The Sims 3 Showtime: Magicians
Learn about Gigs, Venues, and Making Money in this Profession
| Acrobat | Magician | Singer | Genies | SimPort |
This guide covers the Magician Profession in The Sims 3 Showtime. This profession is all about entertaining other Sims by putting on a great magic show. You'll earn most of your money from gigs, but not before spending some time out in public honing your magic tricks. Later in this career, you will have a lot of free time while still making amazing money doing gigs. That leaves you plenty of time for activities like Gardening, Fishing, or simply raising your Cooking so your Sim can eat better meals. Charisma may be a good skill to raise as well, because you will have an easy time meeting the friendship and acquaintance requirements to advance.
If you want your Magician to be truly great, take the Natural Born Performer trait that comes with Showtime. This trait will reduce the failure rate of all your magic tricks and help the Magician have a better overall stage presence.
How to Start the Career
If you are lucky, you can find the option to start the magician career with the newspaper or computer. Select Jobs and Professions, then Find a Profession. If it's not there, you could wait until the next day but the direct route is to speak to one of the proprietors in town.
Proprietors are the business owners who can schedule you for a gig. But, in this case, talking to the proprietor of Verde Park or the big park in the town you're playing. Proprietors generally show up as orange dots on your map once you've taken on the career. You'll need to find someone labeled with "Name, Proprietor". That's the person who manages the park. They'll give you the join Magician Career option.
Staring off in Magic
When you accept the role of Magician, you will have to choose a Stage Name for your Sim. This is simply what you'll be called when performing. Pick anything you like, as you can change it later by clicking your Sim.
You will also start with three magic tricks. Your job progress metrics are: Perform for Tips, Use Magic Tricks, and Get Gigs. In addition to other means of making money as a Magician, they also get a weekly stipend based on their level that is paid Sundays at noon.
The most important ability you start with is the Perform for Tips interaction. This will be your main career builder, and you'll need to do it until level two when you can get a gig at the Coffeehouse in town. Perform for tips is always a good way to improve your level while waiting on gigs to start. Perform for tips in well-traveled areas like the Park and Theater at night.
Here is a table showing all of the levels, weekly stipends, new interactions and magic tricks, and when you can audition for gigs at the various venues:
| Job Title | Pay/Week | Gig Options | Magic Tricks |
| Novice Trickster | $275 | None, Practice! | Instant Cards, Wand into Flowers, Coin From Ear Interaction |
| Newbie Illusionist | $340 | | Free Birds, Butterfly Sim Interaction | |
| Sim of Mystery | $400 | Coffeehouses | Box of Mystery (see info below, item has multiple magic tricks) |
| Conjurer | $532 | none | Balls of Fire Trick, Hot Hands Sim Interaction, Tuxedo Outfit |
| Sleight of Hand Savant | $640 | Live Show Venues (MN8) | Attracts More Sims to Magic Shows, Mystify the Audience Interaction for Performances |
| Illusionist | $840 | none | New Box of Mystery Trick, Appearing Objects Trick |
| Purveyor of Danger | $1140 | Private Venues | Buried Alive Trick with new item Box of Danger |
| Spellcaster | $1480 | Large Venues (Sports Stadium, Event Center) | New Magician's Outfit |
| Master Illusionist | $2000 | none | Levitate Trick, New Box of Danger Illusion Watery Escape |
| Master Magician | $3600 | none | Gigs attract more Sims and pay is increased dramatically |
Box of Danger and Box of Mystery
These two boxes are earned at levels 3 and 7. These two items are stored in your Sim's inventory and can be used in street performances, but are primarily used to add variety and excitement to your gigs. The box of mystery starts off with the Sword trick, and later is used for a vanishing Sim illusion at level 6. You get the Box of Danger at level 7 and can do a buried alive trick inside. Later, at 9 it is used for a watery grave trick where your Sim must escape from drowning. It is possible for a Magician to get killed while using the Box of Danger. Get lots of practice in, or use a death flower!
Raising your Level
Play for tips as much as you can. Take a gig as often as possible as your Sim needs more experience doing them in particular. It's one thing to do the tricks, but another to perform the show. As you perform in the streets, Celebrities will be in your captive audience from time to time. As a result, you'll naturally gain Celebrity status in town and sometimes get gifts from this without putting for any effort.
