Pinhead

A circus balloon game. Move the trampoline left and right and press the button to launch Pinhead, a little pin-headed acrobat, into the air. Keep him bouncing: where he lands on the trampoline sets how high he flies, with the middle sending him highest, and which way he drifts. Balloons of many colours and sizes float across the tent from either side; pop them with Pinhead. A pop scores more for faster and smaller balloons and turns Pinhead round. Balloons come faster as the score grows. Missing the trampoline drops him to the floor for a dizzy pause and costs a life. Lives start at 4, an extra one comes every 2000 points, and the game ends after the last miss.

Controls: Use controller 1 or 2. The stick moves the trampoline and a button launches Pinhead; holding the button makes the trampoline move faster. On the title, up and down choose and a button selects.

ColecoVision version credited in the source to Claude (an AI made by Anthropic) for Amy Studio, in Amy, the language by Amy Bienvenu, 2026: a reimagined adaptation of the published rules. From COMPUTE!'s Gazette, February 1990: original Commodore 64 program (no author named in the issue). This is a modern homebrew adaptation, not a commercial Coleco release.