Mystic

The Mystic, designed by George Christian and manufactured by Bally in 1980, is a colorful solid-state (SS) electronic pinball machine built around a circus/carnival and magic theme. With 3,950 confirmed units produced, it saw a healthy production run for its era.

At its core, the Mystic offers a balanced, classic layout. Players use two flippers and three pop bumpers to control ball movement, while two slingshots and three 3-bank drop targets add scoring opportunities. Two spinning targets and a "messenger ball" feature add a touch of whimsy in keeping with the machine's circus/carnival theme, alongside a kick-out hole and standup target.

The Mystic's design is notable for its large eye motif on the backglass - for which artist Margaret Hudson posed as a model - created by artist Kevin O'Connor, who has said he was drawn to the magic theme because he was personally interested in and dabbling with magic at the time. Early production runs featured a yellow cabinet color and a recessed, 3-D backglass eye effect, both of which were changed during the production run: the cabinet color shifted to blue, and the eye was later silkscreened directly onto the glass.