Performing: Gigs
As you level, Proprietors at venues available to you will appear on the map. If you select 'Audition for Gig' by clicking the owner, your Sim will do a trick for them. In general, if they succeed you'll get scheduled for the next day in that place's regular slot for performers. If the next day is already taken by a scheduled gig, it will go on to the first available day. You can schedule up to seven gigs, one for each day, at level eight. In general, it's better to leave your schedule somewhat open and pursue only the best gigs you can get. Missing gigs shouldn't be a problem. You are given a warning two hours before in the notification area, and if the Sim isn't doing anything you queued, they will head to the gig to be on time.
In order to get to the Proprietor at the stadium and theater, due to the fact that they are rabbit holes, you will need to click the blue icon in map mode to call them out. You can also click your Sim to call the proprietor on other lots.
There is a competition in town called SimFest that will pop up from time to time. You can talk to the proprietor while on the lot to get the option to join. If you win the competition, you will earn a prize based on the quality of the venue (and thus the competition). These don't pay nearly as much as a solo gig, but they do give you tropies and some quick cash. Use the crowd after (and maybe during) the show to get some tips.
You will fail at tricks, and get booed a lot at your first few Magic Shows. People will throw bad things at you like fruit, but may later throw flowers once your Sim is nailing all the illusions. Sell any food before it spoils, and note you get a little profit from failure as you clean your inventory.
Your stage presentation is important to the rating of your show. Using the venue's default is in general a bad idea unless you're broke. Investments into props are permanent, as they are stored in your Family Inventory. So, anything you buy while setting up your stage is ready for use later. You can save one stage setup and reload it each time. It gives you the option to modify it, and for some annoying asks you if you want to overwrite the saved copy even if you did not modify it. When you press F1 to enter Live Mode after setting up the stage, the show begins. Note that you can start a show early and it seems to help your performance rating. That improves the chance of a steady gig but doesn't impact money. In fact, you can still make the same money but get a lower rating and reduced chance of a steady gig even if you're an hour late.
The amount of money you earn for a show, good or bad is fixed. The earnings are based on the quality of the venue and your current level. At base, doing the Big Venues will give you $18,000 at level 10, Private coming in at $11,000. Those two types are more than enough to survive and grow in wealth in The Sims 3. If you continue past level 10 and keep gaining levels in the Magician Profession, you will earn more and more for each performance.
You can take control of the Sim during the show, and select the tricks. Later on you will want to occasionally Mystify the Crowd before doing a big trick. It helps the overall rating of your performance. Tada after a trick is also a good idea. If you don't want to take control, the automatic mode is not too -- bad but you can probably do it better by ensuring that the hardest tricks are a part of the performance.
Performing a good show will give you a great +20 moodlet that lasts up to 16 hours. Whether your show was good or bad, you should take the opportunity to play for tips immediately after to take advantage of the crowd. Some have noted that relationships fall during a show. Playing for tips can regain some of that status.
If you put on an excellent show, your Magician may be offered the opportunity to get a steady gig. These can be cancelled with the phone under Jobs and Professions. If you have trouble cancelling a steady gig, just skip the performance the night it comes up and try again. At level 10, you will want to schedule only the Big Venues (stadium and theater) as well as Private clubs. These will give you the most money and a chance at landing a permanaent job every week that pays tons of money, for only three hours of effort.
The Magician profession can make a lot of money, and they should live a prosperous life and grow in fame. The weekly pay they get is nothing compared to the massive payouts gigs deliver, and you can always perform for tips in your free time to build relationships and make money. Given you can play at your own pace as you advance the career due to its open schedule, you will be able to enjoy your favorite skills and activities of The Sims 3 at the same time.
Your Sim may be able to challenge another Magician to a duel but I have not done it. I read that it can be done while the opponent is on stage as well. I just haven't encountered many Magicians. Also, at one point I had the opportunity to schedule two gigs at the same spot. If you know how any of this works, let me know at carl@carlsguides.com
Comments (6)
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FlagAmbitious (.2 bonus to performances)
Social Butterfly (.2 bonus to performances)
Daredevil (Lower risk of death by Box of Danger, as mentioned in Prima Guide)
Charismatic (friendship requirements, as mentioned on this page)Although it is not hard to achieve this LTW without a perfect trait selection, of course.
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