The Magic is Within You: A Playbill for Bally’s Theatre of Magic Pinball

Originally designed as a licensed game about magician David Copperfield, Theatre of Magic pushed the limits of theme integration in pinball harder than anyone had before when it was released in 1995. The second offering by designer John Popadiuk (following 1994’s World Cup Soccer), Theatre of Magic brings performance to life with its art, callouts, and use of magnets and subways to play tricks with the ball. While Theatre of Magic doesn’t have the best reputation in competitive circles, and rightly so, it’s still a fun game that gets a lot of attention and helped prove that 90s pinball didn’t need to be entirely mode-based to have impactful gameplay.

Here, solar_espeon–author of The Pinball Primer–discusses two different versions of Theatre of Magic’s code: version 1.3, the most recent version to be released by Midway in 1995, and version 2.0, designed and released as a homebrew balance update by community member Soren in 2021. Changes made in Soren’s code update are mentioned throughout the article where relevant and recapped in a separate section at the end.

Playfield Overview

Theatre of Magic has a relatively simple layout. It features only 2 flippers, located in conventional positions at the bottom of the playfield, with a standard symmetrical ‘Italian bottom’ layout on each side featuring one slingshot, one inlane, and one outlane. Standup targets just above the inlane entrances qualify Hocus Pocus, an automatically used magna save that can catch a ball and drop it into the inlane. If Hocus Pocus is qualified but the magnet fails to catch the ball and an outlane drain occurs anyway, there is no compensation on version 1.3 code, but a setting added to Soren’s 2.0 code can feed a new ball to the shooter lane. 

The core of Theatre of Magic’s playfield is a ‘fan’ design with 8 major shots. From left to right across the playfield, those shots are:

• The left orbit, primarily used to spell Theatre and access the top lanes

• The captive ball, which qualifies the Vanish lock for Tiger Saw Multiball and also serves as the jackpot shot within Tiger Saw Multiball

• The center loop left entrance, which can lock balls for Magic Multiball, and also starts Grand Finale wizard mode

• The Magic Trunk, see below

• The center ‘staircase’ ramp with two post targets on either side, which qualifies locks for Magic Multiball and the Trap Door mystery award

• The center loop right entrance, which contains a spinner and can also lock balls for Magic Multiball

• The right ‘staircase’ ramp with Trap Door in front of it, which also qualifies locks for Magic Multiball

• The right orbit, which advances the Clock time toward Midnight Madness and starts Tiger Saw Multiball if a Vanish lock has been made

The Magic Trunk has four faces that can be shot at during gameplay at various times. The blank face is exposed when working toward qualifying an Illusion mode. The blank face with a green light near the top is exposed when working toward qualifying the Jackpot in Magic Multiball. The face with a large bullseye-esque magnet is used during Midnight Madness and locking a third ball for Magic Multiball, and the face with an opening is used to start Illusion modes, collect Theatre Hurry-ups, or score Jackpots.

Theatre of Magic came out at the height of score inflation in pinball. Individual shots often award tens of millions of points. The replay score is often somewhere around 500,000,000, with a very good game reaching into the multiple billions. 

Abridged Theatre of Magic Tutorial

• In a competitive setting, the safety of the left orbit makes it a go-to shot at all times. Use it often to spell THEATRE to advance the base bonus and qualify hurry-ups, as well as a way to get back to the top lanes for bonus multipliers.

• If you’re looking for game progress, you can qualify Grand Finale wizard mode by lighting the four diamonds near the flippers: Theatre, Multiball, Midnight, and Illusions.

• For the Theatre diamond, shoot the left orbit 7 times to spell THEATRE and start a Theatre Hurry-up. You do not need to collect the hurry-up.

• For the Multiball diamond, shoot the center or right ramp when lit for Spell Magic to earn letters. Spelling MAGIC lights locks at the center loop. Lock 2 balls, then shoot the magnet on the trunk to start Magic Multiball. In multiball, bash on the trunk to open it for Jackpot; most other shots raise the Jackpot.

• For the Midnight diamond, reach Midnight by advancing the clock 12 times. Clock advances are earned with any right orbit shot or on captive ball skill shots.

