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#42 Cirqus Voltaire - The Classic Pinball Podcast

The Classic Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·48m 32s·analyzed·Dec 1, 2020
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.034

TL;DR

Deep dive into Cirqus Voltaire: mechanics, restoration, market pricing, and extended gameplay.

Summary

George and Dave from The Classic Pinball Podcast discuss and play Cirqus Voltaire, a 1997 Williams game featuring interactive backbox animation, a prominently featured ringmaster pop-up, multiple magnets, and a dark circus theme. The episode includes technical restoration details (rubber kit, LED display, added bell), gameplay mechanics explanation, pricing data from secondary market listings ($6,750–$12,500), and extended gameplay commentary as the hosts attempt to master the game's rules.

Key Claims

  • Cirqus Voltaire was produced in approximately 2,700 units

    high confidence · George states: 'anyway you said that this game was between 3 and 5 thousand units actually it was 2700 units highly collectible I went out and did a little research'

  • Secondary market listings for Cirqus Voltaire range from $6,750 to $12,500

    high confidence · George cites four Pinside listings: Pittsburgh $6,750, Louisville $8,200, Fort Worth $10,000, Chicago $12,500

  • The ringmaster feature exists in two different versions—fat and skinny—with the fat version reducing ball hang-ups

    medium confidence · Dave states: 'So which version do you have? The fat or the skinny? This is the fat. So the ball doesn't get hung up as much? I guess that's part of the reason why they changed it?'

  • The backbox animation was originally designed to include a metal bell that would ring when struck, but was changed to plastic for cost reasons

    high confidence · Dave explains: 'they originally were going to put a metal bell back there... for some reason they thought a dollar or two for a metal bell times however many they made of these games, what, 3,000 or 5,000 games, was too much. So they had a piece of plastic in there with a bell picture on it... So I got a real bell. I put a real bell in there'

  • Linda Deal was the backglass artist for Cirqus Voltaire and depicted herself as the ringmaster in the artwork

    medium confidence · George states: 'Linda Deal was the artist for this game. I believe that's her picture in the back glass of her self-portrait... she was actually the ringmaster who takes her mask off'

  • Linda Deal also created artwork for Doctor Who, Junkyard, and Theater of Magic pinball games

    medium confidence · George notes: 'She did Doctor Who as well. Junkyard and Theater Magic Those are the big notable ones That she did'

  • Cirqus Voltaire has three magnets on the playfield: one on the ringmaster, one on the high wire multiball, and one on the juggler

    medium confidence · Dave and George discuss finding the third magnet: 'we did find the third magnet and it's on the juggler and it makes sense'

Notable Quotes

  • “Welcome to the greatest pinball on earth.”

    Game voiceover (quoted by hosts) @ ~38:30 — Opening voiceover line that sets the dark circus theme; hosts note the foreboding tone rather than cheerful circus music

  • “I'm a ramper from way back.”

    Dave @ ~20:00 — Self-identification as an experienced ramp-based pinball player; relevant to discussing Cirqus Voltaire as a ramp-heavy game

  • “This game is snappy. It's very snappy. I know the tech who worked on it so it's not bad.”

    George @ ~58:00 — Commentary on the game's responsive mechanics and playfield speed; implies insider knowledge of code development

  • “For somebody who doesn't know anything, just keep hitting Ringmaster Jerry and you'll score a lot of points.”

    George @ ~72:00 — Summarizes the core gameplay strategy; reveals the ringmaster is the dominant scoring feature

  • “It's a sinister circus. Even the music, when it comes on, it's a little bit off. It's a little bit minor key, kind of instead of a happy circus, more like a little more of something sinister going.”

    George @ ~28:00 — Thematic observation about the game's dark aesthetic; connects to Carnival Evil video game inspiration

  • “She identifies as a ringmaster.”

    Dave @ ~14:00 — Humorous comment about the ringmaster character being depicted as both male and female in backglass art

  • “This game seems extremely centric to the ringmaster, which if you're... I'm thinking that. I am the ringmaster. You are the ringmaster.”

    George @ ~48:00 — Observation that the ringmaster is the central focal point and dominant mechanic of the game

  • “I wouldn't buy this game sight unseen.”

    George @ ~24:00 — Advice on secondary market purchases; notes condition variability between listings

Entities

GeorgepersonDavepersonLinda DealpersonAdam LefkoffpersonJohn ReuterpersonJaypersonSnowpersonWill Beetleperson

Signals

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Dave added a real metal bell to the backbox animation to replace the original plastic bell with printed image, citing original cost-cutting decision by manufacturer

    high · Dave states: 'So I got a real bell. I put a real bell in there, and it's great. The ball hits the bell, and it goes ding like it's supposed to.'

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Dave chose to keep original incandescent lighting instead of converting to LEDs due to preference for light decay characteristics

    high · Dave explains: 'Kept it all incandescent, no LEDs, because I just don't like the way they look sometimes in games. You don't get a good decay rate on the lights that way.'

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Dave performed Titan rubber kit replacement and color LED display upgrade on acquired machine in good original condition

    high · Dave states: 'Did a Titan rubber kit on it... Put a color LED display in here. It looks really sharp.'

