Pinball Arcade Table Pack 2: Cirqus Voltaire and FunHouse

This is a sharply chosen two-table pack because it gives you two very different reasons to keep feeding the machine. Cirqus Voltaire is busy, theatrical pinball with a pile of modes and a long road toward its Wizard Mode, while FunHouse turns one rude animatronic face and a ticking clock into an endlessly replayable target.

FunHouse is the easier recommendation for immediate laughs and clear goals; Cirqus Voltaire is the table that may hold you longer once its layered objectives start making sense. If you enjoy learning a real table shot by shot rather than simply chasing a high score, this is a very worthwhile companion to Pinball Arcade.

Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first few games make the contrast clear. FunHouse puts a giant talking target in front of you and dares you to hit it, while its clock gives every successful shot a sense of progress. You are working toward 11:30 PM, then 11:45 PM through the first lock, and finally midnight after the second. That structure is wonderfully direct: get Rudy to sleep, shoot into his mouth, and multiball begins.

That doesn’t mean FunHouse is simple. The Mystery Mirror can hand out bonuses, and the Crazy Steps ramp has its own second plunger, so the table keeps throwing little bits of character into a game that is otherwise easy to understand. Rudy’s comments, nicknames, and moving eyes turn missed shots and direct hits into small personal victories or insults. It is the rare pinball gimmick that makes you want to take another run even after a bad drain.

Cirqus Voltaire asks more from you. Its objectives range from defeating Ringmasters and lighting the Cirqus to unmasking Voltaire, with numerous modes and a multi-level Wizard Mode waiting beyond the early work. The table can feel like a lot at once, but that density becomes its strength once you stop treating every lit target as noise and start chasing a plan. This is the pick for the player who likes a table that reveals another layer after several sessions.

The pack succeeds because neither table makes the other redundant. Start with FunHouse if you want an inviting goal and a strong central character; move to Cirqus Voltaire when you want a deeper scoring and mode chase. Two tables is not a huge quantity, but these are substantial machines with enough distinct personality to justify returning to both.

Graphics

Cirqus Voltaire has the louder table surface: neon tubes, colored menagerie balls, a dot-matrix display mounted on the playfield, and a bumper target that rises up. Its animated Ringmaster head and animated backbox give the circus theme a pleasingly over-the-top look.

FunHouse is dominated by Rudy’s animatronic head. His eyes follow the ball and his reactions make the amusement-park layout feel more alive than a static collection of ramps and targets. The table’s clock is also a useful, easy-to-read focal point during play.

Story

Neither table tells a conventional story, but both are unusually good at making your score chase feel like a small scene. In FunHouse, the whole night is built around pushing the clock forward until Rudy falls asleep. Multiball is not just a reward here; it feels like you finally got past the loudmouth who has been watching your every move.

Rudy does much of the narrative heavy lifting through his voice. He reacts to what happens, comments when you hit him, and hands out nicknames such as “Biff” and “Bucko.” It is lightweight stuff, but it gives a pinball session a comic back-and-forth that many tables lack.

Cirqus Voltaire frames its goals as a circus spectacle: take on the Ringmasters, light the Cirqus, and unmask Voltaire. The progression toward a multi-level Wizard Mode gives that theme a finish line, even when the exact route demands more concentration than FunHouse does.

Overall Experience

This is a strong table pack rather than a mere curiosity bundle. FunHouse supplies instant character and an objective you can explain in one sentence, then keeps you playing because getting the timing and locks right is another matter. Rudy is an excellent hook, but the clock-based march to midnight is what gives the table lasting shape.

Cirqus Voltaire is the more demanding half and the one most likely to frustrate you at first. There is so much to light and pursue that early balls can feel scattered. Stick with it, though, and its many modes and longer-term goals make more sense as a deliberate challenge rather than clutter.

Buy this pack if you value tables with strong personalities and objectives beyond surviving for another ball. The combination of FunHouse’s playful hostility and Cirqus Voltaire’s crowded circus progression gives you both an immediately satisfying table and one worth studying. That is a better pairing than two variations on the same pinball mood.