Clowns and Balloons

Clowns and Balloons is a circus-themed video game written by Frank Cohen for the Atari 8-bit family and published in 1982 by Datasoft.[1][2] The game was also released for the TRS-80 Color Computer, written by Steve Bjork.[3][4] It is a clone of the 1977 arcade game Circus. A variant of Breakout, the player moves a trampoline to catch a bouncing clown who pops rows of balloons at the top of the screen with his head.

Clowns and Balloons
Publisher(s)Datasoft
Designer(s)Atari 8-bit
Frank Cohen
TRS-80 Color Computer
Steve Bjork
Platform(s)Atari 8-bit
TRS-80 Color Computer
Release1982
Genre(s)Action

Gameplay
A clown in mid-air about to pop a balloon

The object of Clowns and Balloons is to move a trampoline under a clown and bounce him high enough into the air to burst all the balloons. The player controls the trampoline's left and right movement with the joystick or paddles.

There is a bonus to score by clearing each row of balloons completely starting from the bottom and working up. If the balloons are not cleared in order, the row will refill. Clowns bounce at different angles depending on where they land on the trampoline.

The game features three levels of difficulty.[5]

Reception

Charles Brannon, who reviewed the game for Compute! magazine, liked the game: "The animation remains fairly simple, though smooth. The sound and music are some of the best I've heard. Despite the simple theme, Clowns and Balloons turned out to be great fun, and inspired hours of frenzied joystick twisting."[6] Page 6 admired the graphics and sound, calling them an impressive demonstration of the Atari's capabilities. However, they stated: "Playing required a lot of perseverence to get used to the speed of movement of the joystick. In fact I was beginning to get bored before I got good enough to burst the first set of balloons [...]".[7] David Plotkin of SoftSide remarked that the game is easy to play but "requires quick reflexes and considerable skill" to master and recommended the paddle rather than the joystick. Plotkin echoed Page 6's sentiment regarding the presentation, stating: "The programmers at DataSoft understand the Atari's features very well."[8] John Anderson in the book The Creative Atari praised the game, writing that fans of Circus would "especially appreciate the sophistication of Clowns and Balloons" and saying it "may well be the most addictive game I have seen since Threshold."[5]

See also

Other games written by Frank Cohen:

Other games written by Steve Bjork:

References
  1. Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
  2. "Clowns and Balloons". Atari Mania.
  3. Ausburg, Cray (July 1986). "Building an OS-9 Support Network". The Rainbow. Vol. V, no. 12. p. 88. Retrieved June 1, 2023.
  4. "Radio Shack has the Color Computer Software You Want at New Low Prices!". The Rainbow. Vol. V, no. 1. August 1985. p. 187. Retrieved June 1, 2023.
  5. Anderson, John (1983). "Part III. Hardware and Software". In Small, David; Small, Sandy; Blank, George (eds.). The Creative Atari. Morris Plains, NJ: Creative Computing Press. pp. 186–187. ISBN 0-916688-34-8. LCCN 82-71997.
  6. Brannon, Charles (October 1982). "Compute! ISSUE 29 / OCTOBER 1982 / PAGE 127".
  7. "Clows & Balloons". Page 6. No. 1. December 1982. p. 15. Retrieved June 1, 2023.
  8. Plotkin, David (November 1982). "An Atari Christmas". SoftSide. No. 35. pp. 90–91. Retrieved June 1, 2023.
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