Balthazar Beauregard's Big Top Bonanza

Balthazar Beauregard'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. To enter the circus, players have to get a Circus ticket from a Ticket vendor. To exit, they just have to tear the ticket, teleport, 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 (four if completed The Firemaker's Curse/Some Like It Cold and five if completed both quests) 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 Beauregard 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. Up to 106,327.5xp can be earned weekly, for players with 99 Magic, Agility, Ranged, Firemaking, and Thieving.

The activity has five parts, giving XP in Magic, Ranged, Agility, Firemaking (after Firemaker's Curse), and Thieving (after Some Like It Cold). The whole activity can only be completed once per week, similar to the Tears of Guthix activity. There are 10 possible actions in Magic, Ranged and Agility while Firemaking has 12 possible actions (2 activities with 6 actions each) and Thieving has 5 possible actions; 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 begins 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 any unplayed performance.

Location
See Distractions and Diversions Locations/Balthazar Beauregard's Big Top Bonanza for all possible locations.

The Big Top Bonanza circus can be found in one of twelve cities, and this changes every week. Every Wednesday at 0:00 GMT, 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. An alternative option to find it is to check the Minigames tab in the adventures interface, go to The Circus, and use the Teleport to Lodestone option.

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, players simply begin performing the actions.

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 and XP earned from that particular activity. 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. The level numbers are not requirements, only suggestions, however if you do not have the specified level then you can only 'barely' succeed at the action, which will score you a lower amount and reward less experience. 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.

Your circus performance score will be shown in the top left corner of your interface, along with the XP earned and the latest audience requests. Both score and XP increase as actions are performed. The factors that influence the circus performance score are not clear, and there are many theories on 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 wear, performing emotes between tricks, not repeating the same trick several times in succession, and following the audience requests. It has been rumoured that wearing the tasks items may improve your score (e.g. Wearing an explorers ring while the circus is in Lumbridge). This has not yet been confirmed.

The XP scored is not continuously variable - you can score only full points for success, according to the tables below. You score zero XP for failing. However, when you successfully perform a trick above your level, you "barely succeed" rather than succeed. The experience earned for barely succeeding the trick is that associated with 40 levels below your current level (including boosts). For example, someone with level 76 Agility doing a backflip gets 805.5 experience. Stat-boosting potions do not affect whether you succeed or barely succeed.

Unlike the circus score, you only score XP once for each level.

Magic performance: Spell Casting
The Magic assistant fairy will give a quick guide on what players should do for the Magic performance. Players may begin performing by simply choosing any magical action. 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 alchemise (difficulty 60 to 99).



Levitation
Assuming that a player succeeds in all five actions, they would gain 9,423 Magic experience.

Elemental
Assuming that a player succeeds in all five actions, they would gain 9,423 Magic experience.

Alchemy/Teleport
Assuming that a player succeeds in all five actions, they would gain 15,583 Magic experience.

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, players can fire at the targets. Upon choosing the first shooting spot, the player must choose which ranged equipment to use. This equipment will be used for all shooting spots during the performance.

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 Target XP


Assuming that a player succeeds in all ten actions, they would gain 17,710.5 Ranged experience.

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 shows all the tightrope tricks that can be performed. This book can be discarded.

Players may either perform tightrope tricks (such as "Backflips", "Handstand", etc.) or juggle various objects.

Acrobat Emotes
These are the tricks players may perform:


 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

!Image !Name !Level !Experience Assuming that a player succeeds in all ten actions, they would gain 13,750 Agility experience.
 * [[File:Small hop emote icon.png]]
 * Small hop
 * 10
 * 350
 * [[File:One-leg balance emote icon.png]]
 * One-leg balance
 * 20
 * 578
 * [[File:Twirl emote icon.png]]
 * Twirl
 * 30
 * 805.5
 * [[File:Handstand emote icon.png]]
 * Handstand
 * 40
 * 1,033.5
 * [[File:Cartwheel emote icon.png]]
 * Cartwheel
 * 50
 * 1,261
 * [[File:Small leap emote icon.png]]
 * Small leap
 * 60
 * 1,489
 * [[File:No-hand cartwheel emote icon.png]]
 * No-hand cartwheel
 * 70
 * 1,716.5
 * [[File:Forward roll emote icon.png]]
 * Forward roll
 * 80
 * 1,944
 * [[File:Large leap emote icon.png]]
 * Large leap
 * 90
 * 2,172
 * [[File:Backflip emote icon.png]]
 * Backflip
 * 99
 * 2,400
 * [[File:Juggle emote icon.png]]
 * Juggle
 * Varies
 * See next section
 * }
 * [[File:Backflip emote icon.png]]
 * Backflip
 * 99
 * 2,400
 * [[File:Juggle emote icon.png]]
 * Juggle
 * Varies
 * See next section
 * }
 * See next section
 * }

