Circus Atari FAQ
version 1.0
(C) 2006-2007 William Ornt
Table of Contents
-----------------
0. Legal Info
1. Introduction
2. Game Screen
3. How to Play
4. Game Variations
5. Scoring
6. Tips
Legal Info
----------
This FAQ is Copyright (C) 2006-2007 William Ornt. At the current time I am
giving GameFAQs and _only_ GameFAQs permission to post/publish my FAQs.
Please do not e-mail me asking for permission to reprint this as it will not
get a response. If you find this FAQ on another site (with or without this
disclaimer) please let me know where it is posted, and I will deal with them
personally.
1. Introduction
---------------
Circus Atari is a game similar to Breakout. The object is to collect balloons
floating across the top of the screen by propelling two men on a seesaw. When
an entire row of balloons are collected the row is replaced and bonus points
are awarded. The game has no end, you can keep playing until you lose a life
five times.
The four-digit number in the upper left is the current player's score. To the
right of that is a 1 or 2 indicating the player number, followed by a number
from 1 to 5 indicating which life you are on. An X appears next to the life
number if you have earned an extra life in the current turn.
Below the numbers is three rows of balloons (from top to bottom, red, blue,
and white). The red and white rows move from right to left across the screen,
and the blue row moves from left to right. All three rows wrap around; that
is, when balloons move off one side of the screen they reappear on the other
side.
Immediately below the balloons may be a group of three blocks, depending on
what game variation you are playing. These blocks are to try to keep your men
from reaching the rows of balloons; when your man hits the blocks, he will
bounce off and come back down toward the trampoline.
At the bottom of the screen are two trampolines at each end of the screen,
which appear simply as black squares. Between the trampolines is your seesaw.
You need to catch your falling man on the raised end of the seesaw to launch
the man on the other end into the air. If you fail to catch the man he
crashes into the floor and you lose a life.
3. How to play
---------------
At the beginning of a turn, one of your men will be on the seesaw. Pressing
the fire button makes the other man appear on one of the trampolines on the
sides of the screen, and after bouncing on it, he'll come down toward the
middle of the screen. Turning the paddle or moving the joystick will move
the seesaw left and right, so you can catch the falling man on the raised
end of the seesaw. This will propel the other man into the air, who you then
need to catch the same way. This continues until you eventually miss the man
when he comes down, which ends your turn.
When you man gets high enough he can grab the balloons at the top of the
screen. The object is to collect as many balloons as you can. If you clear
the entire top row you will get an extra turn (though you can only earn an
extra turn once per life). As long as you keep clearing the top row at least
once per life, you can continue playing indefinitely.
4. Game Variations
-------------------
Circus Atari has eight game variations, most of which can be played by one
player or two players taking turns.
Game 1: When a man collects balloons at the top of the screen, he bounces off
them and heads back down toward the trampoline. When a row of balloons is
cleared, a new row appears in its place. The row of three blocks underneath
the balloons is absent.
Game 2: Same as game 1, but with the row of three blocks added.
Game 3: When a man collects balloons, he goes right through them and continues
travelling upward. When a row of balloons is cleared, a new row appears. The
row of three blocks is absent.
Game 4: Same as game 3, with the row of three blocks.
Game 5: Like in game one, the man bounces off the balloons back toward the
bottom when collecting them. New rows of balloons and bonus points/lives
are not awarded until all three rows are cleared. The row of three blocks
is not there.
Game 6: Same as game 5, with the block row.
Game 7: Two players only. Unlike the other game modes, where the two players
each have their own set of balloons, in this version both players play off the
same set of balloons. That is, whatever balloons are removed from play when
player 1's turn ends stay removed for the beginning of player 2's turn, and
vice versa. Otherwise the game is the same as variation 1.
Game 8: Same as game 7, with the row of blocks added.
5. Scoring
----------
Successful bounce off the trampolines or seesaw = 1 point
White balloon collected = 2 points
Blue balloon collected = 5 points
Red balloon collected = 10 points
White row cleared = 20 points
Blue row cleared = 50 points
Red row cleared = 100 points and extra life
Notes: - In game versions 5 and 6, the three row cleared bonuses are only
awarded after all three rows are cleared.
- The score rolls over at 10,000 points.
- You can only earn one extra life per turn.
6. Tips
-------
- When the man on the left end of the seesaw bounces up, he does so from the
position he was at, but the man on the right end bounces up slightly to the
right of his position on the seesaw. So, when the men are bouncing directly
straight up into the air, you must move the seesaw slightly to the right when
the man on the right jumps to avoid having him crash.
- The man on the seesaw will fly up higher if you catch the falling man closer
to the edge of the seesaw.
- If you've already earned an extra life in the current turn and there are
only one or two red balloons remaining you may want to try to avoid catching
them until you crash and use the extra life. When you lose the extra life
you'll only need to grab the remaining red balloon for another extra life,
whereas the bonus life would be wasted if you cleared the row with an extra
life already in reserve.
- For some reason, if you leave the game idle for several minutes in between
turns it will automatically end the game and go back to the game select
screen. So if you take a break between turns to use the restroom, get a
snack, or whatever, make sure you don't take too long.