  • ?

    collector_signal: Four Cirqus Voltaire machines listed on Pinside marketplace with significant price spread ($6,750–$12,500) reflecting condition and completeness variation

    high · George cites: 'Pittsburgh, $6,750. Cheap. $8,200 in Louisville, $10,000 in Fort Worth, and the grand prize, $12,500 in Chicago'

  • ?

    collector_signal: Cirqus Voltaire production limited to 2,700 units; described as 'highly collectible' with only four machines available on secondary market at time of recording

    high · George confirms: 'it was 2700 units highly collectible I went out and did a little research this game I went out onto Pinside and there were four of these for sale'

Topics

Cirqus Voltaire game mechanics and featuresprimaryPinball restoration and maintenance (rubber kits, LED vs incandescent lighting, bells, neon effects)primarySecondary market pricing and collectibilityprimaryGameplay strategy and scoring (ringmaster-centric design, multiballs, skill shots)primaryBackglass art and artist (Linda Deal, self-portrait, character design)secondaryThematic design and influence (dark circus, Carnival Evil, sinister atmosphere)secondaryProduction history (2,700 units, cost-cutting decisions, feature iterations)secondaryPinball community and content creation (Colorado Pinball Collective, YouTube videos, streamed gameplay)secondary

Sentiment

positive(0.78)— Hosts express enthusiasm for Cirqus Voltaire's design, mechanics, and restoration quality. Despite initial unfamiliarity with ramp-based gameplay, they warm to the game during extended play. Dave is evidently proud of his restoration work and the machine's condition. Minor frustrations emerge around gameplay difficulty and rule complexity for casual players, but these are framed as learning moments rather than criticisms of the game itself. Positive tone toward the Colorado Pinball Collective video reference and acknowledgment of quality code/tech work.

