Shooting Birds Carnival

Step right up.

The birds are on the rails, the carny is running his mouth, and the prize wall is waiting.

Shooting Birds Carnival is a shooting-gallery arcade game across eleven booths of a very strange funfair. Every booth has its own birds, its own trick and its own boss - and every one of them is a cut-out, a spring-loaded target or an animatronic. Nobody gets hurt. Everybody gets knocked over.

Eleven booths, eleven tricks

• The Midway - pop-ups and rail sliders. Learn the ropes.
  
  
• The Big Top - trapeze birds swinging on the rigging.
  
  
• Haunted Funhouse - things leap out from behind the tombstones.
  
  
• The Pier - a crosswind bends every shot you take.
  
  
• Wild West - fast rails and quick-draw timing.
  
  
• Red Square - armoured targets you strip plate by plate.
  
  
• Lucha Libre - birds off the ropes and off the top turnbuckle.
  
  
• Winter Wonderland - falling snow, and cold hands that reload slowly.
  
  
• Jungle Safari - dense foliage, and something prowling behind it.
  
  
• Neon Space Arcade - swarms, and a booth that speeds up as the clock runs down.
  
  
• Grand Finale - every trick at once, and the mega-boss.

Bosses with a weak spot

Every booth ends with a boss, and none can simply be shot to bits. Each seals its core and opens it only in bursts, so you read the rhythm and take your shot in the window - then break the next phase, and the one after. Get greedy and it knocks your combo clean off you.

The carny

Every booth has an attendant, and every one of them is a character. They cheer, they heckle, and they take it personally when you shoot them - which you can. It costs you nothing and they never forgive you. Keep it up and you get a yelp, then a sarcastic sign, then an umbrella, then a very dizzy carny on the floor. He throws things back.

Shoot the scenery

The popcorn cart, the balloon, the spinning sign, the cat asleep on the counter. None of it is worth a point. All of it does something.

Nine weapons to earn

You start with the water pistol and buy the rest with tickets you win. Slingshots and bean bags lob clean over cover. The BB rifle fires as fast as you can track. The foam rocket and party cannon clear a swarm at once - catch a decoy in the blast and you pay for it.

Built to pick up

Click to shoot. That is the whole control scheme. A booth is sixty seconds, so it fits into whatever time you have - and the three difficulty levels change the booth rather than the clock, so an easier run is still a full round.

No strings

One purchase, the whole carnival. No advertising, no subscription, no in-game currency sold for money, no account and no internet needed. There is a free demo with the first three booths if you would rather try it first.