• For the Illusions diamond, play all 8 main modes. To start a mode, shoot the blank face of the trunk 3 times, then shoot inside.

• Bashing the captive ball during non-mode single-ball play qualifies the Vanish lock on the left orbit. The Vanish lock can be added to Magic Multiball for a 4-ball round, or it can be released on its own at the right orbit to start Tiger Saw Multiball where the captive ball scores a progressive jackpot.

Skill Shots

The first skill shot at the start of each ball is always a flipper skill shot to the Magic Trunk. Three awards will automatically cycle on the display: when the ball is plunged, the displayed award is locked in, and can be collected by shooting the Magic Trunk as soon as the ball comes to the right flipper. 

The awards offered on a Magic Trunk skill shot include:

• 10 Million or 20 Million points

• 2X Combos

• Advance Clock

• Start Illusion

• Bonus X

Any skill shot after a ball lock (regardless of whether it’s a Trunk lock for Magic Multiball or a Vanish lock for Tiger Saw Multiball) is a flipper skill shot to the captive ball. There is no cycling award on the display this time; the skill shot prize is always Advance Clock.

Magicianship Diamonds

The main goal of Theatre of Magic is to become a master magician by lighting the four diamonds near the flippers, corresponding to Theatre, Multiball, Midnight, and Illusions.

For the red Theatre diamond, shoot the left orbit when it is lit white to collect THEATRE letters. In the original code through 1.3, the left orbit is lit for a THEATRE letter any time except for during Magic Multiball, Theatre Hurry-up, Grand Finale. On Soren’s 2.0 code, a hard setting exists that unlights the left orbit after a Theatre letter is collected, requiring a major shot to be made anywhere except the left orbit or captive ball to relight the Theatre letter. Most shots to the left orbit reach the top lanes; lighting both top lanes advances the bonus multiplier (2x at a time on 1.3 code, or 1x at a time as a setting on Soren’s 2.0 code) toward its maximum of 8x, or scores 5,000,000 points if the bonus multiplier is maxed. A ball going through the top lanes goes through the bumpers, then down the right orbit toward the flippers. Each bumper hit adds 101,320 points to the value of the Theatre Hurry-up. A left orbit shot that does not fall into the top lanes will come down the right habitrail and be dropped in the right inlane at speed. Spelling THEATRE instantly awards the red diamond and opens the mouth of the Magic Trunk for a hurry-up. The value of the hurry-up is 50,000,000 points, plus an additional 101,320 for each pop bumper hit during the game so far, which is very good value, especially if the Trunk was already lit for starting an Illusion mode. The first Theatre Hurry-up has a 12-second timer, but collecting a Hurry-Up decreases the timer of the next Hurry-up by 2 seconds, down to a minimum of 6.

For the green Multiball diamond, you must start Magic Multiball, but you do not need to score a Jackpot of any kind. To light locks for Magic Multiball, shoot ramps lit for Spell Magic to earn letters in MAGIC. At first, both ramps will Spell Magic, but after a while–usually after 2 Magic Multiballs have been played–the center ramp will no longer give MAGIC letters. When MAGIC is spelled, locks are lit at both entrances to the center loop. Lock 2 balls at the center loop to cause the Magic Trunk to reveal its magnet; shooting this magnet locks the third ball and starts Magic Multiball, awarding the diamond.

At the start of multiball, as the three locked balls are kicking out of the Trap Door, a faint countdown can be heard. Shooting a ball into the trunk during this time scores an instant 100,000,000 points. Once that award is earned or expires, the regular Jackpot comes into play. Jackpot starts at 50,000,000 points at the beginning of each Magic Multiball and increases by 5,000,000 by hitting any major shot in the game except for the center ramp. To score the Jackpot, shoot the Magic Trunk until the hole is revealed, which takes 2 hits for the first Jackpot and increases by 1 for each subsequent Jackpot, then shoot inside. Collecting the Jackpot does not reset its value, so do this as much as you can with more than one ball in play.