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.146

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Classic Pinball Podcast. My name is George and today I'm joined by my co-host Dave. Hello Dave. Hello George. Shall we join the circus? I'm a clown. I can join. I can join. Dave, can you start us off and tell us a little bit about this particular game and features? Yeah, this particular game, got it from a customer who was moving. It's home use only. Gorgeous game. Very low plays on it. I decided to really shop it out real well, as usual, you know, but didn't require the full resto in my usual games, because it came in a nice shape as it was. Did a Titan rubber kit on it. Kept it all incandescent, no LEDs, because I just don't like the way they look sometimes in games. You don't get a good decay rate on the lights that way. but all the inserts are all clean, so everything is nice and punchy. Put a color LED display in here. It looks really sharp. It's the only game that has the display inside the cabinet of this kind of regular pinball machine. What area of the game would you call it? The back playfield? The back playfield area is a display. So they left the top backbox as an animation. It's a cannonball animation that they originally were going to put a metal bell back there, so when the cannonball goes up and around and hits it, it goes clang. But for some reason they thought a dollar or two for a metal bell times however many they made of these games, what, 3,000 or 5,000 games, was too much. So they had a piece of plastic in there with a bell picture on it and said, no, let's not do that. So I got a real bell. I put a real bell in there, and it's great. The ball hits the bell, and it goes ding like it's supposed to. one thing dave in the backbox animation there is a it looks like a ping pong ball that fires when the cannon shot that's the outlane i guess and it goes all the way up onto the back glass and hits that bell is that correct that's correct and also the the boom balloon the hidden uh pop-up that comes out of the playfield that the only other place that did that is Williams did that, but I think back in the 50s or 60s, they had a hidden pop-up that would come up out of the play field. I think I read about the game. Is it called Gusher, maybe? That sounds right. I think. And when that gets hit, that also makes the cannon go and throw that ball up the backbox, hit the bell. Well, since you're talking about features, why don't you continue with some of the other features in the game? All right. So we have a lot of marbles you have to go through. You go to the juggler, you go up there, and it basically locks a ball, a two-ball lock for juggler, and go up there several times. It's all about hitting the shot several times. This is where I'm, and I haven't played the game, and I couldn't really get a good look at it online. Explain how the juggler saucers work. In order to activate juggler, from what I understand, you have to shoot that lane three times, and then that activates the juggler saves. Do those balls move around between those holes? No, that would be cool if they did, so it would really be juggling. But no, yes and no. Not like you think. So when a ball goes in the first juggler hole, it will then kick it over to the second juggler hole and then wait there for you to lock a ball in the first juggler hole again. Okay, so it does pass the ball. It does pass the one ball over, but that's about it. So what happens, you get a three-ball multiball on that particular Marvel. So when the third ball comes in, it activates the saucers and they start ejecting, and that third ball goes into the same area? Yes, I believe so. We'll see if we can make that happen in this game. I'm not holding my breath. This is outside my wheelhouse, as you've heard before, but we're going to give it a try. There's some really nice shots in this, especially the metal wire ramps in this. There's a long shot around the right. You hit it like a big loop shot, but it comes up and goes up a ramp, and up and around and feeds the left flipper. The same thing with the left orbit. It goes around and comes back down again. The spin is shot, another little mini orbit there. Well, you're forgetting the main item in the whole game. The magnet? No. Oh, yeah, him. How about the ringmaster? Oh, yeah, the ringmaster, that guy. Like the focal point of the whole game? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, you forgot about him. I'm sad about him. That green thing staring at you. Actually, you know what? That him is actually a her, because if you look at the back glass, she's taking the mask off of the ringmaster, and she's actually the ringmaster. A little bit of a cross-dressing situation going on sometimes, some people would say. It looks like the jolly green giant with blue hair to me. It kind of does. I think it's weird. Now, since we're on the ringmaster, are you familiar with that there are two different versions of the ringmaster? Yes, I have heard of that. So which version do you have? The fat or the skinny? This is the fat. So the ball doesn't get hung up as much? I guess that's part of the reason why they changed it? I guess so. The ball doesn't hang up at all on this one. Oh, that's good. Yeah. Continue. Some other features. Some other features. You've got a magnet on top of the ringmaster. You have a magnet on the high wire multiball act when you go up that middle ramp. That'll hold the ball there like a magnet save and then throw the ball down to three ball multiball there. I don't know. Where's the third magnet? The third magnet is... That's a good question. Where's the third magnet, George? One, two... I don't know, George. Where's the third magnet? I don't know. It says it's got three magnets. I don't know. I don't own the game. Not that I know of. Okay. I didn't think here. Wait a minute. Okay. Let's see. Oh, wait a minute. I don't... See, this is what... We're classic old school. We're dabbling into the ramp game land. No arrows, no hot vats of acid. This is not our realm. It's a circus. We're playing without a net. So there you go. Well, we're famous for that. How about that feature on the left-hand side, that ball? Oh, the menagerie ball, yes. Describe that to our audience. So that just kind of gets in your way, and you're trying to shoot that area, and then it senses a little leaf switch. It senses you get a hit there. So either the rubber that you hit there will sense you made a hit or a little polar bear stand-up will do the same thing since you got hit. Oh, that's a polar bear? Yeah, a little polar bear. You know, George. No, I thought it was. I wasn't sure. He's like a dancing bear. I've never seen a polar bear at the circus. Oh, well, that's what it sounds like. I'm not sure that, well, right, this is a fantasy game, so I guess you could have a polar bear. This is actually. But imagine having a polar bear at a real circus. I think that might be a disaster. I think so. I think you might get hungry and eat people. I think that would be quite a show. Well, you know what? That makes sense because this game, I swear, is sort of based on Carn Evil, that video game back from, I think, the 90s or 80s or 90s. It's a very dark-themed amusement park. And this is a dark-themed circus. Even the music, when it comes on, it's a little bit off. It's a little bit minor key, kind of instead of a happy circus, more like a little more of something sinister going. It's a sinister circus a little bit, you know, because I think the ringmaster is a little bit sinister. He's kind of like, he's a little like Rudy. Well, you just said it was a woman. Well, it's a guy at first, and