Zzap64! Overall Rating: 89%
The funniest, whackiest game yet seen on the C64.

To make matters more miserable, he's sent Fiendish Freddy to foil your fragile finances and prevent your people from performing at their peak.

Your objective is to obliterate this financial obligation by perfectly performing the precarious perils of the Big Top. Thus you will thrill the throng of spectators while also earning the megabucks needed to expand your arena.

The aim is simple: if you have accumulated 10,000 or more pounds by the end of the evening, then your circus is saved from certain demise. However, if no one person raises the needed 10,000 pounds, Freddy will take up permanent residence in the area and your circus will be nothing but a memory.

In this event, you climb up the ladder and move out to the end of the diving platform. On the right side of the screen is a scale model of the diving platform. An arrow points to the level where you are standing. In the upper left corner of the screen is the name of the pose you should perform first. In the lower left corner is a picture of the diver's target.

Press the fire button to begin Horace's dive. Once Horace is airborne, begin to quickly move the joystick from side to side, but keep Horace over the target.

To perform a pose. move the joystick to the appropriate position and then press the fire button. The joystick positions for each diving pose are as follows:

[LEFT] - Yoga
[LEFT+UP] - Recline
[UP] - Swan
[UP+RIGHT] - Pike
[RIGHT] - King Tut
[RIGHT+DOWN] - Nose Pinch
[DOWN] - Dive Bomb
[DOWN+LEFT] - Ballet

If you notice Horace veering from the center of the target, move the joystick in the direction he needs to go to steer him back on course. Once he is again on track, go back to moving your joystick from side to side and prepare for another pose.

Freddy's Role
Once the bell rings indicating it's time to go into a pose, you must immediately perform it. Failure to do so brings out Freddy with his portable, industrial-size fan to blow you off course. With each level Freddy appears sooner if you don't perform your poses as soon as the bell rings.

The juggling event begins with Jeffy-Joe's obedient assistant catching and then tossing items up into the air. Jeffy-Joe then moves his unicycle to maneuver himself into position to catch and then juggle each of the items. Your objective is to keep Jeffy-Joe juggling as many items as possible until the time limit runs out. Drop five items and Jeffy-Joe's juggling career will be just a memory. To maneuver Jeffy-Joe, push the joystick in the direction you want to move.

When you want to catch an item, move Jeffy-Joe so that he is positioned to catch the item in either his left or right hand. When you press the press the fire button, he will toss whatever is in his left hand and put whatever was in his right hand into his left hand. He will always throw things from HIS left hand (that's your right side), so you may want to get into the habit of catching with his right hand and then switching it to his left. Once you toss an item release the fire button and prepare for the next one.

If you pull back on the joystick, Jeffy-Joe brings both hands in to catch something against his body. It doesn't matter how the items land in your hands: you can't get hurt or penalized as long as you catch it (i.e. you can catch a knife by the blade or a flaming stick by the fiery end).

Without fire button pressed
[LEFT] - Moves left
[RIGHT] - Moves right
[DOWN] - Brings in hands

With fire button pressed
[LEFT] - Right hand goes up
[RIGHT] - Left hand goes up
[DOWN] - Tosses bombs - (and objects switch from right hand to left)

Freddy's Role
Every now and then Freddy will distract your assistant and toss the items out for him. Unfortunately you could live without Freddy's help - REALLY. He's only tossing bombs and missiles. If one of these items falls, it's "Kablooey"for you (and were not kidding either)!

To handle Freddy's bombs, catch the bomb in either hand and then press the fire button while pushing upon the joystick. This maneuver will toss the bomb back in Freddy's court. If he throws a missile into your act, simply keep juggling it as you would any other item until time runs out for that level.

As the event opens, Finola appears in the upper right corner of the screen. In the lower right corner you'll notice a picture of Finola's head. This represents the second chance that you'll should anything happen to Finola on your first attempt. In the upper left corner you'll see the next bar swing in and out of view.

