Bally · 1995
Complete four long goals to open Grand Finale: spell THEATRE, play Theatre Multiball, move the clock to midnight, and start all eight illusions.
Take the stage →The whole game
The rotating trunk in the center starts the eight illusions. Hit the trunk until its open side faces you, then shoot into the opening. The same trunk also advances several long goals.
Find your targets
Hit the rotating trunk’s front face, left of center, to light an Illusion. Shoot into its opening when it turns to start the lit Illusion.
How to try it: Hold the ball still on the right lower flipper. Aim into the opening at Magic Trunk, avoiding its rim and nearby posts. Watch where the machine kicks the ball back and regain control.
Strike the front captive ball in the short channel beside the left lane. The saw disc above it is scenery; the ball is the target.
How to try it: Hold the ball still on the right lower flipper and hit the exposed ball at Tiger Saw captive ball as squarely as possible. The trapped ball moves into its switch; your ball rebounds, so be ready to catch it.
The ground-level lane beside the captive-ball area, inside the far-left clear return. Make this lane to spell THEATRE; do not aim at the raised return track.
How to try it: Hold the ball still on the right lower flipper. Aim through the open channel at the bottom of Left lane; the ball must pass the entrance switch and continue up the lane. If a weak shot rolls back down the same lane, let it return to a flipper before trying again.
The shorter staircase ramp beside the trunk. Aim at the black entrance at the foot of the red stairs; the ramp can raise the Trapdoor.
How to try it: Hold the ball still on the left lower flipper. Aim through the two posts at the bottom of Center staircase ramp and use a firm forehand so the ball climbs the ramp. If it starts up and rolls back, let it reach a flipper before shooting again.
The longer red staircase on the right. Its entrance is the broad black mouth at the bottom of the stairs, inside the right orbit.
How to try it: Hold the ball still on the left lower flipper. Aim through the two posts at the bottom of Right staircase ramp and use a firm forehand so the ball climbs the ramp. If it starts up and rolls back, let it reach a flipper before shooting again.
The lane outside the right staircase ramp. Shoot the ground-level lane beside the ramp to advance the clock.
How to try it: Hold the ball still on the left lower flipper. Aim through the open channel at the bottom of Right orbit; the ball must pass the entrance switch and continue up the lane. If a weak shot rolls back down the same lane, let it return to a flipper before trying again.
Choose your launch
Time the first launch for Begin Illusion or Advance Clock, then hit the trunk. Later launches award one clock hour at the Tiger Saw captive ball.
Every launch here is a chance at a skill shot: an award for hitting one particular thing with the first shot after you launch. The ball you launch comes down to your right flipper, so this first shot is always from the right.
Before you pull the plunger, look at the dot display above the table. It cycles through three awards. Pull the plunger when the one you want is showing, then hit the trunk with your first shot. The three on offer are chosen from four: 10 or 20 million points; double your end-of-ball bonus (the points counted up when the ball ends); move the clock forward two hours; and either “Begin Illusion”, which starts an illusion on the spot, or “2x Combo”, which doubles every combo for the rest of the turn. Begin Illusion is on the list when no illusion is lit; 2x Combo is on the list when one is. You never see both.
One catch: if an illusion is already lit and the trunk is showing its hole, hitting the trunk is not enough. You have to put the ball in the hole to get the award. Miss and you simply play on; the rulesheet does not describe a second try.
When the machine gives you a fresh ball in the middle of a turn, for instance after it locks one behind the trunk, the skill shot moves to the Tiger Saw captive ball and is always the same thing: one hour on the clock. Hit the captive ball with your first shot and the clock moves.
Every skill shot you make also adds a million to your end-of-ball bonus, so they are worth taking.
Your first useful run
The magician’s eight tricks
Each illusion is a short timed job. The book shows the next one; slingshots and bumpers move the selection. Start one through the trunk hole, the Begin Illusion launch award or the basement.
Starting all eight prepares Grand Finale. Each adds 4M to bonus. During non-trunk illusions, trunk hits score an increasing value that lasts for the ball.
