Cirqus Voltaire

Bally, 1997 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open Cirqus Voltaire in the Pinball Genie app →

Cirqus Voltaire asks one thing of you: collect all nine marvels. Do that and Join The Cirqus, the wizard mode, begins automatically — there is no shot to start it. The marvels can be taken in any order, which makes route planning the entire game, and they vary enormously in cost.

The nine marvels, cheapest first

• Acrobats — four Right Ramp hits, and the switch sits flush at the very start of the ramp. Shots that barely climb it still count, from either direction. This is close to free and completing it lights Super Spinner on both spinners.
• Spin — four passes through the inner loop around the Ringmaster spells S-P-I-N.
• Boom! — spell V-O-L-T on the red rollovers and a pop bumper physically rises out of the playfield for about ten seconds. Its hit counter is cumulative across the whole game, so a weak Boom! is deposited rather than wasted.
• Menagerie — a caged ball with a false slingshot beside it. The award ladder continues past the marvel into Spot Marvel and Light Extra Ball, making the cage one of the best shortcuts on the machine.
• Side Show — a hidden backward-facing scoop, lit from the start of the game and relit every five or six Ballyhoo standup hits. Its ten-item award table includes a video mode, Neon Multiball and an extra ball.
• Juggler — three Left Loops light it, three more lock balls and start the multiball.
• Highwire Multiball — work the LIGHT and LOCK standups to arm the queue beside the Left Ramp, then lock three.
• Ringmaster Frenzie — earned by defeating the second Ringmaster.
• Defeat All Ringmasters — four Ringmasters, each needing WOW spelled and then five hits. This is the long pole of the whole game.

One rule worth knowing before you rely on it: spotting the Juggler or Highwire marvel awards the marvel but does not start the multiball. If you wanted the balls, you have to earn it properly.

The Ringmaster

The main toy sits recessed beneath the playfield until you spell WOW on the target bank. You do not have to hit each letter individually — any target counts toward the total. The first Ringmaster costs a single hit; every one after costs three.

Once he is up, a magnet built into his head grabs the ball, holds it while he taunts you, then flings it somewhere unpredictable. There is a ball saver after each fling in case it goes straight down the middle. Occasionally the fling lands in the lock queue, which the game rewards as a free lock.

Each Ringmaster takes five hits to defeat, and the two yellow Ballyhoo standups beside him also spot hits — often a safer way to whittle him down than shooting him directly. Awards climb by a million per Ringmaster, and each defeat plays a different multiball: Frenzie, then Razz, then Special.

Which multiball is which

Ringmaster Frenzie is a 2-ball where he lifts a few inches to open the hole, and every shot at him pays 250K. Hitting him again while the jackpot animation is still playing pays substantially more — with four balls up, 750K and a million are both reachable.

Ringmaster Razz uses a hurry-up jackpot. It starts at 500K and counts down slowly to 250K, and wherever you stop it becomes the jackpot for the rest of the mode — so landing that first shot early is worth real money. There is also an extra ball lit.

Ringmaster Special is the one with a lever you can pull. The spinner raises the jackpot value, but only until the ball drops under the Ringmaster, at which point it is locked in. Pump the spinner first, cash in second. Despite the name there is no special.

There is a fifth, unmarked Ringmaster multiball — Ringmaster Battle — that appears nowhere on the playfield. You only reach it if you know it exists, and reaching it locks out further Ringmasters until you have played the wizard mode.

Stacking, and the open left side

This machine carries eight multiballs before the wizard mode adds four more, and up to three can run concurrently. Stacking is where the enormous scores come from, and the Left Ramp is the hub — it handles locks, Highwire, marvel spotting and Strike-An-Arc.

Finally, the left inlane and outlane are one continuous open area with no dividing wireform, just posts and a lot of rubber. The outlane post is adjustable, so no two machines drain the same way — read the setting before you commit. It is also one of the best machines in the hobby to learn nudging on, precisely because that area is so open.

