UK Machine Record
Bally · 1995 · at 2 UK venues.
Theatre of Magic is one of Bally's most elegant machines, designed by John Popadiuk and built around the idea of a mysterious magician's stage. The illusion theme is everywhere, from the magic trunk to the spinning discs and disappearing-ball effects, but the machine's real trick is how cleanly its objectives are presented.
The trunk is the centre of the game, and getting the ball into it is considerably more important than it first appears. Once you start completing the various illusions and building towards Grand Finale, the game becomes much more demanding than its glamorous appearance suggests.
It is a particularly good classic machine for introducing somebody to deeper pinball because the rules can be understood gradually. Learn the trunk shot. Everything else starts to fall into place from there.
Written by Silverball
Silverball guide · Theatre of Magic
When Theatre Multiball starts, a countdown runs from five. Shoot the Trunk hole before it ends and you take 100 million in one shot. Hit anything else and the countdown is cancelled.
Played Theatre of Magic enough to have an opinion? Write it up.
Strategy tips written by players on PinTips , not by Silverball. Best-voted first.
Repeated left orbit shots scores combos, bonus, bonus multipliers (rollover lanes), and a 50M hurryup on the trunk. Solid simple strategy.
Collect Vanish before starting Multiball for a 4-ball Multiball. Vanish will be lit and can be collected again after Multiball is over.
Secret lock: Tap ball up left orbit to drop into trunk from back; locks first ball and lights second lock.
1st ball: Select levitating woman w/ flippers, make trunk skillshot for start illusion, loop the center ramp for points & progress to locks
Shoot left loop to spell THEATR. Lock 2 balls to expose the trunk magnet. Shoot left loop one more time to start hurry-up. Shoot the trunk
Hit center ramp to spell MAGIC. Once done locks are lit behind trunk. Shoot trunk to start multiball. Hit trunk again immediately.
Hit captive ball to lit Vanish on left loop. Lock ball (40M) and release by shooting right loop. Captive ball awards jackpot in this 2ballMB
In multiball, left orbit shots feed rollover lanes and pop bumpers. This is a great opportunity to advance bonus while increasing JP value.
After playing MAGIC multiball twice, the center ramp no longer awards MAGIC letters. Shoot the Metamorphosis ramp instead.
Try to stack tigersaw multiball with grand finale.
How to get to Grande Finale: Play all modes, advance clock to 12, play multiball, spell theatre from left loop
Clock/trunk skill shot advances clock TWO hours. Hit captive ball after locking a ball to advance 1 hour. EB at 6:00; Madness at Midnight.
Tips belong to the players who wrote them. Read them all, vote, or add your own on PinTips, a Match Play project.
Community tutorials on YouTube, not made by Silverball.
Videos from YouTube, curated from channels we rate. They belong to their creators, who aren’t affiliated with Silverball; links open on YouTube so the view counts for them. A creator who’d rather not be listed can get in touch and we’ll remove it.
How Theatre of Magic was sold to operators — Bally, 1995. The back is the feature list the manufacturer led with, which is a fair record of what the machine was meant to be famous for.
Flyer scan via the Internet Pinball Database. The artwork is Bally’s.
Nobody we follow has reviewed this one
Same short list of channels as the tutorials. A machine with no review here has not been passed over — it simply hasn’t been covered by anyone we list.
Where a machine sits is Pinball Map’s work, not ours, find Theatre of Magic near you on their map. Ratings, tips and tournament results here are ours.
