Carnival of Games Review: A Fair That Fits in Your Pocket!

Who doesn't love a carnival?

Have you ever played a little bundle of joy called Carnival of Games? If not, you should.  Released on both the Android and iOS marketplace, the game is a combination of four fun games that you would likely find at a carnival:   the strength test, shooting gallery, bucket toss, and the milk bottle drop.

Having played and utterly fail at these games at a real fair, I was hoping to be a little better and get a rightfully earned prize (maybe an oversized bear or cow or something.)  While I didn’t win a prize, I did have a lot of fun playing the carnival games!  Here’s the breakdown of Carnival of Games by Sky Parlor Studios.

First, I’d like to say that I took the time to play both of the versions.  However, I feel that because I used the iPhone 3G (the OG iPhone,) that may have caused the slower load times.  The Android phone used is HTC Inspire 4G.

The music that plays when you start the game is classic carnival music, and really adds to the atmosphere of the title.  In fact, the soundtrack was so good I could have sworn I tasted funnel cake!

These games were incredible fun!  There are four different games to choose from and I’ll rank them in order of which ones were the most fun:

This never happens in real life.

1)  Muscle Test

You must tap the target as fast and as many times as possible to hit the bell as hard as possible.  Plus, the mallet guy is just awesome.  He looks like one of those circus performers.

Did you know the ducks and bears dance?

2) Bucket Toss

Simple, right?  Well, kind of in this take on the classic “Toss the Ball into the Bucket” game.  I’ve made more shots in this game than I ever would have at a real fair.

Take THAT, ducks!

3) Shooting Gallery

In the Shooting Gallery you hit the targets on a variety of cut-outs of animals: ducks, bears, birds, and rabbits that are on top of snowy mountain tops.  The best part is, you don’t have to stop and shoot because the gun is like a machine gun, but slower.

4) Milk Bottle Drop

In Milk Bottle Drop, you throw a ball and try to knock the milk bottles over.  I was horrible at this little game, and managed to knock two down over the course of three full games of this.  My game also crashed once after I threw the ball.  Perhaps it was a sign? It’s still better than paying to play at a carnival, though!

This is the STRONG MAN.  You don't need eyes to hit the bell!

I couldn’t help but notice that there are a few things that would have made the game even more awesome.  There’s no leaderboard, so you can’t submit you score, but you can post it to their Facebook discussion board. The leaderboards are planned for the near future, according to James Morgan, Producer of Carnival of Games.  It’s nice to see a company that’s really interested in community input and goes back to work on older games, rather than letting them collect dust.

 Also, and this is a personal thing, I would love to earn tickets or earn prizes when playing the game.  Maybe it’s just me because I never won a prize at the carnival, you know?  Well, not the large prizes, at least. 

There are two games I was hoping to see, too:  the Balloon Dart Throw and the Water Gun race.  I think they would make great additions to the game, but four is a lot as it is!

Overall, I really loved playing the game, and I’ll play it again!  I’ll try Milk Bottle Drop, but I completely fail at that one.  The game is free on iOS and Android, so if you haven’t picked It up, you should definitely do it RIGHT NOW!

You can find Sky Parlor Studios on Facebook, Twitter, and at their website.