Balthazar Beauregard's Big Top Bonanza


 * This article is about the Big Top Bonanza circus in general. For more information on current happenings in the circus, see Distractions and Diversions Locations.

Balthazar Beauregard&#39;s Big Top Bonanza is a part of Distractions and Diversions, which was released on 2 September 2008. The circus is run by Balthazar Beauregard and allows players to participate in the circus by performing various activities, once a week, similar to the Tears of Guthix minigame. To enter the circus, players have to get a Circus ticket from a Ticket vendor. To exit, they just have to tear the ticket or log out.

Introduction
Circus barkers are found in each town mentioning the whereabouts of the circus. To enter the circus, players have to travel to the town mentioned and find the Ticket vendor. The Ticket vendor will provide a Circus ticket, and players are transported into the circus, where they can give three performances in different areas of the Big Top.

The activity gives both experience points (XP) and circus-themed rewards. Unlike other reward systems, players do not buy items. Balthazar will reward players with a piece of a circus costume based on their performance score. The costume pieces have no use outside the circus (other than demonstrate your circus abilities to the world); however inside the circus they are believed to improve your chance of a high score and hence an even better costume. The XP given is very good - at mid levels easily giving 20k-30k XP for a few minutes work.

The activity has three parts, giving XP in Magic, Ranged and Agility. The whole activity can only be completed once per week. There are 10 possible actions in each skill, and players can choose to undertake different actions to attempt to maximise XP earned in the performance skill or to maximise their circus score for rewards.

Logging out after starting a performance counts as ending the performance in that skill for the week, even if the player did not perform all 10 parts of the performance. Example: The player talks to the Magic assistant fairy to start the magic performance and then logs out without performing any magic. Upon logging in and returning to the circus, the player cannot resume the magic performance and will be told the performance has been completed for the week. However players can re-enter the Circus to undertake an unplayed performance.

Location
The Big Top Bonanza circus can be found in one of twelve cities, and this changes every week. Every Wednesday, the circus will move to another city. The circus is currently in: . Using the World map, the location of the circus can easily be spotted. It is marked with the "Distractions/Diversions" icon.

Entering the circus
Upon finding the location of the circus through the Circus barker, found in any bank in major towns, players have to find the Ticket vendor, and obtain a Circus ticket. Once the ticket is obtained, players are magically transported into the circus. Tear this ticket to exit the circus at any time.

Performances
To start a performance, speak to or right click the assistant fairy for that performance. For magic and ranged performances, you first start the performance and then obtain the items needed for the performance from the chest. The agility performance, however, can work the other way. If you wish to juggle, first obtain any juggling items from the agility chest and then talk to the Agility assistant fairy to start the performance.

You can do ten actions per activity per week. After you do the tenth you will be stopped and the Ringmaster will tell you your score. You have choices of what action to perform for each of your ten. There are level numbers associated with the actions - 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 99, and there are several choices of actions at each level. However, the level numbers are not requirements, only suggestions. The level 99 tricks can still occasionally be performed by someone with a much lower level and someone with a skill far in excess of what is suggested can still occasionally fail. The numbers only indicate the likelihood of success. It is also possible to "barely" succeed, in which case you score a lesser amount.

After your 10 tricks, the Ringmaster will tell you your score. There are separate numbers for your Circus performance score and the XP you earned. The XP Total window also tells you as your XP increases, since the XP reward is earned per action. However, your Circus score is more difficult to understand because all the factors that influence it are not clear, and there are many theories how to maximise it. What is clear is that one of the factors is how "entertaining" you are. You can be more entertaining by the costume you were, doing emotes between tricks, not repeating the same trick several times in succession, following the audience requests, etc.

Emotes have very small effect on the performance compared to the activities, giving only 3 points each, however this could be the difference between your ringmaster set or clown set. There is no need to do emotes if you are only interested in the XP.

The XP scored is not continuously variable - you can score only full points for success, a reduced score for barely succeeding, or zero XP for failing. The XP gained is excellent - as much as 3500 for one click in a maximum of 5 seconds,.

Magic performance: Spell Casting
The Magic assistant fairy will give a quick guide on what players should do for the Magic performance. The Magic chest contains a selection of spell tablets, which can be used to cast spells such as levitate, alchemy, teleport, and elemental on creatures and objects. There are three spots from which you perform your spells, one with five possible levitation objects, one with 5 "Cast" objects (elemental spell) (both are difficulty 10 to 50), and one with five objects that you can either teleport or alchemy (difficulty 60 to 99).