Juggling equipment


If players want to juggle they must choose the juggling option from the tightrope emote interface and then select an object:


 * {|class="wikitable"

!Image !Type !Level !Exp
 * [[File:Balls (level 10 approx.).png]]
 * Balls
 * 10
 * 350
 * [[File:Plates (level 20 approx.).png]]
 * Plates
 * 20
 * 578
 * [[File:Eggs (level 30 approx.).png]]
 * Eggs
 * 30
 * 805.5
 * [[File:Knives (level 40 approx.).png]]
 * Knives
 * 40
 * 1,033.5
 * [[File:Spades (level 50 approx.).png]]
 * Spades
 * 50
 * 1,261
 * [[File:Tuna (level 60 approx.).png]]
 * Tuna
 * 60
 * 1,489
 * [[File:Soap (level 70 approx.).png]]
 * Soap
 * 70
 * 1,716.5
 * [[File:Cannon balls (level 80 approx.).png]]
 * Cannon balls
 * 80
 * 1,354?
 * [[File:Torches (level 90 approx.).png]]
 * Torches
 * 90
 * 1,354?
 * [[File:Chinchompas (level 99 approx.).png]]
 * Chinchompas
 * 99
 * 2,400
 * }
 * [[File:Torches (level 90 approx.).png]]
 * Torches
 * 90
 * 1,354?
 * [[File:Chinchompas (level 99 approx.).png]]
 * Chinchompas
 * 99
 * 2,400
 * }
 * }

Assuming that a player succeeds in all ten actions, they would gain 10,204 Agility experience.

Firemaking peformance: Fire-breathing
This event is unlocked after The Firemaker's Curse quest. Sera will give a quick explanation if the player needs help.

To begin the performance, players must stand on the star near Sera and the firemaker's emblem where they will be prompted to start. Leaving the star before finishing the performance will prompt the player to end the performance early.

Players must breathe fire by choosing a coloured solution and using it to breathe a fire of that colour. There are six different colours available and the player may breathe 6 fires in their performance. Assuming that a player succeeds in all six actions, they would gain 19,230 Firemaking experience.

Firemaking peformance: Flaming poi
This event is unlocked after The Firemaker's Curse quest. Emmett will give a quick explanation if the player needs help.

To begin the performance, players must stand on the star near Emmett and the firemaker's emblem where they will be prompted to start. Upon doing so, options for six poi moves will be displayed. If successful, an emote will display showing that poi move. Leaving the star before finishing the performance will prompt the player to end the performance early.

Players may perform 6 poi moves before the performance is ended.

Assuming that a player succeeds in all six actions, they would gain 19,230 Firemaking experience.

Thieving Performance: Magic Tricks
This event is unlocked after the quest Some Like It Cold. To begin the performance, players must stand on the star near Teddy where they will be prompted to start.

The player will have 5 tries to do 5 tricks:

Assuming that a player succeeds in all five actions, they would gain 14,260 Thieving experience.

Rewards
The Big Top can be used to earn substantial experience in a short amount of time and with little effort. Players maxed in each of the skills used can earn about 100,000 experience within ten minutes if no tricks are failed. Mid-level players can expect approximately 30,000-60,000 experience. Successful individual actions can be worth over 3,000 XP each. Players that complete Firemaker's Curse can earn free weekly firemaking experience here also.

In addition to experience received performing each trick, at the end of each performance, Balthazar Beauregard will give the player a score on how good their performance was 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 Ringmaster costume. The score earned is different from the experience earned, and it is possible to earn a high score and low experience and vice-versa.

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

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

Treasure Hunter
A different distraction and diversion is chosen each week to give the player a Key token for simply participating. Once every 4 weeks, the player may gain a key token from participating in one of the events in the Circus. Key tokens can only be received when the Circus is the designated D&D of the week.

