Bally

Theatre of Magic

Pinside Rating

This game received 1089 approved Pinsider ratings and currently rates 8.439 _/10

8.439

Top 100 ranking

This game ranks #38 in the Pinside Pinball Top 100.

Score breakdown

Score breakdown in the 4 main categories:

Game Design: 8.633

Artwork: 8.509

Sounds/Music: 7.824

Other Aspects: 8.48

Pinside staff rating

This is how we, the very knowledgeable (wink wink) Pinside.com staff & moderators rate this game. 9 of us have rated this game.

8.528

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Found 578 ratings (with comment) on this game

There are 578 ratings (that include a comment) on this game.
Currently showing results page 8 of 24.

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10.000/10

7 years ago

???

TNTs

TNTS

New Bern, NC

14y 31,050 33 13

Great Game

TNTs edited previous rating on April 20, 2018.

8.633/10

7 years ago

LJK

I just bought this game recently and I'm in love with it. my wife loves it. all my friends love it. The art package is incredible for starters. The flow of shots and gameplay blew me away. It plays even faster and smoother than my lord of the rings with awesome variation.

The code depth doesn't quite reach those levels but lots of variety keeps it fresh and the games play quickly which is good when friends are over and playing for drinks! The theme has such wide appeal! ITS MAGIC!

Update. Still a great game but In the end I sold it to make room for pins with deeper code and variety. I found that after about 3 months of owning it I had done all I wanted to do on it. Again nice wide appeal but for the player looking for those nearly unreachable goals I found I attained it all quickly.

FlipMyBalls edited previous rating on October 19, 2017.

9.140/10

7 years ago

ZEN

Zennmaster

Pinside member

Portland, OR

8y 46,900 392 5 15

I like this one a LOT. I'm a bit of a beginner when it comes to depth, but I really find the progression in this game to be very engaging. The trunk toy is a lot of fun, and the various illusions seem to follow a nice progression. The sound is exemplary, with some truly great callouts. My only gripe is with the multi-ball mode. There is really only one (okay, technically two), and it is pretty simplistic. There's no stacking, and no ball save (yeah, I'm pretty green). I've managed to make it to the finale once or twice, and getting there is quite satisfying. This is truly one of the classics of its era.

7.539/10

7 years ago

GOD

embryon

Pinside member

9y 51,300 1,017 10

Poor wizard mode. Easy to master game

9.020/10

7 years ago

JON

jonh

Pinside member

Camano Island, WA

7y 35,900 13 11 8

One of my top three favorite games, pretty deep rule set, great flow of play, challenging game modes. The multi ball is fun and getting to the Grand Finale is awesome. An awesome all around game that holds up over time, its just too bad they are so damn expensive.

jonh has this game on the wishlist.

9.328/10

7 years ago

ROB

Robertstone0407

Pinside member

Marysville, OH

7y 122K 3,054 9 64

One of the best games ever made, toys, toys toys. Never short of wow factor and awesome rule sets. I always feel there's something to shoot for and goals to be met. Love there's so many ways to go about getting high scores. The amount of features on this game is amazing. Once you dress it up with leds it really shows all the details. Would be the perfect game if it wasn't for the crap video mode and the call outs are far from my favorite. The girl saying you got the magic gets old. The call outs clearly tell you where and what to do though.

9.221/10

7 years ago

MWR

bitternerd

Pinside+ Frequent

Seattle, WA

7y 57,050 114 9 25

Probably my favorite. The theme is super cheesy but somehow in a good way. Shots are fun. The guys voice makes me laugh and After I play I walk around saying everything like him.
Amazing!!

bitternerd edited previous rating on October 16, 2018.
bitternerd has owned this game in the past.

8.896/10

7 years ago

MJH

TimeBandit

redshiftLED.com.au

Sydney, Oz

10y 159K 5,511 3 65

Beautiful! But gets old quick.

TimeBandit edited previous rating on January 11, 2017.

7.295/10

7 years ago

RC

Robhorror

Pinside member

Québec, QC

8y 50,650 3 15 53

great machine....

Robhorror edited previous rating on May 29, 2017.
Robhorror has owned this game in the past.

6.629/10

7 years ago

TUF

TUF-427

Pinside member

10y 23,400 13 11 14

A pretty good game overall, I am not a fan of the theme personally,music and sound do get repetitive.far better off with a twilight Zone imho

9.900/10

7 years ago

FAB

stefy_fabio

Inactive member

Capua

8y 21,900 28 9 6

The most elegant!

stefy_fabio currently owns this game.

5.134/10

7 years ago

WWW

Shadrac

Pinside member

8y 51,050 401 1 27

Great theme and a very beautiful pin.
Extremely boring, callouts are annoying. I had no fun at all playing this game.
I was happy when this pin left my gameroom, and it left pretty fast.

Shadrac edited previous rating on January 23, 2018.
Shadrac has owned this game in the past.

10.000/10

7 years ago

???