then it changes into a woman. This is a very bizarre game. She identifies as a ringmaster. I need to correct you earlier. anyway you said that this game was between 3 and 5 thousand units actually it was 2700 units highly collectible I went out and did a little research this game I had to do research folks if I didn't do research we would not have much of a show but I went out onto Pinside and there were four of these for sale so if you give me a sec I'm going to go through them and then you can give me your comment. Sure. We have at the low end in Pittsburgh, $6,750. Cheap. $8,200 in Louisville, $10,000 in Fort Worth, and the grand prize, $12,500 in Chicago, Illinois. And what does that one have on it? I couldn't, you know, pictures don't do it justice. I would not buy this game sight unseen. The one game that was very inexpensive, the $6,000 plus game, it looked like all the decals on the sides of the game the cabinet and I'm guessing can you even buy those? Don't know I know this one is a home use only one like I said so it's gorgeous all original artwork in the cabinet original play field nothing touched up just all cleaned and this is a nice prime example of the game and you know you can pry it out of my hands it is sort of for sale for the right price but I'm tempted to keep it but when the right customer comes along and wants to buy it, pride on my hands, I will sell. Linda Deal was the artist for this game. I believe that's her picture in the back glass of her self-portrait, but I'm not sure. Someone can look that one up. But she's actually the ringmaster who takes her mask off. And a fun little note about Linda Deal, she was actually started out working in in the casinos in Las Vegas as a dealer, and they said, hey, Linda, can you deal me in? She goes, yeah, I'm going to use it for my last name. Actually, no, that's fake. That's a falsehood. But anyway, George. Oh, boy. All right. Anyway, enough of that. Yeah, five more. You can put one of those in after the fact. I'm sure you will. Let's see. So Linda dealed the artwork on this, did a nice job. She did Doctor Who as well. Junkyard and Theater Magic Those are the big notable ones That she did There's all You can stack multi balls in this game You can get Juggler Highwire You get Spinner, Acrobat Menagerie Ball and Bolts I believe I think Boom Balloon Boom is Bolts The Sideshow Which I guess is all on the DMD Yep the skill shot's nice too and you forgot again the ringmaster oh the cow the first time I heard this thing do a cow I knew that it was in there I thought you had to tap the flippers a certain amount of times to get a cow come out that's weird I think it's made a certain amount of time you gotta go left flipper right flipper right left flipper well without further ado I think we should give this a whirl folks please bear with us because this is a game that we not totally familiar with so those who own it or have a real liking for it or play it on the pc you know virtual version of this game you probably know a lot more this game this show is more design we stop this episode is more for the casual person who might not have ever played this doesn't know much about the game and is looking for a witty banter and repartee in order to bring them through that cataclysm we call pinball. How's that? Yes, in this particular show, we are not going to give medical advice and legal advice. It is for amusement only. Correct. There will be no gambling. Although, one thing I do want to bring up, and we never play it, and we should. Have you ever played Price is Right with pinball? No, I have not played that. We could do that because we're probably not really good at this game. You define a target... Speak for yourself, George. I can remember the best of them. Okay, there, Rampy Ramster. I'm a ramper from way back. Come on. The idea is you pick a point value, and the person who comes closest to that point value without going over is the winner. Oh, I don't like that kind of game. No. Okay, so you just want to kick my ass. I just want to kick your ass. Go ahead. Go ahead there. Before we get going. Wait, wait. Before you hit the start button. I went out and looked at some videos on YouTube, and Dave made a recommendation, again, for one of those virtual pinball videos. And forgive me, but I lasted about 30 seconds, A, because it was not a real game, and B, the guy was speaking English, but he was clearly French. I couldn't, I turned it off. So I went to give a shout out, and I actually met one of these persons, the Colorado Pinball Collective. They have a great video out there. It's quite long. It's two hours long. But around the 40-minute mark, Mr. Lefkoff, Adam, I think is his first name, just completely incinerates the game. now ms galvin snow galvin was the other player dave if we can get over five million we're doing very well on this game and will beetle i think is the other person that was playing they were not doing so well against uh mr lefkoff so i'm going to use that as a gauge five million I appreciate them putting out the video. It was quite good, but it made me feel like I have a chance at at least making hay with this guy. And five million is what? Who got five million? Snow and Will. Okay. Adam got, I think, $125 million. That's pretty darn good. One ball. One ball. He went from $4 million to $125 million in one ball. My personal best in this is $85. and that is a long game i have no personal best but i'm going to ask you to recall does uh john reuter have this game that would be the only place i could think of that i played it i think he did have this game back in the day i know he had theater of magic and that's the one i remember i couldn't remember this one so i'm not sure i'm not sure i know that's the only i mean they only made 2700 of them so unless you know somebody who owns one of these did jay have one of these? I think he did. Jay had one, yep. Right, poor Jay. I don't know when he's going to be open. I feel bad for him. Yeah, I don't know. I've been... I don't want to go down that trail. I've been giving him some video game work. I get people calling me besides doing the pinball work I do, and I'm getting this season especially, tons of work coming in. But I get a lot of overflow, so I parse out to people I hang with that know what they're doing as well, especially with the EM stuff. I'll give that stuff away sometimes if I don't have time for it. And video game stuff, I was doing that back in the day when I had more time, but now I'm so pinball-centric and heavy that Jay does some video game work. And, you know, he's looking for a couple extra bucks since the arcade isn't open, so I'm giving him video game work that comes in. For those of you who have not listened to our previous episode, it was on Freeplay Arcade, which is in Worcester, Massachusetts, soon to be open. Would you like to get started on this? Let's get started. So what are we going to hear? You're going to hit the start button. So we're going to hear like a... Circus song? A foreboding, dark circus song that is, you know, kind of dark. I'm guessing it's not a sing-along. No. Okay. Welcome to the greatest pinball on earth. Okay, so Dave has started ball one. and from what I'm told oh. That's right, you've got a ball safe. Oh, okay. You won't find that on Playboy. No, you will not. And the neon just lit up which is very cool. We didn't talk about that but that's a really neat feature on this game. Oh, another thing. That's not the neon. Depending on on what serial number you got, depending on what neon you got, it had red, blue, purple, green, and it also usually matches up with the menagerie ball. Also, it changed color as