How Cirqus Voltaire plays

Run Voltaire's electric circus by rounding up all nine Marvels -- the game's mix of modes, multiballs and toy features. Light every Marvel to open Join The Cirqus, its multi-level wizard mode.

The loop

1. Take the ever-growing skill-shot target on each plunge, then knock out the cheapest Marvels first -- four taps at the mouth of the Right Ramp collect Acrobats.
2. Spell WOW to bring a Ringmaster up out of the playfield, then knock him down; the Ballyhoo standups beside him spot the safer hits.
3. Feed the LIGHT and LOCK standups to arm Highwire locks at the Left Ramp, and rip the Left Loop for Juggler locks.
4. Spell VOLT to raise the Boom! balloon and deposit its running hit count, and take the Side Show scoop for its random award.
5. Round up all nine Marvels, then shoot a loop with a ball held in the Side Show to open Join The Cirqus.

Reading the lights

• The Nine Marvels (status) — lit: Each Marvel you win stays lit toward the full set of nine, and you are free to take them in any order at all -- the two you simply shoot for in Acrobats and Spin, the Boom! balloon and the Menagerie cage, the Juggler and Highwire multiballs, Ringmaster Frenzie and Defeat All Ringmasters, and the Side Show. · then: That ninth Marvel arms Join The Cirqus, though it holds off until you rip a loop and drop a ball into the Side Show. Open on Acrobats, and lean on the Menagerie and Side Show, which can spot Marvels outright.
• Spell WOW (letters) — lit: Any WOW target you tag counts toward raising a Ringmaster up through the playfield -- one hit brings the first, three bring each one after. · then: With him up, knock him down; the two yellow Ballyhoo standups at his sides spot hits far more safely than shooting him straight on, since his head magnet snatches the ball and hurls it anywhere. Downing four is a Marvel, and every one you beat kicks off a multiball of its own.
• Highwire Multiball (status) — lit: The LIGHT and LOCK standups flanking the Left Ramp arm the lock lane beside it, and with a lock lit the next ramp shot peels off into that lane. · then: Stack three to open Highwire Multiball, paying million-point jackpots at the Juggler, Acrobats and Ringmaster Loop shots. A soft ramp or a stray Ringmaster fling can slip in for a free Sneaky Lock, and if that one is the third, the multiball just starts.
• Juggler Multiball (shot arrows) — lit: Three trips up the Left Loop arm the Juggler, and three more drop the balls into the saucers to open the multiball. · then: Rattle the jackpots off quickly, since a second ball in within ten seconds pays a million and a third inside another ten pays two. Let the clock die and it dumps every locked ball and knocks the jackpot back down.
• Spin the Inner Loop (letters) — lit: The loop circling the Ringmaster holds two rollover switches, and four passes in a row spell SPIN. · then: Feed it straight back through without cradling -- you get roughly two seconds before the tally lapses -- to bank the Spin Marvel. That same loop is what fattens the jackpot during Ringmaster Special.
• Boom! Balloon (letters) — lit: Spell VOLT on the red top rollovers and the Boom! balloon lifts bodily up out of the playfield and stays up roughly ten seconds, its clock frozen any time the ball is off the field. · then: Hammer the raised balloon for the Marvel; its hit tally runs cumulative all game, so a short Boom! is money in the bank, and fifteen across the game light an extra ball. Recharging each later Boom! costs several VOLTs over.
• Menagerie Cage (ladder) — lit: Rapping the caged ball climbs the Menagerie ladder and steps your bonus multiplier up, and the white standup over it fills in hits when the cage switch sulks. · then: Push on past the Marvel itself, because the ladder then begins paying Spot Marvel and Light Extra Ball awards. That turns the cage into one of the fastest routes to the full nine.
• Side Show Scoop (mode) — lit: The hidden, rear-facing Side Show scoop lights from the opening and comes back every few Ballyhoo hits; it is the game's random award. · then: Draw one prize from a deep table -- the Roonie video mode, Neon Multiball, Light Spot Marvel, an extra ball and more. It can simply gift Marvels you would otherwise grind out.