Shoot the Tiger Saw captive ball, the two-ball channel right of the left lane. Every hit that pushes the back ball to the top is 15 million and the tiger saws something in half on the display. Hits here also count toward lighting Vanish (see Tiger Saw Multiball), so this illusion does two jobs at once.
The trunk has been thrown underwater and you break the chains by hitting its plain side four times, 17 million a hit. Finish all four to see the escape. The trunk is the only thing that scores in this one.
Shoot the right inner loop so the ball rips through the spinner. The first spinner shot pays 800,000 for every spin, the next 1.1 million a spin, then 1.4 million, with no limit. The left inner loop normally counts too, but if the left loop is lit for a lock or for the Grand Finale, only the right inner loop counts. This is the low-scoring illusion; the rising trunk hits described above may be worth more.
The assistant is locked in a safe. Shoot either inner loop to get one number of the combination. The first two shots are 20 million each and the third is 30 million, 60 million for the set, and finishing it plays the escape.
Shoot the right ramp. The first shot is 12 million, then 16, then 20, and on up. Each time, the Spirit Ring grabs the ball off the ramp rail and drops it down to your left inlane, which sets you up to shoot the ramp again. The rulesheet says the ring activates here but will not necessarily pay its own points.
Get the ball into the pop bumpers. Shoot the left lane (as long as Vanish is not lit) or the right orbit and the gates drop the ball into the bumpers. Every bumper hit is 6 million, and ten hits, 60 million, finishes it. The ball also rolls through the top lanes on the way, so this is a good time to advance your bonus multiplier.
The trunk stays on its hole side. Shoot the hole for 15 million a time. A rabbit comes out the first time, doves the second, and a telephone the third. The trunk is the only thing that scores in this one.
The main multiball
Spell MAGIC on the ramps, lock two balls behind the trunk, then hit the trunk’s bull’s-eye. Take the opening trunk shot, earn jackpots there, and use its ejects to keep the other balls under control.
Multiball means more than one ball on the table at once. To get this one you spell MAGIC, lock two balls, then send a third ball to the trunk’s magnet. Here is the whole thing in order.
The second multiball
Hit the captive ball to light Vanish, shoot the left lane to hold a ball, then shoot the right orbit for two-ball Tiger Saw Multiball. The captive ball remains the jackpot shot. Prepare Vanish before Theatre Multiball to turn that start into four-ball play.
This is a two-ball multiball that starts at the Tiger Saw captive ball and pays at the same place.
Vanish plus Theatre Multiball is the best combination on the table. If a ball is sitting in the Vanish Lock when you start Theatre Multiball, it is let out and you play four balls instead of three. Then, when Theatre Multiball ends, the left lane is lit for Vanish and 40 million again, straight away. Tiger Saw Multiball itself does not count toward the Grand Finale.
The easiest of the four jobs
Each single-ball left lane adds a letter and returns to the right flipper. Spell THEATRE to prepare one Grand Finale job and light a ten-second, 50M trunk-hole hurry-up.
The letters clear after spelling. Once you have earned a hurry-up, unfinished letters reset at the end of later balls.
Twelve hours to midnight
During Midnight Madness, hit the trunk bull’s-eye after its magnet resets. A hit pays twice the displayed hour in millions, with a 10M floor.
The mystery award
Hit the two trap-door targets four times, shoot the center ramp to raise the door, then shoot the raised door for a basement award. The door remains up only briefly, so prepare the right-flipper shot before earning the ramp.
The trap door is this table’s mystery award: a shot that gives you one thing from a list, and you do not know which until you get there. It takes three steps.
The display offers ten awards and picks one, apparently at random, and rarely gives the same one twice in a game. Here is what each does:
| Award | What you get |
|---|---|
| Millions | Somewhere between 15 and 40 million. |
| Spell MAGIC | MAGIC is spelled for you, so the locks light. |
| Midnight | The clock jumps to midnight and Midnight Madness starts. If you had not yet passed 6:00, you get the 6:00 award as well. |
| Pinball | A video game on the display. Shoot all six targets in twenty seconds for an extra ball, or sometimes 40 million. |
| Lite Ex. Ball | An extra ball lights at the left lane. |
| Trunk Magic | The trunk turns to its hole. Shoot the hole within about five seconds for 40 million. |
| Adv. Clock | One hour on the clock. |
| Lite Special | Both outlanes light for a free credit for the rest of the turn. |
| Illusion | The flashing illusion starts right now. The rulesheet believes this can happen even while another illusion is running. |
| Bonus X | Your bonus multiplier goes up one, unless it is already at the top. |
Two cautions. Balls come out of the trap door with no ball saver, so be at the flippers when it kicks. And if the machine is set to tournament play, the basement is switched off and the trap door is just 15 million.
