Ballyhoo

Ballyhoo (1986)

by Infocom
Genres:Adventure
Themes:Mystery
Game modes:Single player
Story:Ballyhoo is an interactive fiction computer game designed by Jeff O'Neill and published by Infocom in 1985. It was released for ten different 8 and 16-bit platforms, including MS-DOS, Atari ST, and Commodore 64. It is Infocom's nineteenth game. With a circus-themed plot, the game's tagline was "Big-time suspense under the Big Top!" The player's character is bedazzled by the spectacle of the circus and the mystery of the performer's life. After attending a show of Tomas Munrab's "The Travelling Circus That Time Forgot", the player loiters near the tents instead of rushing through the exit. Maybe some clowns will practice a new act, or perhaps at least one of the trapeze artists will trip... Instead, the player overhears a strange conversation. The circus' owner has hired a drunken, inept detective to find his daughter Chelsea, who has been kidnapped. Munrab is convinced that it was an outside job; surely his loyal employees would never betray him like this! As the player begins to investigate the abduction, it soon becomes clear that the circus workers don't appreciate the intrusion. Their reactions range from indifference to hostility to attempted murder. In order to unravel the mystery, the player engages in a series of actions straight out of a circus fan's dream: dressing up as a clown, walking the high wire, and taming lions.Show more
user avatarAdded by @coffeecup
Vote to bring this game to GOG and help preserve it.
13
Trailers and screenshots
Screenshot
Screenshot
Screenshot
Screenshot
Stories about this game (0)
What’s your memory of Ballyhoo?Share your favorite moments and see what others remember about this game.
user avatar@placeholder

Make sure to follow our Guidelines when adding new Stories.

