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| Average Fun Rating: | ![[ 8 stars - Click for comments ]](stars/8stars.png) 8.1/10 (343 ratings/217 comments) [ Add Your Rating! ]
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| Manufacturer: | Midway Manufacturing Company, a subsidiary of WMS Industries, Incorporated,
of Chicago, Illinois, USA (1988-1999) [Trade Name: Bally] |
| Date Of Manufacture: | October, 1997 |
| Model Number: | 50062 |
| Common Abbreviations: | CV |
| MPU: | Williams WPC-95 |
| Type: | Solid State Electronic (SS) ![[?]](/graphic/question.gif) |
| Production: | 2,704 units (confirmed) |
| Serial Number Database: | View at The Internet Pinball Serial Number Database (IPSND.net) (External site) |
| Theme: | Circus/Carnival |
| Specialty: | Mechanical Backbox Animation
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| Notable Features: | Flippers (2), Pop bumpers (3), Slingshots (2), Stop magnets (3), Standup targets (9), Kick-out holes (2), Spinning targets (2), Speech, Playfield-mounted dot matrix display.
The menagerie ball, a large plastic ball trapped within a cage above the left slingshot, can be hit by the ball in play and disrupts ball direction.
The Ringmaster is an animated head that elevates from the underside of the playfield and makes wise cracks at the player, who tries to defeat him by hitting him with the pinball in various modes. A stop magnet is on the top of the Ringmaster's head, holding the ball there when the head rises up.
The "Boom Balloon" pop bumper (on the lower right side of the playfield) is a disappearing bumper, dropping down until its flat plastic top is level with the playfield.
The backbox animation simulates a cannonball fired to ring a bell, although the bell is really just a piece of plastic with a bell drawn on it. This animation is mostly activated automatically by the game, but one feature allows the player to continuously fire the cannonball using the flipper buttons in a timed mini-game. Points are given if the ball takes a certain path in the fall (this path having a switch). |
| Concept by: | John Popadiuk |
| Design by: | John Popadiuk, Cameron Silver |
| Art by: | Linda Deal (aka Doane) |
| Dots/Animation by: | Adam Rhine, Brian Morris |
| Mechanics by: | Jack Skalon, Louis Toy |
| Music by: | Rob Berry, Dave Zabriskie |
| Sound by: | Rob Berry |
| Software by: | Cameron Silver |
| Notes: | This is the first SS game to have a disappearing pop bumper. Several EM games have this feature. The first one is Williams' 1958 'Gusher'.
This is the only Williams pinball machine with its dot matrix display mounted "on" the playfield instead of in the backbox. The only other pinball with the DMD mounted on the playfield is Capcom's 1996 'Flipper Football'.
The neon tube was produced in a variety of colors. Reportedly, the menagerie ball was also produced in a variety of colors, usually matching the neon's color.
The sample game pictured in this listing has several playfield differences from the production games that followed. Click here for a list of these differences, with pictures. |
| Marketing Slogans: |
"Electrifying Excitement!"
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| Photos in: |
The Complete Pinball Book , page 149
The Pinball Compendium 1982 to Present, pages 227-229
Mike Pacak's Pinball Flyer Reference Book A-F
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| Rule Sheets: |
Cirqus Voltaire Rulesheet Version 1.22 (Feb/04/1998), by Matt Magnasco
Cirqus Voltaire Rulesheet Version 1.42 (Aug/10/1998), by Matt Magnasco
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| Owners List URL: | http://www.hassellcastle.com/cirqusowners.htm (External site) |
| Easter Eggs: | Available at Cows and Easter Eggs (External site) |
| Additional Media: | Promotional Video (at YouTube) (External site) |
| ROMs: | 457 KB | ZIP | Game ROM V1.4 [27C080 Required] | [Midway Mfg. Co.] |
| | 450 KB | ZIP | Revision 1.0 Game ROM | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| | 451 KB | ZIP | Revision 1.1 Game ROM | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| | 452 KB | ZIP | Revision 1.3 Game ROM | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| | 469 KB | ZIP | Revision 2.0H (Home) Game ROM; Free Play Only | [UNOFFICIAL] |
| | 490 KB | ZIP | Sound ROM V1.0 [S2] | [Midway Mfg. Co.] |
| Documentation: | 6 MB | PDF | English Manual | [Midway Mfg. Co.] |
| | 210 KB | TXT | Parts List | |
| | 18 MB | PDF | WPC-95 Schematic Manual (July 1, 1997) | [Williams Electronic Games Inc.] |
| Service Bulletins: | 282 KB | PDF | Service Bulletin #101 | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| | 135 KB | PDF | Service Bulletin #102 | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| | 39 KB | PDF | Service Bulletin #104 | [Williams Electronic Games, Inc.] |
| Multimedia Files: | 344 KB | MPG | Ringmaster Movie | [Craig Hassell] |
| Files: | 181 KB | PDF | Playfield differences between prototype, sample, and production games | [Benoit Courant] |
| | 2 KB | TXT | Troupe Le Voltaire (Full credits from attact mode) | |
Images:
(click to zoom) |
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