Magic Castle

Magic Castle, released by Zaccaria of Bologna, Italy in September 1984, is a four-player solid-state pinball machine with a fantasy/vampire theme and artwork by Lorenzo Rimondini. It uses Zaccaria's Generation 2 hardware, including a sound board built around the TMS5200 speech chip, the same chip Bally used on its 'Squawk and Talk' sound board.

Gameplay on Magic Castle is built around four flippers, three pop bumpers, two slingshots, two 4-bank drop-target banks, a 3-bank drop-target bank, four standup targets, and a single drop target. A small, raised upper playfield sits at the top of a ramp, and one flipper is specifically positioned to help save the ball from draining down the right outlane. A mechanical backglass animation shows 'Zaccula' moving within his castle, reinforcing the game's vampire theme.

While not among Zaccaria's best-known titles, Magic Castle's vampire theme was relatively unusual for pinball of its era, and its four-flipper layout and backglass animation have earned it a dedicated following among collectors of Italian solid-state machines.