baba: the lower left standup targets and the targets behind the Lamp are lit. Hit any of these targets to earn a letter in the word Sesame. When Sesame is spelled, you’ll hear “Open Sesame!” and the Jewel is qualified at the ramp.

• Flying Horse: all 5 Golden Symbols are lit. One of them is secretly and randomly selected as having the prize. Find the prize to qualify the Jewel.

• Scheherazade: all 5 Golden Symbols are lit. Hitting any one qualifies the Jewel at the ramp.

• Great Camel Race: all 5 Golden Symbols are lit. Make a total of 5 shots to any Golden Symbol to reach first place in the race, which qualifies the Jewel.

• Forty Thieves/Flying Carpet: shoot the ramp once to qualify the Jewel, then a second time to collect.

• Cyclops: shoot either captive ball once to qualify the Jewel.

When a Jewel is collected, the Jewel Value is scored. Each mode starts the Jewel Value at 100,000 points, and each spin of the Lamp adds 10,000 to the current Jewel value. Collecting 4 Jewels lights the right orbit for Extra Ball. Notice that the Shoot Again light is located near the right flipper; the red insert between the flippers 

After all 7 Jewels are collected, the Scimitar is completed, and the next shot to the Genie starts Rescue the Princess wizard mode (sometimes called Genie Battle) and has 2 phases. 

Phase 1 is a single-ball round where shooting any lit Golden Symbol destroys a Skeleton. The number of Skeletons that needs to be destroyed is shown on the display, but early in the mode, the Genie will regularly summon more; unless you pull off some very quick and accurate shooting, you’ll need to destroy about 8 Skeletons to advance, and the last one will always be at one of the orbits so that a ball can be locked ahead of Phase 2.

In Phase 2, you have “unlimited balls until someone wins”, so plunge as frequently as you can. Shoot Golden Symbols to pull the bottle containing the princess toward you. As time passes, the bottle will drift back toward the Genie. The bottle will drift toward the Genie faster if there is a ball sitting in the shooter lane, so plunge whenever you can. When the bottle is pulled all the way to either you or the Genie, the flippers die and all balls are allowed to drain; if you win, you also get 20,000,000 points, a nice DMD animation, and Specials lit on the out lanes. Afterward, shoot again and work back to Rescue the Princess from the beginning by collecting all 7 Jewels again.

The Lamp and Make a Wish

The blue triangle inserts that form a path up to the Lamp count the number of spins that have been registered on the Lamp during the game. Reaching a multiple of 15 spins starts Lightning Lamp and qualifies Make a Wish.

Lightning Lamp is a fast-scoring mode that lasts until 7 seconds (plus a small grace period) pass without a single spin on the Lamp being registered. The first time that Lightning Lamp is played, each Lamp spin scores 50,000 points. Each subsequent playthrough of Lightning Lamp increases the per-spin value by 25,000, up to a maximum of 200,000 points from the 7th Lightning Lamp onward.

Make a Wish is a player’s choice award that can be earned by shooting the Bazaar scoop. Fittingly, up to 3 wishes can be stored at a single time; your current total is displayed in lights near the left slingshot. Also pertinent to Make a Wish is the Ruby, which is lit by having at least one Wish ready, then activating both Shooting Stars at once by shooting the lower left standups and the standups behind the Lamp within about 8 seconds of each other.

Make a Wish assigns two options to the left and right flipper as follows:

• The left option is always Collect Jewel, unless the Ruby is lit, in which case it becomes Collect 2 Jewels. Collecting a Jewel spots the entire mode associated with it and award the Jewel Value, making this a way to fast track yourself toward Rescue the Princess wizard mode (and often the optimal choice). If you shoot Make a Wish while a mode is running, collecting a Jewel will always give you the Jewel for the currently running mode, which is a little bit of a waste if the current Jewel was already qualified on the ramp.

• If Lightning Lamp is running, the right option will always be 3x Lamp Scoring, unless it has already been earned during the current Lightning Lamp. Late in a game, this can increase the Lightning Lamp value to over 500,000 points per spin, which is some of the best scoring available in the game.

• If Lightning Lamp is not running but Fireball is, the right option will be 3x Fireball Value. Fireball is explained in detail later.