PinballAlley

Pinball Alley

Rochester, NY

7y 46,900 316 5 15

This is the opus of the pinball machine. I can play it over and over and it never fails to amuse me. We decided this would be a signature piece and we went all out on our restoration. We added brass coin door, rails, legs hinges and anywhere else it would fit. I love magic so all the "magic" mods were so much fun. The wands and rabbits just make it so festive. This IS my favorite pinball.

PinballAlley currently owns this game.

2 Pinsiders flagged this.

7.419/10

7 years ago

???

Buildn

Pinside member

Unknown

7y 17,900 6 3 6

Nice theme with exciting fast flowing game play. The ramps, use of magnets, vanishing balls, and not to forget the main feature of the game, the trunk, all come together to keep all levels of players entertained and wondering what other tricks TOM has up its sleeve. Worthy of a top ten rating in my opinion.

Edit: After owing for 8 months I am downgrading my ratings on fun, theme and last ability. Least played game by myself family and guests. Not enough reward to play the modes as you can score lots of points in other repetitive ways. Theme has gotten annoying, shots are just are not as fun anymore and multi balls suck.

Buildn edited previous rating on February 06, 2017.
Buildn has owned this game in the past.

10.000/10

7 years ago

ALB

atwong

Pinside member

Orange, CA

8y 44,900 101 23

I would say I'm a casual plus player. I enjoy playing pinball because I have fond memories of playing pinball at my local pizza joint when I was growing up. When I see a pin, I usually throw a couple of bucks in but I'm not an addict (at least that's what i tell myself).

Theatre of Magic is one of those games that feels like riding your favorite bike around the neighborhood. Easy to get on, easy to ride and easy for you to enjoy. Love the theme and game play. My downside is that when you play this pin in public, it's usually in horrible shape which leads to a poor experience. I honestly haven't encountered a good pin in public and get my fix on Pinball Arcade.

atwong has this game on the wishlist.

2 Pinsiders flagged this.

9.700/10

7 years ago

JRS

jaime

Pinside+ Frequent

Tacoma, WA

10y 44,650 48 31 10 1

This game is a keeper in my collection

jaime currently owns this game.

9.340/10

7 years ago

MJS

Matesamo

PinballRI

Warwick, RI

7y 117K 1,292 112 1

Oh the first time the magic box spins around and the ball flies up and sticks to it before it spins back around, is there any better "moment" in pinball? It just grabs and impresses everyone.

8.484/10

7 years ago

LMS

Tranquilize

Pinside member

9y 84,550 3,778 35

This is one of the greats for sure. This has the BEST bash toy in the history of pinball. Great ramps, trapdoor is cool, and the small orbit is great. I find the call-outs become redundant pretty quick, and the game is pretty circular in nature, rules-wise. This is one of the easiest pins I've every played, so lastability is pretty low. Overall, it's a well-themed pin with great shots, but it's just too simple.

Tranquilize edited previous rating on May 12, 2018.

7.872/10

7 years ago

GEM

pinlosopher

Pinside member

Winston-salem, NC

7y 36,900 47 3 29

I don't get it, and maybe that is the problem but this machine bores me to death. So much potential but it seems to flounder when played fast and hard.

pinlosopher has this game on the wishlist.

8.288/10

7 years ago

SKI

Jefski2003

Inactive member

Carolina Forest, SC

7y 37,400 21 8 43

Great playing it,is just wanna keep playing it to get to the better magic tricks! It's a must for the collection for anyone

Jefski2003 has this game on the wishlist.

5.648/10

7 years ago

DAV

DaveH

Pinside+ Frequent

Boston, MA

11y 121K 7,881 21 13

TOM bores me. It always has since I first played it. The game just never clicked for me. I've found a ton of 90s games I love. This just isn't one of them.

Update: I really dislike that my rating for TOM comes out so low. I realize it’s popular. I just don’t enjoy playing it.

DaveH edited previous rating on January 06, 2018.

7.080/10

7 years ago

MWP

FtrMech

Pinside+ Addict

Liberty Township, OH

11y 78,050 524 19 17 1

I had this machine in my collection for a few year's and after a while I realized that it was off more often than on as compared to my other machines. Upfront Theatre of Magic seems like a very attractive fun game but for me I became bored very quickly.

FtrMech edited previous rating on February 19, 2017.
FtrMech has owned this game in the past.

8.520/10

7 years ago

MTZ

Metzu

Pinside member

8y 34,300 386 1 8

Its magic!

8.029/10

7 years ago

KEN

Kenz

Pinside member

Unknown

8y 58,800 399 19 57

Good pin with nice playfield and toys. Callouts are repetitive though.

6.617/10

7 years ago

LUP

Luppin

Inactive member

8y 50,550 970 17

Beautiful machine, but after the initial great impression it gets old quick. I thought I would have love it before playing it, but finally quite disappointing.

Luppin edited previous rating on December 23, 2016.

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There are 578 ratings (that include a comment) on this game. Currently showing results page 8 of 24.

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