Magic equipment


You need to select Magical tablets which used to cast spells. You can select as many tablets as you like, but you can only do ten tricks maximum, and any left unused are lost when you exit the Circus.
 * {| class="wikitable"

! Image !! Type
 * align=center | [[File:Teleport tab.png]] || Teleport spell
 * align=center | [[File:Lev tab.png]] || Levitation spell
 * align=center | [[File:Alch tab.png]] || Alchemy spell
 * align=center | [[File:Ele tab.png]] || Elemental spell
 * }
 * align=center | [[File:Alch tab.png]] || Alchemy spell
 * align=center | [[File:Ele tab.png]] || Elemental spell
 * }
 * }

Ranged performance
The Ranged assistant fairy will explain the details of the Ranged performance. She will elaborate on the Ranged equipment used, and how to perform the tricks. Using equipment such as knives, throwing axes, and a bow and arrows from the Ranged chest, players can fire at the targets.

There are 2 targets: a fixed booth and a rotating target. The player takes 10 shots in total, 5 at each target. The booth may be shot at with any of the three ammunition types at any time, while the rotating target becomes limited to the first ammunition type that is used on it. For each target, players stand on one of the 10 spots, depending on the level of difficulty, with the highest level being the furthest from the target.

Ranged equipment
The ranged chest contains: You must equip the items before you can perform the tricks. You should take at least 10 items (not including a bow) - you lose any unused items at the end of the performance. You must equip the item before attempting a "throw".
 * Performance bow (take one bow and multiple arrows)
 * Performance knife
 * Performance throwing axe
 * Performance arrow

Agility performance
For the tricks, players have to enter the Agility area changing booth to change into the Acrobat costume. After the costume change, players appear by the high wire. Here, they can talk to the Agility assistant fairy to learn more about the tricks to perform. The assistant will provide a book called Tightrope 101, which basically shows all the tightrope tricks that can be performed. This book can be discarded.

There is also an Agility chest containing optional juggling equipment which can be used during the performance.

In addition to the juggling act, players may opt to perform 10 tightrope tricks (such as "Backflips", "Handstand", etc.) The tightrope tricks also have difficulty levels ranging from level 10 up to level 99. In all, players need to perform 10 tricks, and will be rewarded depending on how entertaining they were. The crowd also shouts suggestions about what to juggle.

Tightrope tricks
These are the tricks players may perform:


 * {| class="wikitable"

! Image !! Name !! Level !! Experience !! Barely succeed XP
 * align=center | [[File:Small-hop.png]]|| Small hop || 10 || 310 || 155
 * align=center | [[File:One-leg-balance.png]]|| One-leg balance || 20 || 419 || 209.5
 * align=center | [[File:Twirl.png]]|| Twirl (circus) || 30 || 830 || 415
 * align=center | [[File:Handstand.png]]|| Handstand || 40 || 833 || 416.5
 * align=center | [[File:Cartwheel.png]]|| Cartwheel || 50 || 1042 || 521
 * align=center | [[File:Small-leap.png]]|| Small leap || 60 || 1354 || 677
 * align=center | [[File:No-hand-cartwheel.png]]|| No-hand cartwheel || 70 || 1354 || 677
 * align=center | [[File:Forward-roll.png]]|| Forward roll || 80 || 1354|| 415
 * align=center | [[File:Large-leap.png]]|| Large leap || 90 || 1354|| 415
 * align=center | [[File:Backflip.png]]|| Backflip || 99 || 1354|| 415
 * align=center | [[File:Juggle.png]]|| Juggle || - || See next section || -
 * }
 * align=center | [[File:No-hand-cartwheel.png]]|| No-hand cartwheel || 70 || 1354 || 677
 * align=center | [[File:Forward-roll.png]]|| Forward roll || 80 || 1354|| 415
 * align=center | [[File:Large-leap.png]]|| Large leap || 90 || 1354|| 415
 * align=center | [[File:Backflip.png]]|| Backflip || 99 || 1354|| 415
 * align=center | [[File:Juggle.png]]|| Juggle || - || See next section || -
 * }
 * align=center | [[File:Backflip.png]]|| Backflip || 99 || 1354|| 415
 * align=center | [[File:Juggle.png]]|| Juggle || - || See next section || -
 * }
 * align=center | [[File:Juggle.png]]|| Juggle || - || See next section || -
 * }

Juggling equipment


If you wish to juggle, before starting your performance select one, some or all of the items used to juggle:


 * {|class="wikitable"