Lane change: not verified for this machine yet.

Start scoring

• Ball one — Take the growing skill-shot target on every single plunge, since each hit locks in a higher value for the rest of the game. Open on the cheapest Marvels -- four taps at the front of the Right Ramp for Acrobats, and a WOW spelling to bring your first Ringmaster up for one hit. — Skill Shot, Marvel: Acrobats, Raise The Ringmaster
• Building — Round up the nine Marvels however the ball falls: lock at the Left Ramp for Highwire, rip the Left Loop for Juggler, spell VOLT for Boom!, and rap the Menagerie cage that doubles as a Marvel spot. Running up to three multiballs at once is where the real numbers come from. — The Nine Marvels, Marvel: Highwire Multiball, Marvel: Juggler, Marvel: Boom!
• The big one — Rounding up all nine Marvels arms Join The Cirqus, a multi-level wizard that carries four more multiballs of its own. Defeat All Ringmasters is the long haul on the way in, and an unmarked fifth Ringmaster Battle is there for anyone who knows to look. — Join The Cirqus, Marvel: Defeat All Ringmasters, Ringmaster Battle

Does Cirqus Voltaire have an action button?

There is no cabinet button on this one. You get a manual plunger the game can also fire for itself, two flippers and a lot of nudging. A couple of side shows — Roonie's jumping game among them — are played entirely on the flipper buttons with no ball live, but that is still just the flippers.

Goals in Cirqus Voltaire

Every goal below is tracked step-by-step, with shot paths drawn on the playfield map, inside the app.

• Skill Shot skillshot · Easy

  Plunge into the sideways skill shot target. It pays 200K times the number you have collected, so the fifth is worth five times the first. It caps at a million, and the game will let you know when you have overdone it.

  Reward: 200K x collections, max 1M

• The Nine Marvels progression · Hard

  Everything on this machine points at one thing: collect all nine marvels and Join The Cirqus starts automatically. They can be taken in any order, which makes route planning the whole game.

  Reward: Starts Join The Cirqus

• Marvel: Acrobats mode · Easy

  The easiest marvel on the game. Four Right Ramp hits — and because the switch sits flush at the very start of the ramp, shots that barely climb it still count, in either direction. Completing it lights Super Spinner on both spinners.

  Reward: Marvel, plus Super Spinner at 10K per spin

• Marvel: Juggler multiball · Medium

  Three Left Loops light the Juggler, three more lock the balls and start the multiball. The real scoring is in speed: two balls into the Juggler inside ten seconds doubles the jackpot, and a third inside another ten doubles it again.

  Reward: 500K jackpots, 1M double, 2M super

• Marvel: Highwire Multiball multiball · Medium

  Work the LIGHT and LOCK standups to arm the lock queue beside the Left Ramp. For the first multiball only, lit locks can be stacked — every one after that has to be lit individually, and the target requirement climbs.

  Reward: 1M jackpots

• Marvel: Spin mode · Medium

  Four passes through the inner loop around the Ringmaster spells S-P-I-N, and they have to come consecutively — about two seconds to send the ball back through before the count lapses. Prototype machines call this marvel Crank and award it slightly differently.

  Reward: Marvel

• Marvel: Boom! mode · Medium

  Spell V-O-L-T on the red rollovers and a pop bumper physically rises out of the playfield for about ten seconds. Hit it enough and you light an extra ball — and crucially, that hit count carries across every Boom! in the game.

  Reward: Marvel, progress toward an extra ball

• Boom! Extra Ball strategy · Hard

  The hit counter on the Boom! balloon is cumulative for the whole game, not per visit. Six hits on your first Boom! and twelve on your second leaves you at eighteen — so a weak Boom! is never wasted, it is deposited.

  Reward: Extra ball

• Marvel: Menagerie mode · Medium

  A caged ball with a false slingshot beside it. Hits build a ladder of awards, and after the marvel itself the ladder starts handing out Spot Marvel and Light Extra Ball — which makes the cage one of the best shortcuts on the game.