well. Go to the head of the class. I knew you were going to bring that up. There you go. Neon needs to match the Menagerie Ball. This one's a green ball and it's got a blue. Oh, so you need a blue ball. No, you don't want a blue ball. I don't want a blue ball. We just play a Playboy, so maybe we do. I know somebody who might have it, but it's not you and me. So Dave is Oh, okay, here comes the ringmaster So he just nailed the ringmaster And Dave is almost at 2 million points So he's making some and he just drained The boom model is yours The boom model is mine What just happened? Oh, you know what? I gotta start over, George Am I putting you in, George? Or am I just playing this? No, I wanna play Okay, hold on Okay Hold on Okay, so we're going to start over again? There. All right, we're going to try this again. Welcome. All right. Okay, so Dave's attempting to hit the ringmaster, which is really the way to get this game started. If you want my opinion for whatever it's worth, this game seems extremely centric to the ringmaster, which if you're... I'm thinking that. I am the ringmaster. You are the ringmaster. And he just hits the ringmaster again. And he's lit another vault rollover. So it looks like Dave has one of the vaults lit. He keeps nailing the ringmaster. He needs to hit it three times in order for it to... Okay, what's it going to do now, Dave? One more time. Okay, three times. Oh, so he goes... Oh, look at that. It goes all the way up. and now it's open. You have to get into him. So here's the question. Yes. Does that stay up like that for my game? No, it goes back down. Now, will it remember? Yes, it'll remember to come back up for me. Down he goes. Okay. It's your turn to do common tennis. Okay. Okay, so there is a skill shot. Now, where is the skill shot located? The little red stand up there, the big square red stand up. Oh, that's a skill shot. That's right. They're very good, George. He's head of the class. And you can change what it is over here, the right flipper. you can change it to instant wow you can change it to lock a ball if you hit your right flipper so you can change what it's worth 75,000 advanced acrobats instant now I want 100,000 points is there more points than 100? no that's about it I wouldn't go for that I'd go for the lock I'm going for the 100 go for the money so here we go it's like half a plunge oh you're so close you missed it okay so you could have let the ball Okay, so one around. Once around. Okay, two to hit the ringmaster. I got the ringmaster up. One ringmaster. And I nailed him again. The ball save is off now, so now he's without a net. The one thing I like about the shots on this game is you can backhand the ringmaster. Yes, you can. Oh, he went up. Okay, so I got one in the juggler. Oh, sideshow. What do I do? Sideshow Sam. Amazing Rooney. Now you've got to jump, so hit the flipper to make the little... Which flipper? Watch. Either one. Both of them. Hit. Do it again. There you go. Jump. Jump, George. Is that a freaking kangaroo? It's a kangaroo. There he is. He's jumping. What's he... Oh, the cow. Oh. Oh. You crashed and burned. Amazing Rooney. Poor Hoppy. Poor little Hoppy Bunny. Kangaroo, whatever he is. Okay, I just got it in the ringmaster. Oh, that's what... I have another question. Yeah. Is there a tunnel or Yes, subway, they call it a subway What do I call it, a tunnel Okay, so where's the ball Comes out of the right Frenzy multiball Okay, do I get that ball back? Yes you do, you have ball save on for maybe 10 seconds or so Something like that It's going to keep plunging out, now the ball saves off How am I doing so far? You're doing pretty good, just keep nailing him There you go Keep getting right into Mr. Ringmaster there and 25,000 points. I lost one ball. Oh, come on. Jack Potter Rooney. You get the cannon there. Things are happening. One. I want to hit the ringmaster three times. That's two. Now I got the boom thing. Boom balloon is there too. Does ringmaster come up? There we go. Look at this. George did some studying. I did do some. I have no idea what the is happening there. Not bad, George, for a non-ramper. You're doing pretty good here. Wow, the ball jumps. George is pretending it's a classic ballet. It's actually a new ballet, so it is kind of classic ballet. Oh, there we go, juggler. I need to get that three times, though, I think. Oh, look at the skills. It's George with the flippers there, the left and right. All right, not bad. Judge's score, you get a 10, 9.9, and a 10. I don't know if that's really mean anything. I think that's kind of arbitrary. What's that all about? They're giving you their rings. Why do I care? I don't know. I don't think... Okay, so, right. So you started... You ended the ball with the ringmaster up. He's up again. And he just hit the skill shot. So you have a ball lock. I do. Now, is that a virtual lock, I'm guessing? That's a virtual lock, yep. Okay, so he got it into the base of the ringmaster. Now you're going to get a multiball, I'm guessing. Yes. He's going to challenge you to a frenzy. So, does everything carry over on this game for the most part? I'm guessing, right? You don't have to start over all this stuff every time. No, no. Uh-oh. Okay, so Dave just got one in the juggler. But it came out, so you haven't hit it enough times yet. No, I have to hit it a couple more times. Well, you have to hit it three times in order to activate it. That's not an easy shot. No, it's not. Okay. Rigmaster Jerry or whatever his name is. Rigmaster Jerry. Whatever his name is. Or her name is. Or its name is. Oh, yeah. Bum. Okay. That's not bad. So where am I You at We going to find out in a minute here Five can so neither one of us has gotten the cannon thing Let see George has got ten million points right now going into I'm feeling- Yeah, not bad, George. Okay, take that- no, I'm not gonna say that. That's not- that's not nice. I gotta say thank you. Thank you, Snow. You did a good job. You trained me well. Let's see if I can hit this skill shot. Oh, I missed it again. You missed it again. Oh no no no no Alright George This game is snappy It's very snappy I know the tech who worked on it so It's not bad Yeah he's no joker He's no clown Look at that thing screaming around Did you see that? I saw that That's on the screen Run around it goes I can see why people would like this game Yeah right Warming up to it a little bit Oh, now you're going to do a Raz. A Raz the Tess. What am I doing? Same thing. I'm hitting ringmaster. Hit him again. Hit ringmaster again. I'm hitting ringmaster Jerry. Yes, hit ringmaster Jerry again. And I just got screwed. Oh, a free game for you. No, you're going to keep going. Oh, I got ball save? Yeah, ball save. That's. Now the ball save's off, so now you've got to keep going there. Come on. Get in ringmaster Jerry again a couple times. Get him right in the master. There you go. Sweet. Okay, so was that the cannon? Yeah, something's going on. Something's going on. Oh, there we go. This ball came out of there. Oh, shit. You got a lightning bolt thing there. Another bolt thing came on. Oh, you got a W. You got an O going for another wall. I want to see him fling the ball. When does he do that? I don't think on this software he does not. On the home software. Oh, no. Yeah, that's when you do the first one. Oh, that thing's... Okay, now Ringmaster Jerry's coming back. Yes, he is. Okay. He's going to go with a special. Laughing at you. Oh, whoops. Whoops. My virgin ears. Bad George. Four marbles to spell, circus. Okay, so, again, because I don't own a game with DMD, it's telling me that I have four of the marvels already completed uh no you have two done you need to get four more yeah but there's nine uh well in this one I don't know I think there's six I don't know maybe I don't know George I don't know okay see I'm distracting Dave so he really screws up he's going to want a rubber match I see it coming I'm getting so hosed so for two jokers or two clowns that don't really know all the particulars of this game there we go skill shot you joker you ringmaster jerry lock is lit oh so I want I just keep hitting jerry Hit him again. There. What did he say? Die? He said he had to die, I think. He wants you to die, George. He did. I did. He's a little bastard, isn't he? Yeah. Well, Ringmaster Jerry, that could be male or female or any combination thereof. Is he called Ringmaster Jerry? No, I don't know. I like it. I like Ringmaster Jerry. That's pretty good. Match. 