If not sure what to write:
  • What made this game unforgettable?
  • Who did you play this game with?
  • What made it fun or challenging?
  • Why do you want this game on GOG?
No stories yet! Be the first to share your memories with Ballyhoo and inspire others.
Those games also need your vote!
Fable II: Game of the Year Edition
Fable II: Game of the Year EditionFable II Game of the Year Edition is a version of Fable II. It has both downloadable content packs included, Knothole Island and See the Future.
Action
Fantasy
Action
Fantasy
1 304
3
Freelancer
FreelancerEight hundred years prior to the start of our story, bitter conflict divided all of mankind. A handful of colonists struck out on their own to begin anew - far away from the Earth and its turmoil. Several ships were launched with enough equipment and supplies to give the hundreds onboard a fighting chance - but since the area around far-off Sirius had never been surveyed, no one really knew what to expect. What they found was a new frontier of free-flowing natural resources, unexplored territories, great wonders and lurking dangers. Each ship, representing the clusters of people and their earthly place of origin, settled into different parts of the galaxy pre-selected by their ship-board computer to give them the best chance of survival. Life was hard in the beginning, but over the 800 years the different colonies prospered and expanded their territories, claiming more and more systems for their own. Survival and propagation eventually led to growth and profit as each of the colonies developed specialties and fostered commerce. As the colonies grew and time passed their connections with their roots on Earth dwindled and they lost their memories of the conflicts of the past. Soon their attention was dominated by new, more immediate conflicts. Feelings of lost ancestral connection spurred anachronism in the look of the great cities, and created a somewhat distorted image of each colony's cultural heritage. In the ever-expanding outer edge of the territories, frontier lawlessness prevailed. The Houses: Each shipboard colony that left Earth carried some memory of its origins in its name. The Liberty carried Americans, The Bretonia flew from The United Kingdom and surrounding territory, The Kusari from Asia, and the Rheinland launched with Germanic cargo. As each ship settled and colonies began to expand, they knew little about each other and their advancing development. Finally, little by little, the individual colonies found each other and began to set up trade routes to link their systems for commerce and solidarity. Today, with each colony firmly rooted in its respective corner of the galaxy, the colonies rely heavily on each other for trade and industry but also compete for resources and new territories in the Border Worlds. The colonies mandate member governments in "The New Alliance" within the Sirius sector. To control conflicts, each colony has forged alliances and treaties with others as they have grown. Competition remains fierce, however. Struggles rage for supremacy in business, commerce, resources, power and control. There can be tenuous peace between colonies' political agendas, but the grabs for holdings constantly unsettle the volatile frontier.
Our Pick
Top
Science fiction
Sandbox
Our Pick
Top
Science fiction
Sandbox
74 252
470
Digimon World
Digimon WorldDigimon world is a game that allows a player to raise their own Digimon and teach it to battle.
Our Pick
Top
Fantasy
Science fiction
Our Pick
Top
Fantasy
Science fiction
40 169
1130
Silent Hill
Silent HillSilent Hill is the first installment in the Silent Hill series of psychological survival horror video games. Unlike earlier survival horror games that focused on protagonists with combat training, the main character Harry Mason is an average man. The gameplay consists of combat, exploration, and puzzle-solving. The controller vibration is used to indicate Harry's heartbeat and will vibrate on low health. The player must regularly enter an inventory screen to check Harry's health, use items, and equip different weapons.
Our Pick
Top
Action
Horror
Survival
Our Pick
Top
Action
Horror
Survival
71 152
243
Silent Hill 2 (Classic)
Silent Hill 2 (Classic)The second entry in the Silent Hill franchise, Silent Hill 2 is a narrative-focused third-person psychological survival horror game with emphasis on combat, exploration and puzzle-solving elements which follows James Sunderland, a man who receives a letter, seemingly sent by his three-years-deceased wife Mary, in which he is beckoned to the fog-ridden town of Silent Hill at the same time as numerous other people troubled by their past.
Our Pick
Top
Horror
Survival
Mystery
Drama
Our Pick
Top
Horror
Survival
Mystery
Drama
72 915
167
State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition
State of Decay: Year-One Survival EditionState of Decay, along with major Add-Ons Breakdown and Lifeline, is now fully remastered in stunning 1080p. New missions, weapons, and extra content, along with improved lighting, textures, animations and combat mechanics, will pull you even deeper into the post-outbreak world. How will you survive the zombie apocalypse?
Open world
Action
Horror
Science fiction
Sandbox
Survival
Open world
Action
Horror
Science fiction
Sandbox
Survival
100
Fable: The Lost Chapters
Fable: The Lost ChaptersFable was expanded and rereleased as Fable: The Lost Chapters for Xbox and Windows PC platforms in September 2005. The game was later ported to Mac OS X by Robosoft Technologies and published by Feral Interactive on 31 March 2008. The Lost Chapters features all the content found in the original Fable, as well as additional new content such as new monsters, weapons, alignment based spells, items, armour, towns, buildings, and expressions, as well as the ability to give children objects. The story receives further augmentation in the form of nine new areas and sixteen additional quests. Characters such as Briar Rose and Scythe, who played only minor roles in the original game, are now given more importance and are included in certain main and side quests. Other character-based augmentations include the voice of the antagonist, Jack of Blades, sounding deeper, harsher and more demonic, and the ability to uncover (and resolve) the murder mystery of Lady Grey's sister. The updated edition of the game also applied fixes for certain glitches, such as the "dig glitch," in which the protagonist would move backward each time he used the shovel, pushing him through solid objects and sometimes trapping him.
Action
Fantasy
Comedy
Sandbox
Action
Fantasy
Comedy
Sandbox
33 586
15
State of Decay
State of DecayThe end is here. Life as you know it has gone to hell after the mother of all zombie outbreaks. Now you and the few scattered survivors must band together to survive and rebuild in a 3rd-person action game set in a dynamic open world. You choose where to make your stand, designing and fortifying your home base, performing daring raids for food and ammunition, and rescuing other playable survivors with unique talents. The open, sandbox world develops in real-time, shaped by your actions, dynamically generating content based on your choices and the ever-increasing zombie threat.
Open world
Action
Horror
Stealth
Sandbox
Survival
Open world
Action
Horror
Stealth
Sandbox
Survival
65
Gothic II
Gothic IIGothic II is a role-playing video game and the sequel to Gothic, by the German developer Piranha Bytes. It was first released on November 29, 2002 in Germany, with North America following almost one year later on October 28, 2003. The game was published by JoWooD Entertainment and Atari.
Open world
Action
Fantasy
Horror
Stealth
Survival
Open world
Action
Fantasy
Horror
Stealth
Survival
362
1
Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K. 2
Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K. 2Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K. 2 is a third-person shooter video game made by Ritual Entertainment in 2000. A sequel to the Heavy Metal 2000 animated movie, the game stars Julie in her quest to save her home planet of Eden from GITH, an ancient entity seeking to conquer the universe. Using a variety of weapons, Julie must now fight off GITH's forces while at the same time uncovering a secret hidden deep within the planet.
Action
Fantasy
Science fiction
Action
Fantasy
Science fiction
10 640
13