A weak shot to the center loop can fall into the back of the Magic Trunk. Once per game, doing this when the Magic Trunk is not showing the face with the hole that can be shot into will award a Secret Ball Lock, spotting all letters in MAGIC and locking a ball toward Magic Multiball without needing to shoot any ramps. This is difficult to do on purpose, but rather helpful.

For the yellow Midnight diamond, advance the clock to Midnight. This requires a total of 12 clock advances. Clock advances can be earned with any right orbit shot outside of Magic Multiball, most skill shots, or as an award from the Trap Door mystery. Advancing to 6:00 lights an extra ball on the left orbit; if this extra ball has already been earned or if extra balls are turned off, reaching 6:00 scores an instant 40,000,000 points instead. At 12:00, Midnight Madness begins immediately. During Midnight Madness, the magnet face of the Magic Trunk is exposed, and each shot to this magnet scores a decreasing jackpot that starts at 24,000,000, lowers by 2,000,000 every few seconds, then settles at 10,000,000 for a while before ultimately timing out. 

For the blue Illusions diamond, play all 8 of the game’s ‘Illusion’ main modes. Illusions can be started with a Magic Trunk skill shot, a Trap Door mystery award, or most commonly by hitting the wall of the Magic Trunk 3 times to expose the hole, then shooting inside. One Illusion is flashing at any given time; when you start an Illusion, the one that is flashing is the one that begins. At the start of the game, before plunging your first ball, the flippers can be used to move the flashing Illusion; after that, the flashing Illusion rotates based on pop bumper and slingshot hits. All Illusions are timed to 20 seconds–some can be completed, while others cannot. Simply starting all 8 Illusions lights the blue diamond. 

Mode rules are as follows:

• Tiger Saw: hits to the captive ball score 15,000,000 each. Cannot be completed.

• Safe Escape: shots to the center loop in either direction score 20,000,000 each. Completed after 3 shots.

• Levitating Woman: shots to the center ramp score 11,000,000, increasing by 1,000,000 each time. Cannot be completed.

• Metamorphosis: shots to the right ramp score 12,000,000, increasing by 4,000,000 each time. Cannot be completed.

• Trunk Escape: the Magic Trunk exposes its blank side. Shots to the Trunk score 17,000,000 each. Completed after 4 hits.

• Strait Jacket: post diverters pop up to ensure that any shot to either orbit is directed to the bumpers. Each bumper scores 6,000,000 points. Completed after 10 bumper hits.

• Spirit Cards: shoot the spinner. You can do this by shooting either side of the center loop, but shooting for the right entrance usually allows for better spinner rips. The first spinner rip scores 500,000 per spin. Subsequent spinner rips increase the value by 300,000 per spin. Cannot be completed.

• Hat Magic: the Magic Trunk exposes the hole. Shoot inside for 15,000,000. The ball will be kicked out from the Trap Door. Cannot be completed.

Once all four diamonds are lit, shoot the left entrance of the center loop to start Grand Finale wizard mode. Grand Finale is a single-ball wizard mode timed to 60 seconds. All major shots score 50,000,000 points and a letter in MAGIC THEATRE. Earning all 12 letters ends the mode and awards a 500,000,000-point bonus. There is no ball save, no way to add a ball and turn Grand Finale into a multiball, and no second phase or anything of the sort, making Grand Finale somewhat of an underwhelming wizard mode even for its time, but at least it succeeds in giving out points like candy. Playing Grand Finale unlights all 4 diamonds, and you can begin collecting them again when Grand Finale ends (via drain, timeout, or completion).

Tiger Saw Multiball

Hitting the captive ball during single-ball play gives progress towards lighting the Vanish lock at the left orbit. The first Vanish lock requires 3 captive ball hits to light, while all future Vanish locks require 6. Lighting the third Vanish lock also lights an extra ball at the left orbit if extra balls are on. Shooting the left orbit when Vanish is lit scores 40,000,000 points and locks the ball.