16-0-0. No match. That's a 70. So 20 million for me? 20 million. That's not bad for a first game. First game? Considering I have absolutely, well, I know three things about the game, and I literally only did one. My advice is, for somebody who doesn't know anything, just keep hitting Ringmaster Jerry and you'll score a lot of points. There you go. I would like to get the high wire. All right, let's see. But you're supposed to hit those, there's two targets on each side of that ring. I never saw them lit. Which targets now? Somehow you're supposed to hit that target and that target And then it'll lock it up Well, it'll light the lock Right, but I don't know how to do that Alright, I'll show you if I can There are much better people at this game probably than us But Considering I've had five minutes on the game Not bad, for five minutes on the game Oh no, you can keep entertained, I mean There we go, there's a lock Oh, there you go So Dave just... Okay, Dave just locked one game. That's pretty cool. See, now, so I'm going to stop you before you do anything. Oh, well, here it comes. Oh, no, see, you didn't... I did lock it, but that just gave me... It didn't hold, so you got it up there the first time, right? So you just hit that one, you lit that one. Now hit the other target on the other side of that ramp. Right. And then it'll lock it. Like that. Perfect, Dave. Okay, now I have to not lose the ball. Not trade it like that. Okay, so this is our second game? Yes. Okay, let's see. Oh, it is Nine Marbles. I have one down. It says, like, eight. You are correct. Okay. I got one million points. Wonderful. If I want... I want 100,000 points. Now, who said? Why are you going for that? They told you to get that? No. I would figure you want to, like, lock a ball. You want me to lock a ball? Okay, I'm going to lock a ball. I think it's better to do that. It's an adventure game a little bit. Halfway through. Nope, for sure. You want a half a plunge. Okay, so I want to hit Ringmaster Jerry. Not like that. But you got a ball safe. I'm pretty sure. Yep, ball safe. Okay, Ringmaster Jerry. Ringmaster Jerry's going to save your balls. I make you weep? Yes. Okay, I just got it up in the juggler. But it's not going to hold because that's the first time. Sideshow. What's it going to give you? Oh, I got to jump kangaroo? Neon multiball. What is this? Hit wow ten times. Oh, this is good. Oh, this is cool. It does a little drum thing. It's all in the dark, too. Keep hitting the wow at the top there. I'm trying. You get a big drum bang in there. I got a subwoofer in this game, too, so it makes it extra special. Wow, George is playing in the dark here. With a neon going off. It's like in a nightclub. Yeah, I don't know what the hell. Three more hits. How many do I need? Hit wow again. Oh, this is not good. Oh, no. You might have it. You might get... Oh, don't move. Ball saved for you. Oh, look at this. Another ball saved for you. Well, up into the juggler, but it won't hold. All right. Oh, elephant. That was an elephant. No, no, no. That was an elephant. That was an elephant. That was an elephant. That was an elephant. That was an elephant. That was an elephant. That was an elephant. No, no, no, no. See the lights lit on the sides of the... Yeah, it's a light lock. The yellow ones, you have to hit those. Right, well, easily said than done. Wow, whoa, whoa, I came around quick. Marvel complete. This is a Marvel complete. He's completing all the Marvels here. It's marvelous. All right, he's going to challenge you to a frenzy, I think. Well, maybe not. Maybe he will. He's going to do... There he goes. He's going to do a frenzy. always come back again carrying after around the corner georgie go all people again three one jackpot that five million points now involved no Well, man, you got six million, I think. I don't know what the judges' score means. I'm going to look that one up, George. I have no idea what the hell I just did. Six marbles left to go for you. And for me, light lock. That sounds good to me. Oh, I missed it. Yeah, you shoot it around that spin thing. That's a fast shot. It does. It comes right back. Okay. Dave just gets it out of the... Gets the Menagerie Ball. And he hits Ringmaster Gary again. It's... The Ringmaster is a gigantic part of this game. It really is. So, you know... There you go. I don't want to call it a one-trick pony because I don't know enough about the game. You haven't really gone anywhere else, so you just keep hitting the main feature. Right, well, I've done pretty well by it. considering I don't know how to activate, I only know how to activate two other things. Got a fair amount of multiballs in this game. I guess from what they said, again, there's nine multiballs. We did find, I don't know if we're going to get to it, that's why I'm mentioning it now. we did find the third magnet and it's on the juggler and it makes sense so sorry about missing that earlier Dave's power pounding it right now there we go he keeps hitting the ringmaster there you go nice save Dave nice save ok ok Dave ring one ok Whatever that means. He gets it in. The ringmaster again. He keeps shooting the cannon. I don't know what the heck you're doing, but a lot of stuff's happening. I keep shooting the ringmaster. I know. And you're getting the dingmaster up top with the bell. Look at Dave go. Go, man, go. I don't know what the heck you're doing, but that ringmaster scores a lot of points. Oh, that's... The backflash is very cool. Okay, Dave just got a free game at $12 million. Okay, so you just completed Ringmaster Frenzy. All right, now, let's see. Oh, Razzmatazz there. So, see, now you had that, the right-hand side of the high wire lit. Yep, but I also had a locklet, too, right there. Oh, yeah, look at that. Okay, so we're on ball, what's this, ball three? I think it's ball two. Two? Let's see. Ball two. Oh, two. So Dave's leading 15 million to 7 million. Let's see if I can get, I know I'm up. Boom, the ball, light show, no. No light lock for you for some reason. Yeah, no, I must have used it already. Yeah. I'll do the juggler. What do I care? There, you got it. Good, I can juggle one ball, too. Let's see if I can get you a couple times. Oh, look at that. Made it around the horn. Nice. I got the acrobats. The boom balloon is up. The boom balloon bobble is yours. Okay, so I've got that high wire thing lit. Oh, and I got the boom ballooner thing. There's way too much crap going on in this game. Oh did you see that jump I did yeah Wow That was a power The marble is yours Have you watched that slow motion video that everybody talking about You probably haven't. No, I have not. There's some kind of, somebody's done some slow motion video of a pinball machine mechanics, and I guess it's very good. I haven't had a chance to see it yet. Yeah. But they were talking about how when a ball