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

! Costume ! Items ! Score
 * Audience
 * [[File:Hat (male) (brown).png]] [[File:Hat (male) (red).png]] [[File:Hat (male) (yellow).png]] [[File:Shirt (male) (brown).png]] [[File:Shirt (male) (red).png]] [[File:Shirt (male) (yellow).png]] [[File:Leggings (male) (brown).png]] [[File:Leggings (male) (red).png]] [[File:Leggings (male) (yellow).png]][[File:Shoes (male) (brown).png]] [[File:Shoes (male) (red).png]] [[File:Hat (female) (green).png]] [[File:Hat (female) (maroon).png]] [[File:Hat (female) (yellow).png]] [[File:Shirt (female) (green).png]] [[File:Shirt (female) (maroon).png]] [[File:Shirt (female) (yellow).png]] [[File:Skirt (audience) (green).png]] [[File:Skirt (audience) (maroon).png]] [[File:Skirt (audience) (yellow).png]] [[File:Shoes (female).png]] [[File:Shoes (female) (strap).png]] [[File:Giant's hand.png]]
 * 1-500
 * Acrobat
 * [[File:Acrobat hood (male).png]] [[File:Acrobat shirt (male).png]] [[File:Acrobat pants (male).png]] [[File:Acrobat shoes (male).png]] [[File:Acrobat hood (female).png]] [[File:Acrobat shirt (female).png]] [[File:Acrobat pants (female).png]] [[File:Acrobat shoes (female).png]]
 * 501-1,000
 * Firemaker (After The Firemaker's Curse)
 * [[File:Firemaker's tabard.png]] [[File:Firemaker's trousers.png]] [[File:Firemaker's skirt.png]]
 * 501-1,000
 * Clown
 * [[File:Clown hat.png]][[File:Clown shirt.png]][[File:Clown leggings.png]][[File:Clown shoes.png]][[File:Tambourine.png]]
 * 1,001-1,200
 * Ringmaster
 * [[File:Ringmaster hat.png]] [[File:Ringmaster shirt.png]] [[File:Ringmaster pants.png]] [[File:Ringmaster boots.png]] [[File:Mega-phonus.png]]
 * 1,201+
 * }
 * Ringmaster
 * [[File:Ringmaster hat.png]] [[File:Ringmaster shirt.png]] [[File:Ringmaster pants.png]] [[File:Ringmaster boots.png]] [[File:Mega-phonus.png]]
 * 1,201+
 * }
 * }

If you need to save bank space, costumes can be destroyed immediately after being earned - when destroyed, the circus costumes can be retrieved from Balthazar at any time. In effect, the costume(s) can be stored in the circus. When won, costume items are also added as cosmetic overrides.

Players may be surprised that you cannot choose your reward - high-level players often get a good score but want a lesser award. To get a lesser award simply end the performance after fewer than 10 activities. A single level 99 trick seems to earn about 150 points.

Players can perform in each of the 5 areas once a week, and therefore it is possible to earn 5 pieces of costume each week.

Collecting all of these costumes is a requirement to trim the Completionist cape.

Maximising Experience
Each unique trick during the performance (not including emotes), rewards the player with experience (XP). A total of 106,327.5XP (17,710.5 Ranged, 25,006 Magic, 10,531 Agility and 38,460 Firemaking and over 14,620 Thieving.) may be gained from the performances if all tricks are unique and successful.

Repeating any trick will not result in more XP so you need to work through different tricks. This is different from the way Circus score is earned, where players can repeatedly perform the same high-level trick 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.

Furthermore, XP is only awarded for a trick once for each skill level (i.e. level 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 99). Each skill has two or more tricks that are all considered to be the same skill level. Since players maximising their XP do not need to worry about being judged "boring", it is simpler and quicker to choose only one set of equivalent tricks.


 * Magic - Teleport spells and Alchemy spells offer the same skill levels. Both are on the same targets so choose one or other spell and use the single spot (though Teleport spells are recommended because they are slightly faster). Elemental spells and Levitation spells are each performed on different targets, but their skill levels are the same. Choose one type of spell and take to matching spot (though Elemental spells are recommended because they are considerably faster).
 * Ranged - Both targets offer all ten skill level spots, however since only five tricks can be performed at each target, do level 10 to 50 at one, and 60 to 99 at the other - it does not matter which way round. Arrows have the highest ranged bonus so it's recommended to use these.
 * Agility - Juggling tricks have the same levels and give the same XP as tightrope tricks.

If you fail a trick, you can repeat it until you succeed or barely succeed. Pay attention to your performance on the Tightrope, since there will not be a message if you fail (you will slip on the rope and get up again). "Barely succeed" counts as activity level completed, and you must move on to a different level.

It is still possible to fail tricks at skill level 99. Equally, even a low-level player has a chance of succeeding with the "level 99" trick. Players typically follow three possible strategies: "bottom up" - starting at level 10 and going up in order, repeating failed tricks until they succeed, "top down" - starting at level 99 and again repeating failed tricks going down in order, and "straight through" - performing one attempt at each level and then moving on the next regardless of success or failure. Low level players often use bottom up, because this maximises the number of successful tricks in the ten attempts. Any player level 65 to 70 and above are recommended to follow top down, since this means the one or two tricks they do not score will always be the lowest value ones.

When performing top-down on the magic performance, stay in the higher-level (alchemy/teleportation) area until you have successes at all five skill levels. For ranging, you must move to the other area after five attempts, successful or not, but it does not matter since in ranging both spots are equivalent (they cover the entire range of skill levels).

