Escape from the Carnival of Horrors

Escape from the Carnival of Horrors is the first book in the Give Yourself Goosebumps gamebook series, and is the first book in the Carnival of Horrors saga. It was published in 1995, and was later followed-up by the twenty-second book, Return to the Carnival of Horrors.

The cover illustration features a purple alligator breaking out of its cage.

Blurb
TAKE A RIDE IF YOU DARE...

Late one night you and your friends visit the old fairgrounds. They're putting up rides and booths for the annual carnival. But this year things look really different. Really odd. Really scary.

The place is lit up by a hundred fiery torches. And spooky music is coming from the main tent. Then you meet Big Al, the creepy carnival manager. He's invited you in to test some of the rides.

Will you brave the terrifying Supersonic Space Coaster? Risk the horrors of the Reptile Petting Zoo? Slice through the oily waters of Booger Bog? Or confront the evil Snake Lady? The choice is your in this scary GOOSEBUMPS adventure that's packed with over 20 super spooky endings.

Plot
You sneak into the closed annual carnival with your friends, Patty and Brad. But then you need to escape, because the carnival is evil. It is owned by a man who traps you and your friends inside the carnival. He forces you all to "test" out the rides, before the carnival opens and traps the entire city's population inside. The reader can decide to fight the monster of Booger Bog, face the psychotic carnival freak, the evil Snake Lady, brave the Supersonic Space Coaster, risk the attack of every reptile in the Petting Zoo, become slaves to Slappy or Mr. Wood, or ride the Doom Slide.

Story A
You decide to try out the carnival's rides. Having been separated from Patty and Brad (which happens no matter what choice you make), you then have to find them and escape the carnival.

Story B
You visit the sideshows, and are told that you have to play carnival games. But if you lose, you'll pay with your life...

Side story C
From Story B, you get involved with the freak show, whose inhabitants are being held prisoner by an evil fortune-teller. You try to save the freaks as well as finding a way for you and your friends to escape.

List of endings
There are twenty-two bad endings, one ambiguous ending, and two good endings.

Trivia

 * This is the only book in the Give Yourself Goosebumps series to receive a direct sequel.
 * There is an ending that involves the reader stuck between turning to two pages, unable to get out of the Hall of Mirrors. This is the only time Give Yourself Goosebumps had an ending like this.
 * One choice tests your reflexes by asking whether you can throw a ball into the air and clap three times before catching it. Oddly, you are punished if you can do this, even though you would need good reflexes to escape the situation you're in.
 * The cover was not illustrated by Mark Nagata, who illustrated many of the Give Yourself Goosebumps books covers. It was actually illustrated by Tim Jacobus, the artist who illustrated Goosebumps and Goosebumps Series 2000. His signature is obscured on the front cover illustration by a sticker that says CHOOSE FROM OVER 20 DIFFERENT SCARY ENDINGS! However, it is visible on the back, on a brick to the lower right hand side of the alligator.
 * This book references multiple pieces of popular culture:
 * This book quizzes readers on their knowledge of the main Goosebumps series. (Many later books in this series would do the same.) Night of the Living Dummy, One Day at HorrorLand, and Monster Blood are referenced in this book, with Slappy the Dummy, the Doom Slide, and Monster Blood appearing in some storylines.
 * This book references the 1971 movie adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
 * One of the rides is called the Hall of the Mountain King, a reference to "In the Hall of the Mountain King".
 * While this book has two good endings, Return to the Carnival of Horrors assumes that only one of them (riding the little kid's choo-choo train and the carnival becoming normal again) happened. This presumes that you followed the "rides" storyline, since the other good ending comes from successfully completing the "sideshows" storyline. However, Return to the Carnival of Horrors also states that "you" encountered certain things in the sideshows storyline as well, which would be impossible from this book.

References in other Goosebumps media

 * The Snake Lady also appears as a background monster in the Goosebumps film.
 * The main event questline in Goosebumps HorrorTown's HorrorLand Carnival event is called "The Carnival of Horrors", likely a reference to this book.