To join the Magician career in The Sims 3, you need the Showtime expansion: pick Magician from the professions on a computer or in the newspaper, or ask a proprietor at a performance venue to sign you up. Your Sim starts as a Novice Trickster with open hours and no skill requirements. Below we cover both ways to join, how the profession earns experience, every trick and illusion by level, and how to turn street magic into booked gigs.
What You Need First
Magician is one of three performer professions Showtime added in March 2012, alongside Singer and Acrobat. It does not exist without the pack, so if the job never appears in the listings, check that Showtime is installed and enabled in the EA app or Steam. The pack runs on PC and Mac and needs the base game with all updates. The Sims 3 is no longer patched, so the career works the same way in every current copy.
The career panel lists no required skills at any level. You do not need to be a witch or a fairy to perform magic tricks: magician tricks are stage illusions, open to any Sim who takes the job.
How to Join the Magician Career
- Computer or newspaper. Click a computer or the newspaper, open the job listings and find the professions list. Magician sits there with the other Showtime performer jobs. Select it and confirm.
- Ask a proprietor. Proprietors run Showtime’s performance venues and show up in Map View with an orange icon. Talk to one at a coffeehouse, park or show venue and use their career option to join as a Magician. If none is around, click the venue and choose Summon Proprietor.
Once hired, your Sim has a Career tab with a Gig Schedule. If you change your mind later, our guide to quitting jobs and professions walks through it.
How the Magician Profession Works
Magician is a profession, not a rabbit-hole job. You control every performance, there are no fixed hours, and a weekly stipend is paid on Sunday that grows with each promotion. Every level lists the same three responsibilities:
- Perform for Tips. Your Sim performs tricks on a community lot and onlookers tip. It is the easiest early source of experience.
- Perform Illusions. Use your unlocked tricks on other Sims and on stage.
- Get Gigs. Audition for a proprietor to book a slot on a show stage at a coffeehouse, park, live show venue, private venue or the big show venue.
Low-level magicians are often turned away at auditions, with the proprietor saying they do not have what it takes for the location. Keep performing for tips, keep auditioning at smaller venues, and from around level 4 proprietors start offering proposed gigs, which can become steady weekly gigs. You can hold several gigs as long as they do not overlap, and cancel one by clicking the venue and choosing Cancel Gig or Cancel Steady Gig.
Magician Levels and Unlocks
From the in-game career descriptions:
- Novice Trickster: Pull Coin from any Sim’s ear, Instant Cards, Wand into Flowers.
- Newbie Illusionist: Appearing Butterflies, Free Birds.
- Sim of Mystery: adds the Box of Mystery to your inventory and the Swords of Destiny illusion (with a volunteer).
- Conjurer: Hot Hands on other Sims and Conjure Fire Balls, plus a new tuxedo.
- Sleight-of-Hand Savant: increased expertise, no new trick.
- Illusionist: Appearing Objects and Vanish Sims in the Box of Mystery.
- Purveyor of Danger: adds the Box of Danger and the Buried Alive escape.
- Spellcaster: increased expertise and a new stage costume.
- Master Illusionist: Levitate, and the Watery Grave escape in the Box of Danger.
- Master Magician: Levitate other Sims.
Outfits unlock along the way, and the stipend rises at every level.
Tips for Success
- Practice before you audition. Community players find that below level 5 auditions are rarely approved, so bank experience from tips and illusions first.
- Book ahead. Auditions are held in advance of the gig, so check the Gig Schedule and keep your Sim free.
- Enter SimFests. When a SimFest runs in town, click the proprietor and choose Ask to Take Part to compete against other performers.
- Watch the dangerous acts. Buried Alive and Watery Grave are escapes where, in the career’s own words, your Sim must “risk life and limb”, so treat them as showpieces rather than filler.
- Chase fame. With Late Night installed, performers can earn celebrity through career opportunities. Our celebrity guide explains the fame system.
For the other Showtime singing career, see our Singer career guide. For more careers and packs, browse our Sims hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which expansion pack adds the Magician career? Showtime. The Magician, Singer and Acrobat professions all come from it.
Where do I find the Magician job? In the professions list on a computer or in the newspaper, or by asking a proprietor at a performance venue.
Do I need a skill to become a Magician? No. The career has no skill requirements at any level.
When do I get the Box of Mystery? At level 3, Sim of Mystery. It appears in your Sim’s inventory. The Box of Danger follows at level 7.
What is the top level of the Magician career? Level 10, Master Magician, which unlocks levitating other Sims.