• If neither Lightning Lamp nor Fireball is running, the right option can be Collect Bonus, Start Lightning Lamp, 3 Tiger Loops, or Extra Ball. Keep an eye on Collect Bonus here, as this is a full bonus collect including multipliers that can be worth many millions of points at the end of a long ball or game.

Each Lamp spin over the course of the game adds 10,000 points to the end of ball bonus. Up to 119 spins can be recorded in this way. Spins that occur during Genie Multiball or during Lightning Lamp do not count toward the bonus. When the ball ends, your spin total is reset down to the multiple of 15 that you most recently crossed.

Genie Multiball

Making 5 shots to the Genie toy spells the word Genie and lights locks. Balls can be locked at either orbit, where they will be trapped by a magnet and dropped into the lock lane. For the first ball, you can also lock the ball by shooting the lock lane from below. When 2 balls are locked, shoot the Genie for multiball; the ball will stick to the magnet in front of the Genie, then be dropped below the table. If the magnet does not catch the ball, multiball is not started and you need to try again. If the magnet is completely disabled, shooting the Bazaar starts multiball instead.

During multiball, the Genie scores a jackpot. The jackpot value is 1,000,000 points, plus 25,000 for each spin of the Lamp during multiball. After a jackpot is scored, you must relight the jackpot by shooting an orbit shot. Keep going back and forth in this manner until single ball play resumes. There is no double jackpot, super jackpot, or anything else of the sort to work toward, but any shot that gives 1,000,000 points on this game is nothing to sneeze at.

After Genie Multiball has been played once, a spelling of Genie is needed to light each lock. Further spellings of Genie when all locks are already lit score a Genie Award, worth 50,000 the first time and increasing by 50,000 each subsequent time up to 250,000 points.

Harem Multiball

There are two ways to play Harem Multiball:

1. Shoot the left orbit when it is lit for Harem 5 times. The left orbit will only be lit for Harem during single ball play when it is not lit for Tiger Loop or Lock. After collecting a letter, you need to time out the Tiger Loop before getting another.

2. Earn 3 Harem Sneak-Ins by shooting the left orbit into the pop bumpers and having the bumpers kick the ball left toward the secret saucer.

Harem Multiball is a 2-ball multiball where every switch in the game scores the Harem Jackpot. The Harem Jackpot starts each ball at 10,000 points and increases by 1,000 with each pop bumper hit outside of Harem Multiball, or by 5,000 for each bumper hit during Harem Multiball.

Miscellaneous Features

Fireball: the first Fireball takes 2 shots to the left ramp or either captive ball to qualify. When the left ramp is lit for Fireball, shooting it starts the Fireball Hurry-up, which is collected by hitting the Genie. Each ramp or captive ball shot adds 200,000 points to the Fireball value, so later Fireballs can start at 1,000,000 points or more, and you can also continue to advance the Fireball value after it is lit but before starting it. Shooting the left ramp while Fireball is running adds 200,000 points to the hurry-up. Earning Make a Wish during a Fireball Hurry-up will usually cause the right option to be 3x Fireball Value, which triples the current hurry-up value. Fireball Hurry-up counts down to 25,000 points, then times out after a short grace period.

Tiger Loops: an orbit can be lit for Tiger Loops by either rolling through the opposite in lane, or by shooting the orbit itself. 3 Tiger Loops can also be awarded as one of the possible Make a Wish options. Extra balls are lit at 6 and 20 Tiger Loops.

Shooting Stars: the lower left standup targets light the left Shooting Star, and the standup targets behind the Lamp light the right Shooting Star. Shooting Stars only stay lit for about 8 seconds. Lit Shooting Stars are indicated by + shaped white lights near the tops of the slingshots. When a Shooting Star is lit on one side, a ball that rolls near the top opening of the in lane will be trapped by a circle of small posts so that it can be dropped into the in lane. If the ball was moving quickly and the pins do not trap the ball causing it to drain down an out lane, a new ball will be served to the shooter lane as compensation. Lighting both Shooting Stars at the same time while Make a Wish is lit will in turn light the Ruby, which allows the next Make a Wish to award 2 Jewels instead of 1.