The Vanish lock is released by shooting the right orbit. There are 2 outcomes from releasing the Vanish lock. Releasing the Vanish lock during Magic Multiball functions as an add-a-ball, introducing a 4th ball to the playfield or re-adding a 3rd if one has already drained. Using the Vanish lock as an add-a-ball in this way will cause it to be immediately relit on the left orbit as soon as Magic Multiball ends. Releasing the Vanish lock outside of Magic Multiball starts Tiger Saw Multiball instead. During Tiger Saw Multiball, the captive ball is lit for a repeatable Tiger Saw Jackpot. The first Tiger Saw Jackpot scores 30,000,000 points, and subsequent Tiger Saw Jackpots each score 10,000,000 more than the previous, up to a maximum of 70,000,000 points, which is very good value. Also, unlike Magic Multiball, THEATRE letters can be earned during Tiger Saw Multiball, allowing you to shoot for THEATRE completions and bonus multipliers with the safety net of a second ball in play.

Trap Door Mystery

Hitting the post targets on either side of the center ramp a total of 4 times lights the center ramp for Raise Trap Door. Here, making the center ramp opens the Trap Door scoop in front of the right ramp for a few seconds. In competition settings, shooting into the Trap Door scores only 15,000,000 points and kicks the ball back out. However, when competition mode is not turned on, a mystery award is given in addition to the 15,000,000 points, and it can be any of these options:

• A random multiple of 1,000,000 points between 15,000,000 and 40,000,000.

• Spell Magic: the entire current spelling of MAGIC is completed, and locks for Magic Multiball are lit at the center loop.

• Midnight: instantly advance the clock all the way to Midnight, lighting the yellow diamond and starting Midnight Madness immediately. If you’re given this award before advancing the clock to 6:00 naturally, you will also get the 40,000,000 points or lit extra ball along the way.

• Pinball: starts Digital Pinball, which is widely considered one of the worst video modes of the 90s. Use the flippers to shoot the virtual pinball at the drop targets. The physics and timing are extremely weird. Knocking down all 6 targets within 15 seconds scores an extra ball or 40,000,000 points.

• Lite Ex. Ball: an extra ball is lit at the left orbit.

• Trunk Magic: shoot the ball into the Magic Trunk within 7 seconds to score 40,000,000 points. This is even worse value than a Theatre Hurry-up…

• Advance Clock: 3 clock advances.

• Lite Special: on the out lanes.

• Illusion: immediately start the currently flashing Illusion mode.

• Bonus X: advance the bonus multiplier by one step (+2x on original code, +1x on Soren 2.0 code, max 8x).

Soren’s code update re-adds the mystery award to Tournament mode, where it will prioritize either starting an Illusion mode or advancing the Clock depending on which has less progress. 

Spirit Ring

If Spirit Ring is not lit, shooting the right ramp will light Spirit Ring. If Spirit Ring is lit, the right ramp scores moderate points (10,000,000, then 20,000,000, then 30,000,000). Spirit Ring unlights if the right ramp is not shot for a considerable amount of time, or if the 30,000,000 award is scored. More importantly for game flow, keep in mind that the right ramp sends the ball to the right flipper if Spirit Ring is not lit, and the left flipper if Spirit Ring is lit.

Combos

Making consecutive major shots anywhere in the game scores a Combo. Combos start at 2,000,000 points. Each subsequent shot added to the Combo scores an award worth 2,000,000 more than the previous award. If 2X Combo was scored from the Trunk skill shot at the beginning of a ball, all Combo values are doubled. In the original code, there is no meaningful limit to the Combo value, but in Soren’s 2.0 code, the operator can adjust the max Combo value to any multiple of 4,000,000 between 8,000,000 and 80,000,000 points. The default max is 20,000,000, and the maximum Combo value does not get doubled if 2X Combo is active.

End of Ball Bonus

Bonus is a surprisingly large component of scoring on Theatre of Magic, and is calculated as follows:

• Magicianship: 2,000,000 points, plus an additional 2,000,000 for each diamond currently lit toward Grand Finale

• Magic Letters: 1,000,000 points for each one collected in the entire game so far

• Theatre Letters: 500,000 points for each one collected this ball

• Clock: 1,000,000 points times the current hour on the clock. If it is Noon, this is skipped and scores 0 points. Playing Midnight Madness resets this portion of the bonus back to 0 points.

• Illusions: 4,000,000 points for each one started in the entire game so far. Can exceed 8 by playing more Illusions after lighting the blue diamond or playing Grand Finale.