  Reward: Marvel, then Spot Marvel / Light EB awards

• Marvel: Side Show secret · Medium

  A hidden backward-facing scoop that acts as this game's random award. It is lit from the start of the game and relights every five or six Ballyhoo hits, and the award table includes a video mode, Neon Multiball and an extra ball.

  Reward: Random award from a ten-item table

• The Amazing Roonie (Video Mode) secret · Medium

  A Side Show award. Roonie is a kangaroo and the game is a jumping game in the same family as Dr. Who's — timing rather than aiming, played entirely on the flipper buttons.

  Reward: About 2.9M for surviving all twenty seconds

• Raise The Ringmaster strategy · Easy

  The Ringmaster hides under the playfield until you spell WOW. The first one costs a single target hit; every one after costs three. Once he is up, expect his head magnet to grab the ball and throw it somewhere you did not plan for.

  Reward: Ringmaster raised and vulnerable

• Marvel: Defeat All Ringmasters progression · Hard

  The longest marvel. Four Ringmasters, each needing WOW spelled and then five hits, and each defeat plays a different multiball — Frenzie, Razz, then Special. Awards climb by a million per Ringmaster.

  Reward: 1M, 2M, 3M... per Ringmaster defeated

• Marvel: Ringmaster Frenzie multiball · Medium

  Earned by defeating the second Ringmaster. A two-ball multiball where he lifts a few inches to open up the hole, and every shot at him pays 250K. Hitting him again while the jackpot animation is still playing pays substantially more.

  Reward: 250K per hit, more for quick repeats

• Ringmaster Razz multiball · Hard

  The third Ringmaster's multiball. Same shape as Frenzie but the jackpot is a hurry-up: it starts at 500K and counts down slowly to 250K, and wherever you stop it becomes the jackpot for the rest of the mode. There is also an extra ball lit.

  Reward: 250K-500K jackpots, extra ball lit

• Ringmaster Special multiball · Hard

  The fourth Ringmaster's multiball, with jackpots from 500K. Its distinguishing feature is that the spinner raises the jackpot value — but only until the ball drops under the Ringmaster, after which it is locked in. Despite the name there is no special.

  Reward: 500K+ jackpots, raisable via spinner

• Ringmaster Battle secret · Hard

  The fifth Ringmaster's multiball, and the one most players never find — it is not marked anywhere on the playfield, so you only get there if you know it exists. Beat him and no further Ringmaster can be defeated until you have played the wizard mode; lose and you can keep trying.

  Reward: 1M per hit, 10M for the win, plus an extra ball

• Neon Multiball multiball · Medium

  One of the Side Show's awards rather than something you can shoot for directly, which makes it the least predictable multiball on a game that already has eight of them.

  Reward: Three-ball multiball; ten WOW hits light an extra ball

• Strike-An-Arc Multiball multiball · Hard

  Another multiball started from the Left Ramp. Cirqus Voltaire carries eight multiballs before the wizard mode adds four more, and up to three of them can run at the same time — stacking is where the huge scores on this machine come from.

  Reward: Multiball, stackable

• Sneaky Lock secret · Medium

  The lock queue sits right beside the Left Ramp, so a ramp shot that comes up short — or a ball the Ringmaster flings at random — can fall in when the lock was never lit. The game awards it anyway, and if it happens to be the third, Highwire Multiball simply begins.

  Reward: Free lock; can start Highwire Multiball

• Join The Cirqus wizard · Hard

  The wizard mode. The ninth marvel arms it, but it only begins once you shoot the left or right loop and the ball is physically held in the Side Show. What follows is multi-level and carries four more multiballs of its own on top of the eight in the main game.

  Reward: Multi-level wizard mode with four further multiballs

• Learn The Open Left Side strategy · Medium

  The left inlane and outlane are one continuous open area with no dividing wireform, just posts and a lot of rubber. It is genuinely one of the best machines in the hobby to learn nudging on — and the outlane post is adjustable, so no two machines drain the same.

  Reward: Saved balls