The Manhole

The Manhole is a computer adventure game intended for children in which the player opens a manhole and reveals a gigantic beanstalk, leading to fantastic worlds.

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The game was first released on floppy discs in 1988 by Cyan, Inc. (now Cyan Worlds) and distributed through mail order. In 1989, it was produced for Activision as CD-ROM version based on that floppy disc game. This version is notable for being the first computer game distributed on CD-ROM. It runs in black-and-white on the Apple Macintosh line of computers. The PC version came out after the original Macintosh version by almost two years, but it sports better graphics and smoother animations. It was created using the HyperTalk programming language by brothers Rand and Robyn Miller, who founded the company Cyan and would go on to produce the best-selling adventure game Myst. It's teeming with lively cartoon characters that kids will like, as well as many educational tidbits disguised as mini-games to be discovered. In many ways, the qualities that make The Manhole a unique and outstanding edutainment title are the same that later made Myst a best-seller: the freedom to explore the rich, well-realized gameworld at your own pace, and one-click-does-all interface. As a kid's game, The Manhole is even better at utilizing the concept. The game opens with an simple-looking manhole cover; clicking on it leads to one of the game's many exploration choices that make it replayable many times: should I do up or down? Each location, many of which the player will miss on his or her first time, is jam-packed with objects to play with, friendly cartoon characters, and fun animations. Broderbund also released the updated "CD-ROM Masterpiece" edition of this game in 1994, obviously to cash in on Cyan's success.