Collector Value Est.
$5,100–$9,200
USD · Market estimate
Near-mint / restored. Worn or stored examples sell for 30–60% less.
Bally · 1997
Cirqus Voltaire
“Electrifying Excitement!”
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).
Historical 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.
Where to Play It
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