1930’s “Big Top” Pinball Game By Spears England
This “Big Top” is a marble game with a hardboard base plate in which 14 round marble pots are placed with scores increasing from 500 to 10,000. Under the two clown heads on the left and right we find two more marble pots for a maximum of 3 marbles and with increasing scores. Under each pot we see a nail and here and there on the playing field there are also nails to manipulate the track of the marbles. A small number of these nails are missing, but otherwise the game seems complete.
What makes this game special are the 2 movable clown heads that can alternately open and close the access to the elongated marble pots when touched with a marble. In the middle at the bottom we see a clown with a hat in his right hand. If a marble lands in this hat, it may be shot again ( “release out balls” ), but now with the shooting mechanism that is located under the clown.