• Skill Shots: 1,000,000 points for each one successfully made in the entire game so far. Includes both Trunk and captive ball skill shots.

All of these pieces are added together and multiplied by the bonus multiplier. Bonus multiplier starts at 1x and is advanced by lighting both top lanes, as a Trunk skill shot option, or as a Trap Door mystery award. Bonus X advances in the sequence 2x-4x-6x-8x on the original code, and 2x-3x-4x-5x-6x-7x-8x on Soren’s 2.0 code (if the hard setting is enabled). The end-of-ball bonus can easily exceed the hundreds of millions of points on a good ball. An end-of-ball bonus of over a billion points–possible, but quite difficult, and requires a lot of chopping wood–will cause a fun visual glitch during the bonus count due to the game trying to display too many large digits at once, but it will still be added to your score correctly.

espie’s Recommendations

• At the start of every ball, always take the Start Illusion skill shot if it’s available, as it eliminates 4 risky shots to the Magic Trunk toward your Illusion progress. On ball 1, you can couple this with using the flippers to ensure the first started Illusion is Levitating Woman, which can put you out to a great start with over 100,000,000 points and Magic Multiball locks lit if you can dial in the center ramp.

• Always prioritize getting to 8x bonus on every ball. The top lanes are always in play, including during Magic Multiball and Tiger Saw Multiball, so make sure you earn bonus multipliers whenever you can, even if it’s not necessarily what the game wants you to shoot right then. Never underestimate your end-of-ball bonus, and only risk a tilt if you know you’re far behind an opponent or you’re trying to save a very short ball. Only go for the Bonus X skill shot if neither Start Illusion nor Advance Clock are available, though. Features such as Magic Multiball or shooting directly for Illusions can be focused on after 8x bonus is achieved.

• Know what to do with the feed out of the pop bumpers down the right orbit. To earn a very high score, you’ll need to be able to get this feed under control 100% of the time. Do you need to nudge the right side of the game to get the ball off the wall so it avoids the right slingshot? Can you simply hold up the right flipper for a free catch? Live catch skills will not go unrewarded here, since live-catching the right orbit return immediately gets the ball ready for another left orbit shot, and potentially more THEATRE letters and bonus multipliers.

• In a competitive setting, Tiger Saw Multiball is a good place to be, since it lets you earn THEATRE letters and score Theatre Hurry-Ups with more than one ball in play. Hold one ball on the left flipper and use the right flipper to shoot the left orbit for letters and bonus X, the captive ball for jackpots, or the Magic Trunk for Hurry-Ups. When that ball drains, use the ball trapped on the left flipper to return to the status quo.

• While a flow state on Theatre of Magic is possible (and quite fun) to reach, it is ultimately a game of control and accuracy. Take it easy and use this game to master flipper skills like live catches, post transfers, and multiball cradle separations.

Summary of Changes in Soren’s 2.0 ROM Update

• The left orbit can be set to unlight after a THEATRE letter is collected. To relight it, shoot any other major shot in the game.

• A completion of the top lanes can be set to advance the bonus multiplier by only 1x instead of 2x. The maximum bonus multiplier is 8x in either case.

• These two changes combined mean that while the left orbit is still a bailout shot and can help get the ball under control, its raw scoring value decreases. Spamming the left orbit until bonus X is maxed out can still be meaningful, but once you reach 8x, not getting a THEATRE letter is a big enough deal to incentivize focusing more on Illusion modes or multiballs.

• In the original code, there is no compensation for a ball that drains when the Hocus Pocus magna-save fails. Soren’s update adds a setting that enables this compensation.

• The Combo value, which awards 2,000,000 points for a two-way combo and increases by 2,000,000 with each extension to the Combo, has no meaningful upper limit in the game’s original release. Soren’s revision adds a setting for the maximum Combo value, which can be anywhere from 8,000,000 to 80,000,000 (default 20,000,000).

• The original game completely disables the Trap Door Mystery in tournament mode. Soren’s update re-adds this feature, which will always give a clock advance, an Illusion start, or 20,000,000 points.