!Image !Type !Level !Exp !Barely Succeed Exp
 * align="center"|[[File:Juggling balls.png]]
 * Balls
 * 10
 * 312
 * 151
 * align="center"|[[File:Juggling plates.png]]
 * Plates
 * 20
 * 417
 * 211
 * align="center"|[[File:Juggling eggs.png]]
 * Eggs
 * 30
 * 830
 * 415
 * align="center"|[[File:Juggling knives.png]]
 * Knives
 * 40
 * 833
 * 416
 * align="center"|[[File:Juggling spades.png]]
 * Spades
 * 50
 * 1042
 * 521
 * align="center"|[[File:Juggling tuna.png]]
 * Tuna
 * 60
 * 1354
 * 577
 * align="center"|[[File:Juggling soap.png]]
 * Soap
 * 70
 * 1354
 * 457
 * align="center"|[[File:Juggling cannonballs.png]]
 * Cannon balls
 * 80
 * 1354
 * 700
 * align="center"|[[File:Juggling torches.png]]
 * Torches
 * 90
 * 1354
 * 780
 * align="center"|[[File:Juggling chinchompas.png]]
 * Chinchompas
 * 99
 * 1354
 * 830
 * }
 * 90
 * 1354
 * 780
 * align="center"|[[File:Juggling chinchompas.png]]
 * Chinchompas
 * 99
 * 1354
 * 830
 * }
 * }

Rewards


The Big Top can be used to earn very substantial XP for very little time or effort. However, the XP is limited to 30,000 to 40,000, once per week.

In addition to experience received during the performance, at the end of each performance, Balthazar Beauregard will tell players how well they have done and give them a reward in the form of a piece of costume. The reward depends on the score obtained, and the players with a score of 1,201 or higher will have the chance of obtaining the coveted Ringmaster costume.

The last 50 scores obtained by players (which is different for each world) is displayed at the Circus Performance Scoreboard accessed through the Ticket vendor.

Note the strategies followed to maximise XP are totally different to those for maximising Circus score (and hence costume). See later sections for details.

Circus Costumes
The items received are as follows:
 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! Costume !! Items !! Score
 * Audience || [[File:Audience costumet.PNG]] || 1-500
 * Acrobat ||[[File:Acrobat costumes.PNG]] || 501-1,000
 * Clown || [[File:Clown costumes.PNG]] || 1,001-1,200
 * Ringmaster || [[File:Ringmaster hat.gif]] [[File:Ringmaster coat.gif]] [[File:Ringmaster trousers.gif]] [[File:Ringmaster boots.gif]] [[File:Ringmaster megaphone.gif]] || 1,201+
 * }
 * Clown || [[File:Clown costumes.PNG]] || 1,001-1,200
 * Ringmaster || [[File:Ringmaster hat.gif]] [[File:Ringmaster coat.gif]] [[File:Ringmaster trousers.gif]] [[File:Ringmaster boots.gif]] [[File:Ringmaster megaphone.gif]] || 1,201+
 * }
 * }

When destroyed, the circus costumes can be retrieved from Balthazar. In effect, the costume(s) can be stored in the circus to save bank space. Players can perform in each area once a week, and therefore earn 3 pieces of costumes each week.

Players may be unhappy that you cannot choose your reward, as many high-level players get a good score but want the a lesser award. An easy way to get a lesser award is to simply end the performance after less than 10 activities.

Maximising Experience
Each unique activity during the performance (not including emotes), rewards the player with experience (XP). However repeating any activity will result in no more XP being given. This is different the way Circus score is calculated, where players can repeatedly perform the same high-level performance to increase their score (as long as they take measures to ensure they do not become boring). Therefore players wishing to maximise their XP gain do so at the expense of their Circus score.

Each performance has some groups of seemingly different actions that are all considered to be the same, and will not give experience on attempting another action in that set:


 * Magic - Each level of difficulty counts as one unique action, therefore performing a Teleport and an Alchemy spell on any one target will only give experience for the first attempt, and attempting to levitate and blast two different targets with the same suggested level will also result in no experience gain for the second one.
 * Ranged - Each level of difficulty counts as one unique action, therefore taking the same level difficulty shot at both targets will only give experience for the first.
 * Agility - All juggling tricks count as one unique action, therefore juggling any number of items with different levels of difficulty will only give experience for the first one. In addition, each level of difficulty counts as one unique action, so performing a juggling trick and agility trick with the same recommended level will result in gaining experience for only one.

Successful actions can be worth over 2,000 experience, and vary depending on the type of skill used. A total of 52,922.5 XP (17,710.5 Ranged, 25,006 Magic and 10,531 Agility) may be gained from the performances if all tricks are unique and successful.

During the week of 12 March-15 2010 (Bonus XP Weekend) the reward stacked with the double xp.

As experience is only gained for performing unique acts on each attempt, players must attempt one act at each recommended skill level (i.e. level 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 99). In addition as mentioned above, players should avoid performing more than one juggling act. Players will get the maximum experience possible at their current skill level if they do not fail any task. For any act succeeded that has a recommended skill level higher than the player's current skill level, they will "barely succeed" and gain less experience than someone who meets the requirements. Note that it is still possible to fail acts at level 99.

