Missed Classic: Ballyhoo - Won! And Final Rating

Written by Joe Pranevich

From 1980 to 1986, Infocom charmed the gaming world with their text adventures. I’ve just defeated Ballyhoo, their 19th and final independently-released game. It’s a moment that I want to savor, even as we have a whole bunch more games to go before we get to Return to Zork. It seems crazy to me that I’ve been writing about Infocom games for nearly three years and I’ve just now reached this point. Ballyhoo has been a nice surprise to end this first leg of the Infocom saga on: a game that is far from perfect, but more than I might have expected given its reputation.

We ended last week with the realization that half the circus crew was involved in the kidnapping. We have connected the ransom note to one or more of the clowns (although which ones are less certain), we know that Rimshaw hypnotized someone with the headphones, and we know that Andrew and the new lion tamer are also involved. That’s a decent chunk of the circus crew, but I have no idea what they hope to get out of the deal. It doesn’t all add up yet, but it might make more sense if I get my hands on the ransom note.

I had to look up more hints than I would have liked to close out this game. If I had more time, I would have done a “Request for Assistance” but I’m writing this now as we’re just about to post final ratings for Rome and Enchantia. The clock is ticking for me to play Batman Returns so I hope you will excuse the desire to get to the end. You’ll see the reasons why I needed hints in a moment, but overall I found that the game doesn’t quite hold together as well in its final puzzles. I’m eager for your opinions, even if you think I just dropped the ball.

Missed Classic: Ballyhoo - Circus Minimus

Written by Joe Pranevich

Welcome back! Last time out, we started into Infocom’s fourth mystery game, Ballyhoo. Unlike our previous mysteries, this one is not (yet!) a murder. Instead, we have a kidnapping… at a circus! We will have to use all of our investigative skills to find out who kidnapped the owner’s daughter and why, even though the owner doesn’t know we are helping and probably wouldn’t be that thrilled to find out that some random patron was snooping around his circus after closing time. Why are we doing this again? Because we secretly dream of the Big Top ourselves! And of being a detective, apparently. Actually, I have no idea why we’re doing this but someone has to save the girl and so it might as well be us.

I apologize for the small delay in getting this out. We’ve had “plague house” here at the local Infocom Marathon Headquarters and so much of my time has been spent either being sick, cleaning up after others being sick, or both at the same time. It doesn’t make for the best head-space for writing about a fun-filled circus holiday. To compensate, I’ve made this entry a bit longer than usual. As they say, send in the clowns!

Missed Classic 67: Ballyhoo (1986) - Introduction

Written by Joe Pranevich

Infocom careened into 1986 on the backs of two contradictory pieces of information. Sales had been up in 1985 for an all-time high of $11.5 million, and yet the company was falling apart. The Cornerstone flop was a distant memory, but the winter layoffs that followed were not. Marc Blank, founder and co-developer of the Zork series, Deadline, and Enchanter was out. So was Al Vezza, the CEO. Mike Berlyn had left even before Fooblitzky had been released with the graphics team as one of the layoff casualties. Infocom was in active negotiations with Activision for a buyout, although how much of this was known during the development of Ballyhoo is unclear. What is clear is that the announcement of Activision’s intent to merge came out within days of Ballyhoo’s release. This would be the last game ever released by an independent Infocom.

Into this maelstrom entered Jeff O’Neill, a first time Implementor. Originally from California, he came to Infocom with a background in journalism and a smidge of computer science. He put those skills to use doing QA on Wishbringer, Hitchhiker’s Guide, and likely other games. He also subbed in as a writer for the The New Zork Times, the company newsletter. Unlike many of the other Imps, Jeff has kept his privacy post-Infocom and so we know less about him than other team members. We’ll see his touch here and in Nord and Bert (1987), plus he was one of the contributors to Bureaucracy (also 1987). I look forward to getting to know him through his games.