Points between the big features
Right-ramp shots advance the Spirit Ring, consecutive major shots advance combos, and the two top lanes raise bonus. Take these when they align with an illusion, lock or ramp route instead of leaving the main progression to chase them.
The first right ramp you shoot when the ring is off switches it on. The next right ramp, the ring pulls the ball off the rail and drops it to the left inlane for 10 million. Then the ring is lit again for 20 million, but only briefly; make that and it lights once more for 30 million, briefly again. After the 30 million it does not relight. The rulesheet does not say whether it comes back on your next turn.
A combo is two big shots in a row. The shots that count are the left lane, the left inner loop, the centre ramp, the right inner loop, the right ramp and the right orbit. The first combo is 2 million and each one straight after adds another 2 million: a three-in-a-row is 4 million, four is 6, with no limit. The “2x Combo” skill shot doubles all of that for the turn. The left lane is the easy one to repeat, because it returns the ball to your right flipper every time; the centre ramp comes back to the left flipper.
Roll through both lanes at the top and your bonus multiplier goes up one, to a top of 8x. After that each completion pays 5 million. Use lane change, a tap on either flipper button, to move the lit lane under the ball. The multiplier goes back to 1x at the end of every turn. A soft left lane shot, the Strait Jacket illusion, Theatre Multiball’s closed gate and the Grand Finale all put the ball through these lanes.
The spinner is 100,000 a spin outside Spirit Cards. The centre ramp is 500,000 when nothing is lit, the captive ball 2 million when nothing is lit, and the Poof target 100,000 always. The pop bumpers add to the THEATRE hurry-up and move the flashing illusion along the book. The slingshots move the illusion along too.
When a turn ends, the machine adds up your bonus: a rank for Grand Finale jobs done (2 million with none, then 4, 6, 8 and 10 million for four); 1 million for every MAGIC letter you shot on a ramp (free letters from a Secret Ball Lock do not count); 500,000 for every THEATRE letter; 1 million for every hour on the clock; 4 million for every illusion played; and 1 million for every skill shot made. Then the whole lot is multiplied by your bonus multiplier, up to 8x. The rulesheet’s author has seen it pass 300 million.
Play more than one feature
Running two features together is called a play at the same time. On this table the rule of thumb is: the trunk-side jobs pause during any multiball, the clock and the top lanes do not. Here is the list.
| Combination | Status | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Vanish ball waiting + Theatre Multiball | Allowed, and the best play at the same time | Earn Vanish first, then spell MAGIC and lock two. Theatre Multiball starts with four balls, and when it ends Vanish is lit again for another 40 million. |
| Tiger Saw Illusion + advancing Vanish | Allowed | Captive ball hits during any illusion count toward Vanish, so every 15-million hit in Tiger Saw is also a step toward the multiball. |
| Clock + Tiger Saw Multiball | Allowed | The right orbit still moves the clock during this multiball, but not during Theatre Multiball. |
| Bonus X + either multiball | Allowed | The top lanes always work. In Theatre Multiball every left lane shot goes there. |
| THEATRE letters, Vanish hits, trunk hits or trap door targets + any multiball | Blocked | Those shots do nothing for those features while more than one ball is out. Do that work in single-ball play. |
| Hocus Pocus outlane magnets + any multiball | Blocked | The magnets do not work during multiball. |
| An illusion + a multiball starting | Not answered | The rulesheet does not say whether a running illusion carries on when a multiball starts. You cannot light a new one during multiball, because trunk hits do not count then. |
| THEATRE hurry-up + a lit illusion | Not answered | Both want the trunk’s hole. The rulesheet does not say which one a hole shot pays first. |
| Grand Finale + anything | Waits | It only lights and starts in single-ball play. If Theatre Multiball is your fourth job, the Finale lights after the multiball ends. |
A tempting order that wastes shots: locking two balls and starting Theatre Multiball while you still need THEATRE letters, then shooting the left lane for them during the multiball. The lane goes to the top lanes instead and gives no letters. Spell THEATRE first, then lock.