Which act
To maximise your points, you should perform the act that recommends level 99 in the corresponding skill every time (this is only recommended for players with the corresponding level at or above 70) (this is the method found best, though different audiences may prefer different acts, see locations below).

Costumes
With regards to costumes, the Game Guide says: wearing a costume ... may increase the audience appreciation (and your rewards, of course), and the Ringmaster says: Wear crazy costumes - the crazier the better. However, the definition of 'crazy' is undefined, and there is no way to tell exactly what qualifies as a costume. Although, it is widely accepted that wearing circus rewards, grant you the audience appreciation, with the higher the costume, being the better bonus.

Stat-boosting Items
Using stat boosting items such as Magic and Ranging potions do not help to bolster your performance. This was confirmed by Jagex in mid-December, 2009.

Locations
The Game Guide also states: some locations have a specific audience with specific things that entertain them, so it's a good idea to experiment and find out what sorts of things will amuse the audience you're performing for. This means that each area will respond better to certain moves, emotes, and possibly costumes.

Emotes
Performing different emotes can, indeed help boost your score. This has been confirmed by the situation where you've used all of your maximum emotes for the performance; you get the message, "You've used the maximum number of emotes for this performance. They no longer count for points."

Personalities

 * Ringmaster
 * Magic assistant
 * Ranged assistant
 * Agility assistant
 * Circus barkers

Music
Music track unlocked:
 * Circus

Trivia

 * Almost all possible locations for the circus are marked by a unique set of rocks, sometimes with or without examine options. Jagex used similar markers with Fairy Rings before their release.
 * Every Wednesday, the circus moves to another town. However, on the week of release, the town started at Seers' Village and then moved a day later to Catherby. This allowed many people to get complete sets of any uniform based on their performance.
 * There is a minor glitch where the player can tear a circus ticket while on the tightrope and appear in the full acrobat costume for a split second after leaving the circus
 * Players are unable to see other players in the circus.
 * If players change gender after receiving a part of the Audience and Acrobat costume by going to the Make-over mage, when they wear the costume again, it magically switches into the appropriate gender. This is similar to what happens with the Prince and Princess outfits from the Frogs random event.
 * Originally, some players were unable to begin the next week's performance even after waiting a week. Players would complete a week's performance and wait, only to be told that they had already done their performances the following week (even if they hadn't). It is unknown what caused this, but it appears to be fixed now.
 * There was a glitch where if people wore circus clothes and got their gender changed by the Makeover Mage, any area they had circus clothes on would become invisible until the clothes were taken off. This has since been fixed.
 * If you examine the rotating target, it says "Stay on target!" which is a reference to Star Wars.
 * On the first day of release of the 2008 Thanksgiving event, performing the new Give Thanks emote on the tightrope would make the player return to their regular clothes instead of the tightrope uniform. The emote was disabled for that area the next day.
 * If the circus is in Seers' Village the people in the crowd are all seers.
 * If the circus is north of the Wizard's tower, most people in the crowd are wearing robes.
 * When on the Agility Performance platform, if a weapon is equipped, then the player acts like they are holding an invisible weapon.
 * When on the Agility Performance platform, male characters will always appear clean shaven regardless of the facial hair they have when elsewhere. Circuspell.png
 * The Circus barkers around RuneScape call the circus "The greatest show on RuneScape", another reference to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, also known as "The greatest show on earth".
 * Several players experienced problems with the ranged performance regarding where to stand when the circus first came out.
 * There used to be a glitch where the "Tightrope" walk could be taken out of the circus. This was done by using another glitch before-hand, and using a "Penguin" emote on the tightrope. This would allow you to tear the circus ticket, and exit the circus. The player would appear outside, and be able to free-walk as if they were on a tightrope. This glitch was fixed on 26 October, along with the Halloween 2009 Update.
 * Sometimes the things the audience says can not be seen except at the tightrope. This has been fixed.
 * A glitch is, on the tightrope, if you perform the Safety First emote, while looking at your player from the front, it appears as if the shield is moving up behind you, instead of in front.
 * If the player attempts to select the "sweep" option from a Broomstick while on the tightrope, a message appears which reads, "That rope doesn't need sweeping."Ropedontneedsweep.png
 * The circus barkers and assistants apparently are fairies, as they were updated along with the Zanaris and fairies graphical update. The assistant which can be alchemised or teleported in the magic performance, and the ranged assistant on the spinning bullseye target didn't get a graphical update at first.
 * There was once a glitch where if a player was to use the Ring of Stone on the tightrope, and then unmorph, the player would be found in their normal clothes or armour, and in the normal standing position. This has been fixed by Jagex.