hits the flipper, that the ball is usually, when it jumps like that, it's usually not flat to the flipper. It's usually in the middle of the flipper. It's not even hitting the play field. Oh, okay. If you didn't see it on slow motion, you would never know. Okay, so I'm getting close on the juggler, I think. Oh, free game for you. Am I locking anything with the juggler yet? I don't want to look. I don't know Ringmaster's happening though Jackpot or Rooney Jackpot For Looney Skip Rooney Most people will not even know what that is Oh you got an extra ball somehow I don't know what the heck I'm doing Dave Whatever you're doing keep doing it Menagerie Marvel I just keep hitting Ringmaster Jerry Pretty much Ringmaster Jerry is happening for you. Oh, that's another good one. The Acrobat's another good shot. That's a very satisfying shot, isn't it? Look at him go. Yeah, three times. Can we get it? Oh, Ringmaster Jerry. Oh. Oh, so it got stuck behind. Yeah, it got stuck behind. There you go, George. It's going to now do a ball search. Yep, and it's going to go down. It's going to down. Oh, no. Up he goes. There you go. The hideout. There we go. That's what he did. Look at that there. This is home software, so... Okay, I want that target right there on the right-hand side. Looks like you have the S-Lit in Circus. Somehow. Shoot again. I have no idea what's going on. Whatever you're doing, you're not doing too shabby. Again. So, is it your ball? I think you get to go again, I think. Three marbles. Let's see. Shoot again for you. shoot again yes look at this 19 million to 15 okay I'm just I'm going for the juggler again nice shot there shut up and that's the end he got you yeah the judges score free game Free game. Block the ball. Okay, Dave. Show us how it's done. You've got it too. Okay, Dave just started up in the high ball. There we go. Now, is that going to lock? It's going to lock. There. Now it's going to give me a multiball. Okay, look at this. I had virtual locks there. Okay, Dave. Okay, keep going. Okay, partway up the jugular. I want to get the flashing red lights. Would be good to get. Oh, we lost one in the cannon. Oh, no, it wasn't. Oh, yeah, there it goes. I like the backflips. I can see why people like this game. Yeah, it's a fun little game. A lot of stuff going on. Okay, third ball? Third ball. Let's see if I can... I think George got me again. Yep, George got me again. I got 17, George has 20 right now. He's getting close to joining the circus. Ringmaster defeated. 4 million points. Wow. Now you're going to do a special Ringmaster. No, you did really good by me. I must have paid attention pretty close. Now Ringmaster is halfway up. He's sneaky. He's peeking out of his little hole here. Now he's up. You got him right in the ringmaster. Jackpot. I want that juggler thing to work. You gotta shoot for it. It's a little tough shot. You got 28 mil right now. Nice. Oh! Ringmaster again. You defeated the ringmaster. 30 million points here, George. Trying to get... Special, alright. Gonna try it again. The Ringmaster Special. One more time for Mr... What's his name? Andy Rooney? No, I... Jerry? Sailor Jerry? No, Ringmaster Jerry and Looney Skip Rooney. He didn't make the board. You got 32. You were so close to making the board Is there anything that you want to add? You should probably tell us at least One Dr. Dave story Of either repair Going out to a person's home A game that you saw That somebody might be Interested in hearing a little bit about Hmm. It's all a blur these days. It's been a whirlwind of pinball repair, restoration, and games coming and going. But, oh. Well, that's okay. Well, right now, this Playboy is about ready to go. I have a Gorgar on the corner there. It's almost done. Before, it would take me between two and six months to get games done. But now that I'm out of the corporate world and just doing my pinball game, I'm getting things done a lot quicker now. So now, Dr. Day's pinball restorations and we're full boat going full steam ahead here. My wife Maureen is doing all the artwork and touch up and in-house graphics we do and using play field protectors. Just look and play like new and with reliability is what we're going for here. So we have a big line of games in the restoration queue. Probably right now around 20. So if people want that, they can email me at dave at pinballdoctor.com. That's all spelled out, pinballdoctor.com. Or go to the website, and I can send you a list of what we have. And you can always put your name in, put your money down on any title that you want for that, and work it up. Usually between two to six months, get it done. and have a nice-looking game of your youth and of your dreams. Pinballdoctor.com. Terrific. We're going to end with that. And if you want to find us, we're on every major podcast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean. I don't know. There's like 19 of them. You can find us, the Classic Pinball Podcast. I'm not giving you an email. I'm not giving you a website. I'm not giving you anything other than goodbye and have a fun day. everybody uh have a great day out there and be thankful for what you got okay we got plenty i try to along with your assistance keep people informed on products that are coming out now i was not able to validate this but i'll give credit where i heard it uh the poor man's pinball podcast was talking about a company called HomePin. You should recognize this name. Vacation America? You're close. What's our... Oh, wait. Thunder Turds. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Yes. So they are coming out with replacement parts for Vintage, Bolly, and Stern Games. But that's already out there. We already have those. The one item that caught my attention was they are going to start reproducing Transformers. Okay, that's helpful. Which you can't find. Yep. You can find them, but they're not new. They're going to start reproducing. I thought that was interesting because those bring big money. If you have the rectifier attached, that's a $200 item. Transformers don't really go bad. Right, but people pilfer them for other games. Like me, you know, I've taken down, we've talked about it in other shows, how many games I've dissected that I bought at Allentown. I have two extra Transformers and Rectifier boards that are all redone. So I always thought if I get another game that doesn't have one or it needs to be reworked, I have one that I can put in a game right away and it's off and going. Plus two of the games, and I know I've showed it to you a long time ago, we have the octo rectifier boards that I made where for laughs and giggles I soldered directly onto all those boards wires with molex connectors and there are strings of wires coming out of the rectifier board I couldn't sell that game to anybody because they would just look at me like you retard right look at all look at all oh you're not probably not even allowed to say that anymore uh you should be able to right but well i am slightly retarded which means not very accelerated uh i i don't know i'm a moron no i'm that you can call somebody idiot idiot yeah you could call dumb f yeah you could call me that i probably would punch you in the face ask a silly question get a silly answer Oh, you know But you don't know Where from It hurts to talk It hurts to talk And I can't even breathe I need drugs I need drugs Something to choose from I don't know Should I go to the doctor Stay right here Watch the tune Like a fool Feel down Down, down The faces and wounds Thank you.
  • Cirqus Voltaire can stack multiple multiballs (Juggler, High Wire, Spinner, Acrobat, Menagerie Ball, Bolts, Sideshow, and Boom Balloon)