Press the fire button to start Finola off the platform. Then move the joystick in the direction that she should swing to get her momentum going. As Finola swings forward you should push the joystick left. As she swings backward, push the joystick right.

In addition to just swinging from bar to bar, Finola encounters several obstacles like paper targets and flaming hoops. Some of these are even bobbing up and down. Again, you must time your swing so that the hoop or target is low enough for Finola to go through.

Freddy's Role
Where does he get those wonderful toys? In this event, Freddy is armed with a large pair of scissors and a jet pack. He's able to fly freely about the big top waiting for his opportunity. If you leave Finola on one bar too long while she waits for the perfect time to jump, Freddy comes along and "cuts" her act short.

In addition to the beautiful and scantily-clad Knancy, there is a row of knives that represents how many tries you have to break the balloons in each level. A clock showing your time limit appears in the upper right corner. At the center of the wheel is your aiming knife.

Use your joystick to move this knife around the wheel until it is over an area where a balloon will come by. Press the fire button when you want to throw the knife and it will fly from you to the wheel. Timing is everything in this game, so you'll need to get a feel for how long it takes the knife to hit the wheel.

Freddy's Role
Freddy still has a stash of bombs left over from the Juggling Event, so he's decided to put them to good use here. Periodically, he will appear from the side, throw his smoke bomb and then scram before it explodes. Unfortunately for you and Knancy, you have nowhere to run.

The bomb fills the screen with smoke and generally shakes things up a bit. It will most likely throw off your timing and your aim, so try to regain your senses as soon as you can. Besides, he's always got another one where that came from.

The event begins with Tony Tiptoe poised in the upper right corner of the screen. The platform he must walk to is positioned in the lower left corner. In the upper left corner is the "tilt-o-meter" view of your man. This will clearly show which way Tony Tiptoe is leaning on the rope.

Begin the event by pushing your joystick staight ahead. As Tony goes forward he will probably lose his balance and begin to lean to right or left. Depending on the direction he leans, move your joystick right or left to balance him again and continue moving him forward on the rope. (For instance, if he leans left, move your joystick to the right to straighten him and then move him forward again.

Freddy's Role
For this event Freddy has reached deep into his bag of tricks and pulled out some of his best. To begin with, if your man takes too long to cross the wire, Freddy wheels out his cannon and stops the man "dead" in his tracks. In other levels he can be seen flying about trying to push you off or hurling circular saw blades at poor Tony.

When Freddy throws blades at Tony Tiptoe, you can deflect them with his ploe by hitting the fire button as the blade approaches him. Failing to do so will leave Tony with a "spitting" pain.

This event begins with your handsome human cannonball, Fernnnando, taking his pre-flight bows. In the lower right corner are two additional helmets, representing the two other chances you'll be given in this event. (That's three chances in all.) In the lower left corner is a small outline of the cannon.

As his assistant, the lovely Lisa, loads the cannon with gunpowder, the small outline fils with red to indicate how much gunpowder has been placed in the cannon. Once she finishes putting in gun powder, our hero dives in. Once he's in the cannon, a scale version of the tent appears across the top of the screen. In the middle of this will be the target that the little guy must hit.

Depending on how much gunpowder the lustful Lisa has placed in the cannon, you must decide how close or far the target shouldbe in order for Fernando to hit it. As soon as this screen appears, use your joystick to move the target closer (left) or farther (right) from the cannon. This must be done quickly before...well, read what it says under "Freddy's Role". Once your target is where you want it to be, press the fire button.

To see how Fernando progresses, follow his path along the scale drawing that appears at the top of the screen. If your placement of the target and angle at which he is shot are correct, he'll land on the target. If your choices were off, Fernando's landing will be more than a bit uncomfortable.

Freddy's Role
Once again, Freddy makes use of his jetpack so that he can fly about the tent. This time, however, he's armed with one big cork and just guess where he wants to stick it? Yes, if you waste too much time in this event trying to dicide where to postion your target, Freddy will make sure thatyour act creates a big bang.