Extra balls, ball savers and the outlanes
Reach 6:00, light the third Vanish or draw Lite Extra Ball, then shoot the left lane. Winning the basement video mode awards one directly.
Normal balls begin with a short save. Neither multiball nor trap-door returns are protected, so get a flipper under those ball returns immediately.
Hocus Pocus turns on both inlane magnets for about 15 seconds in single-ball play. Ignore lit Specials on free play.
The right inner loop can return down the middle. A weak right ramp exits there too. Let the ball reach a flipper before reacting.
The wizard mode
The Grand Finale is this table’s wizard mode, the big round you reach by finishing everything else. The four jobs, in rough order of difficulty: spell THEATRE (easy); play Theatre Multiball (fairly easy); reach midnight on the clock (hard, but doable if you make it a priority); and start all eight illusions (the hard one). Tiger Saw Multiball does not count.
After the fourth job, shoot either lit inner loop. For 60 seconds, every ramp and loop pays 50M and adds a MAGIC THEATRE letter. Complete all twelve for 500M.
The rulesheet does not say what happens when the sixty seconds run out short of twelve shots, whether the four jobs reset so you can earn the Finale again, or exactly which shots count as “every ramp and loop”. Assume the six combo shots, and watch the lights.
Score higher
The single biggest shot on the table is the trunk’s hole during the five-second countdown at the start of Theatre Multiball. Set it up: before you hit the bull’s-eye, remember that the balls will pour out of the trap door on the right, in front of the right ramp. Get a flipper under the first one and shoot the trunk immediately. Do not touch any other big shot first, because that cancels the countdown.
Theatre jackpots start at 50 million every time, but the left lane, both inner loops, the right ramp and the right orbit each add 5 million whether the jackpot is lit or not. While you are hitting the trunk to relight it, work those shots in between. The inner loops are especially good, because the gate can push a loop shot into the back of the trunk, and that awards a lit jackpot too.
The left lane returns the ball to your right flipper and you can shoot it again at once. Every trip is a THEATRE letter, a combo that climbs by 2 million a time, and, if you have made the 2x Combo skill shot, double that. The centre ramp is the other easy repeat; it comes back to the left flipper.
The end-of-ball bonus can pass 300 million. Letters, hours, illusions, and skill shots add points to it during single-ball play. The top lanes raise its multiplier; Strait Jacket, Theatre Multiball, and the Grand Finale all send the ball through those lanes. Reach 8× when possible. When the ball drains, the game multiplies and awards the total automatically.
In Midnight Madness the early hours pay the most, 22 million at eleven. Wait a beat after the magnet lets go before you shoot again; a ball that arrives too soon does not stick and scores nothing.
Order of work for a Finale run. Spell THEATRE and prepare Vanish while you are on one ball; those pause in multiball. Shoot the right orbit at every safe chance for the clock. Use Theatre Multiball for bonus multiplier and jackpots, and Tiger Saw Multiball for clock hours. Keep hitting the trunk for illusions between everything else; eight is the job that decides whether you get there.
Your table
Everything on this page comes from Bowen Kerins’ published rulesheet for Theatre of Magic. Where that sheet is unsure, this page says so rather than guessing.
What the rulesheet could not tell you: exactly when either multiball ends; whether a running illusion survives a multiball starting; which of the hurry-up and a lit illusion the trunk’s hole pays first; whether the flashing illusion skips ones you have played; whether the clock or the Spirit Ring carry over between turns; whether extra balls are capped; what happens when the Grand Finale’s sixty seconds run out and whether it can be played again; and how many balls a game you get.
Operator settings vary from cabinet to cabinet. Where your display disagrees with this guide, trust the display.