CarnEvil is a 1998 light gun shooter arcade game released by Midway Games. It is often noted for its heavy use of graphic violence and dark humor. It is Midway Games' most successful light gun shooter. Gameplay CarnEvil plays similarly to Sega's House of the Dead series. It consists of four levels, each ending with a boss fight. The first three levels (Haunted House, Rickety Town, Freak Show) can be played in any order, but the fourth (Big Top) can only be accessed after all three are cleared. The players shoot enemies while progressing through carnival and amusement park environments. The gameplay is considerably violent and features various gory scenes. The controller is a pump-action shotgun attached to the cabinet by a cable; to reload, players must either pump the fore-end or fire off-screen. Occasionally, a girl named Betty will appear as an innocent civilian. Shooting her gives a life penalty, but does not garner any long-term consequences or changes to the game. Health and weapon power-ups can be found throughout the game. Weapon power-ups include a machine gun, shotgun, flamethrower, acid bath gun, and an increase in the magazine capacity for the standard gun. They can be obtained by shooting floating icons, such as a shotgun shell or a barrel of acid. The special weapons cannot be reloaded, but the magazine increase remains in effect until the player's health meter is exhausted. Grabbing these power-ups also provides bonus points. Plot The game is set in the fictional town of Greely Valley, Iowa. An urban legend claims that if a golden token is inserted into the jester skull's mouth on top of the gravestone of a ringmaster named Professor Ludwig von Tökkentäkker, his haunted carnival will rise from the earth. The game begins with a group of teenagers taking a hayride tour through the Greely Valley cemetery, courtesy of the local "ghost expert" Spooky Sam. The unnamed protagonist leaves the tour and approaches Tökkentäkker's tombstone to find a golden coin sitting in its slot. The protagonist inserts the coin into the jester's mouth, resulting in the haunted amusement park rising from the ground. Trapped within, he takes a shotgun from the shooting gallery and uses it to fight off hordes of zombies and other undead monsters in order to escape. After fighting through the Haunted House, Rickety Town, and the Freak Show, he enters the Big Top and fights his