Fair rules

Every fair but the Sunny Fairground has ONE strong rule that changes how you play the whole show.

The Sunny Fairground is pure BONK: no extra rule. Each other fair adds its own twist, shown on the show select and in the HUD: fog that hides the far rows, a second hammer, a hammer that grows, a machine that only moves when you do... The rule lasts the whole show, from the first row to the boss (some lift during the boss fight).

The rules below are read from the game data. The old rules of each fair (haunted holes, shift rows, scrap gates, tempo bands) are no longer used in the campaign; Endless and the Boss Marathon still rotate them.

All fair rules

Fair	Rule	Status
SUNNY FAIRGROUND	PURE BONK: No extra rules. Just the hammer, the moles and the crowd.	In the game
HAUNTED FAIR	FOG AND LANTERNS: Fog hides the far rows. Every special you pop lights a lantern: its column stays clear for 5 rows.	In the game
CLOCKWORK CIRCUS	STEP BY STEP: The machine only moves when you do. An hourglass drains the Audience while you think.	In the game
SCRAP YARD CARNIVAL	THE HAMMER THAT BUILDS ITSELF: Every special you pop bolts a scrap piece onto the hammer: it strikes wider. Escapes knock pieces off.	In the game
NEON ARCADE	TWO HAMMERS: Two hammers on one board. Both strike at once and share one chain.	In the game
ROYAL GRAND FAIR	DOUBLE MACHINE: Two machines side by side. Your hammer jumps between them.	In the game

FOG AND LANTERNS

Only the 3 rows nearest the strike line are clear. Every farther row is under a violet fog: the holes show faintly, the moles do not. The strike line and your hammer are never hidden, and the hammer preview is drawn over the fog.

Every special mole you pop, in any way, lights a LANTERN over its column: that column stays clear for 5 row advances (the lantern at the top of the board burns down 5 pips). The fog lifts during the boss fight.

Tip: pop specials to light the lanes ahead of you; a lit column lets you plan two moves early. Read the clear rows first and keep the hammer near the middle.

STEP BY STEP

The machine never scrolls on its own: it slides one row each time you move the hammer or press WAIT (S / Down arrow, pad A). Several quick taps count as ONE move: the row slides when your hand stops. Chains still play out in real time; a move made during a chain waits for it to end.

While you think, the game clock is frozen, but an HOURGLASS next to the Audience meter drains it: after a short grace, 1 Audience every 1.5 s. Every move or WAIT flips the hourglass and a chain of 5+ refills it. Game speed stays at x1 in this fair.

Tip: do not stall. Decide, move, and WAIT through rows that hold nothing for you.

THE HAMMER THAT BUILDS ITSELF

Every special mole you pop, in any way, bolts a scrap piece onto the hammer (up to 6). With 3 to 5 pieces the strike also hits the column to the RIGHT of the hammer (the left one at the right wall); with 6 it hits both neighbours. Every escape that costs Audience knocks one piece off.

The extra columns are hammer-module BONKs: only the hammer's own column is the automatic strike. The strike preview marks every covered column and a 6-pip gauge on the handle counts the pieces.

Tip: specials are worth more than ever here; protect the gauge by not letting moles escape, and a wide hammer clears rows on its own.

TWO HAMMERS

Two hammers on the same board: the gold one moves with A / D (D-pad, left stick), the cyan one with the arrow keys (right stick). When a row reaches the line both strike their column at once, and everything they start counts as ONE chain.

Both hammers on the same column make one double BONK that pays x1.5. Hammer modules fire for both strikes, but the cyan hammer's module BONKs pay 60 %. Prizes that react to the strike (Mirror Image, Overdrive...) follow the gold hammer only.

Tip: split the board: one hammer on the special, the other on the busiest lane.

DOUBLE MACHINE

In development (from the design roster; details may change): two machines side by side, both scrolling at once, each with its own rows and moles, while the Audience, Momentum and your build are shared.

One hammer, in one machine at a time: a swap button jumps it to the other machine (same column). The machine you leave keeps scrolling and its moles still escape. Chains that cross from one machine into the other pay x3.