Also see the "Stat-Boosting Items" section below for information on possible armour-wearing effects.

Performing tricks above your level
When performing tricks above your level, you only get the xp for an act at half that level rounded down (e.g. at level 80, the level 90 and 99 tricks only reward the same as a level 40 trick), so it is best to start at the highest skill you can perform at full xp, and work down to the tricks at the level of your half-level tricks, and then perform the tricks above your level working up, before finishing off with the remaining tricks working down to 10. (eg at level 80, the best xp you get is for tricks 80 down to 40, then 90 and 99 - which give the same xp as 40, then 30 down to 10). Repeat any trick you fail at until you succeed, ensuring that you get the highest xp available. The chance of failing a trick above your level isn't that bad, making it generally worth it to keep trying until you succeed before moving onto the very low level tricks.

Maximising Circus points
Note: The algorithm Jagex uses to calculate the Circus score is much less understood than the XP score. Therefore, there are many alternate theories how to maximise the Circus score and hence obtain a piece of high score costume.

When asked, Balthazar will give the following advice to improve your performance:
 * Listen to the audience and give them what they want.
 * Avoid repetition.
 * Perform the more difficult tricks.
 * Perform emotes between tricks - don't repeat the same ones.
 * Wear crazy costumes.
 * Vary your performance according to the location of the Circus and hence the audience.

Perform Difficult Tricks
To maximise your points, you should perform the level 99 trick 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). To avoid repetition, perform different emotes between tricks.

Give the Audience What they Want
This is usually inconsistent with always performing the highest level trick. Opinions vary, but most successful Circus players seem to recommend ignoring the audience and staying with the highest-level trick. The latest audience request will appear in the top left corner of your interface.

Avoid Repetition
To avoid repetition but at the same time do only level 99 tricks, alternate between equivalent level tricks (e.g.. between Alchemy and Teleport of the Anvil). Perform an emote before each trick.

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 vague at best, and there is no way to tell exactly what qualifies as a costume. It is widely accepted that wearing circus reward costumes grant you the audience appreciation - higher the costume the better. Presumably, Random Event and mini-game costumes also have an effect. There is a commonly-held theory that only complete outfits work.

An interesting thing to note, however, is that wearing circus clothing appears to increase scores by a set quantity. For example, completing all 10 level 99 challenges with an emote in between (and at the start), while wearing 4 pieces of clothing, scores 1480. Wearing 5, however, results in 1530. This seems to suggest a piece of clothing provides 5 bonus points for every emote completed. It could also suggest that each piece of clothing gives 50 points.

Circus 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. If the circus is in Seers' Village the people in the crowd are all seers, and if the circus is north of the Wizard's tower, most people in the crowd are wearing robes. When the circus is in the Tree Gnome Stronghold, the audience will consist of gnomes. In other locations the audience differences are not so clear. What this implies is unclear.

Emotes
Performing each emote provides 3 points. Wearing costumes does not seem to affect the points received from emotes.

Up to ten emotes will increase your score. They can all be performed in a row; it is not necessary to alternate between regular actions and emotes. After performing the maximum amount of emotes players will receive the message, "You've done the maximum number of emotes for this performance. They no longer count for points."

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.

Obtaining the Ringmaster Costume
With all this information in mind, the easiest (not necessarily the quickest) way to obtain the Ringmaster costume is to alternate between the highest possible actions that can be performed while doing an emote in between each action. For example: In the magic act, the player would alternate between alchlemising the anvil (the level 99 object) and teleporting it, doing an emote in between each action. If this method is followed, it is possible to obtain a piece of the Ringmaster costume while failing one action. Note that using this method may take multiple tries, due to the fact that even with level 99 the player is not 100% guaranteed to succeed in every action attempted. Another effective method of obtaining the Ringmaster costume is to repeatedly juggle Chinchompas (level 99 recommended). By doing this, the chance of acquiring the Ringmaster costume is high if the player does not fail during the performance.

Personalities

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

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.
 * 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".
 * If a player has done all but the ranged act the RuneScape toolbar will say in the D&D section, "You can now give a gnome a close shave at the ranged circus event."
 * After the elemental spells got a graphical update, the one performed in the circus was not updated until later. Now with the Evolution of Combat, the elemental spells got updated the way they are cast, but the one in the circus is still not updated.
 * On 2 April 2012, the Squeal of Fortune gained an update allowing players to receive spin tickets from participating in one of the events in the Circus. Spin tickets could only be obtained when the Circus was the designated D&D for the week. The Squeal of Fortune has since been reskinned as Treasure Hunter, and key tokens are now received in the same way.

Balthazar Beauregard's Big Top Bonanza