Bazaar: One Bazaar advance is awarded for hitting the post targets to the right of the ramp, to the left of the left orbit, or by shooting the Bazaar scoop itself when it is not lit. Spelling Bazaar qualifies a Bazaar mystery award at the scoop. A “Bazaar advance” may award all 6, 3, 2, or 1 letters in Bazaar, decreasing the more the mystery award has been collected. Possible outcomes of the mystery award include:

• Big Points: 250,000 or 500,000

• 3 (Bonus) Multipliers

• Hold Bonus X

• Light Make a Wish 

• 15 Lamp Spins (which also starts Lightning Lamp and lights Make a Wish)

• Light Shooting Stars (this cannot be used to light the Ruby)

• Light Locks

• Light Extra Ball

• Instant Extra Ball

End of Ball Bonus

Base bonus is calculated as the sum of the following, all multiplied by the bonus multiplier.

• 10,000 points per Lamp spin. Maximum 119, and Lamp spins during Lightning Lamp and any multiball don’t count.

• 10,000 points per Genie hit over the course of the game.

• 50,000 points per Jewel collected over the course of the game. This can exceed 7 if you complete the Scimitar, play Rescue the Princess, either win or lose, and start collecting Jewels during the second lap.

Bonus multipliers are earned by shooting lit captive balls outside of multiball and Cyclops mode, or as a possible Bazaar mystery award. The max bonus multiplier is 12x. Bonus multiplier does not carry over between balls unless the Hold Bonus X award was earned from the Bazaar. Bonus is massively important on Tales of the Arabian Nights; the Lamp spins times the multiplier alone can be worth several millions points. Unless you’re trying to avoid a house ball on ball 1, it’s never favorable to tilt.

espie’s Recommendations

• Focus on shooting the Lamp early in the game. This builds your end of ball bonus for future balls, qualifies Make a Wish that can spot Jewels, and increases the value of future Lightning Lamps.

• Collect Jewel (or Collect 2 Jewels) should usually be the default choice from Make a Wish, but keep track of the state of the game as much as possible. Collect Bonus can be significantly more worth it, especially with a high bonus multiplier on ball 3, and 3x Lightning Lamp can set you up nicely for short-term scoring as well if it is cashed in during your third (or more) Lightning Lamp in a game.

• While valuable, Genie Multiball is often not worth going out of your way for. If you happen to be close to spelling Genie or already have locks lit, it’s a nice way to grab a few million points in a pinch, but it frequently gets started ‘accidentally’ during the process of playing modes/getting Jewels or aiming at the Lamp.

• The value of the end-of-ball bonus cannot be understated. A shot to a captive ball that advances the bonus multiplier is never a shot wasted. Don’t tilt, and if you have time to practice before a tournament match, learn how much you can move the game before it gets mad at you.

For super players: Harem-Genie Stack

Due to what is likely a bug or oversight, there is a way to bring the rules of Harem Multiball into Rescue the Princess wizard mode. This allows Rescue the Princess to be played with Harem Multiball rules, drastically increasing the potential scores.

To set up this stack, you must complete the following steps in order:

1. Collect the H, A, R, and E in Harem, but not the M.

2. Have Sinbad and the Rocs be your 7th and final main mode, and start it. 

3. Shoot the left orbit when it is lit for Harem. This awards the M in Harem, which should start multiball, but the diverter position for Sinbad and the Rocs overrides it, so you remain in single ball play despite the game playing the “Boys will be boys” callout and Harem Multiball! animation.

4. Use Make a Wish, NOT the left ramp, to collect the Sinbad Jewel.

5. Shoot the Genie to start Rescue the Princess.

6. Reach Phase 2, “unlimited balls until someone wins”, without draining.

With this stack running, in addition to all Rescue the Princess scoring, every switch in the game scores the Harem Jackpot, which can still be increased by shooting the left orbit to access the pop bumpers. Now, you can simply choose not to end the Genie Battle–taking care not to lose or win–take advantage of the unlimited ball save to earn an infinite score. Extensive use of the stack can lead to a Harem Jackpot of well over 500,000 points, and is the only realistic way to roll the score on Tales of the Arabian Nights at 1,000,000,000 points.

Similarly to this stack, Lightning Lamp can be brought into Rescue the Princess, but it’s harder to bring that all the way to the second phase since the Lamp needs to be hit every 7 seconds while also making progress through phase 1.