    medium confidence · George states: 'You can stack multi balls in this game You can get Juggler Highwire You get Spinner, Acrobat Menagerie Ball and Bolts... Boom Balloon Boom is Bolts The Sideshow'

  • The neon feature in Cirqus Voltaire came in multiple colors (red, blue, purple, green) depending on serial number and typically matched the menagerie ball color

    medium confidence · George explains: 'Depending on on what serial number you got, depending on what neon you got, it had red, blue, purple, green, and it also usually matches up with the menagerie ball'

  • Adam Lefkoff from Colorado Pinball Collective scored approximately $125 million on a single ball in a YouTube video of Cirqus Voltaire

    high confidence · George references a Colorado Pinball Collective video: 'Adam got, I think, $125 million. That's pretty darn good. One ball. One ball. He went from $4 million to $125 million in one ball.'

  • “It's like in a nightclub.”

    George @ ~89:00 — Describes the atmosphere during neon multiball mode with subwoofer effects

  • “I don't want to call it a one-trick pony because I don't know enough about the game. You haven't really gone anywhere else, so you just keep hitting the main feature.”

    Dave @ ~98:00 — Self-aware commentary acknowledging the ringmaster's dominance in scoring despite uncertainty about deeper game strategies

  • Cirqus Voltaire
    game
    Williamscompany
    The Classic Pinball Podcastorganization
    Colorado Pinball Collectiveorganization
    Freeplay Arcadevenue
    Pinsideorganization
    Carnival Evilgame
    Playboygame
    Doctor Whogame
    Junkyardgame
    Theater of Magicgame
    Gushergame
  • ?

    design_innovation: Cirqus Voltaire uniquely integrated DMD-style display in backbox instead of traditional static backglass animation; cannon mechanism shoots ping pong ball against backglass to ring bell

    high · Dave explains: 'It's the only game that has the display inside the cabinet of this kind of regular pinball machine... the cannonball animation... fires when the cannon shot that's the outlane'

  • ?

    design_innovation: Three magnets strategically placed on playfield: ringmaster (upper), high wire (center ramp), and juggler (left side); serve as ball saves and multiball locks

    high · Hosts identify three distinct magnets; George confirms: 'we did find the third magnet and it's on the juggler and it makes sense'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Ringmaster pop-up serves as dominant scoring feature and primary shot target; hosts note this as core strategy despite game featuring multiple multiballs and shots

    high · George: 'This game seems extremely centric to the ringmaster... For somebody who doesn't know anything, just keep hitting Ringmaster Jerry and you'll score a lot of points.'

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Cirqus Voltaire supports stacking of nine distinct multiballs: Juggler, High Wire, Spinner, Acrobat, Menagerie Ball, Bolts, Sideshow, Boom Balloon, and Frenzy

    medium · George lists: 'You can stack multi balls in this game You can get Juggler Highwire You get Spinner, Acrobat Menagerie Ball and Bolts'

  • ?

    product_concern: Ringmaster feature exists in two versions (fat vs. skinny); fat version reduces ball hang-ups, suggesting quality/playability issue with earlier design iteration

    medium · Dave: 'So which version do you have? The fat or the skinny? This is the fat. So the ball doesn't get hung up as much? I guess that's part of the reason why they changed it?'

  • ?

    content_signal: Colorado Pinball Collective published extensive Cirqus Voltaire gameplay video (2 hours); featured high-level play by Adam Lefkoff (~$125M single-ball score); referenced as performance benchmark by podcast hosts

    high · George cites: 'Colorado Pinball Collective. They have a great video out there... around the 40-minute mark, Mr. Lefkoff, Adam, I think is his first name, just completely incinerates the game... Adam got, I think, $125 million.'

  • ?

    operational_signal: Freeplay Arcade (Worcester, MA) currently closed; operator Jay receiving spillover video game repair work from Dave to supplement lost arcade revenue

    high · George mentions Freeplay Arcade 'soon to be open'; Dave explains: 'he's looking for a couple extra bucks since the arcade isn't open, so I'm giving him video game work'