The Manhole

The Manhole is a 1988 computer game by Rand and Robyn Miller of Cyan Inc., better known as the creators of Myst. It presents a whimsical universe for children to explore at their own leisure, with the exploration as its own reward. The authors had started with plans for an interactive but linear storybook, but found that building a storybook universe was much more fun.

In 1989, it earned the distinction of being the first game ever published as a CD-ROM. In the 1990s, the original Macintosh Hyper Card version started receiving ports to other platforms, including MS-DOS, Windows and, most recently, the iPhone.

The Manhole was followed by a Spiritual Successor IN SPACE, Cosmic Osmo.

Tropes used in The Manhole include:

• Chess Motifs — The flamingo's domain.
• Edutainment Game — Very mild educational elements, such as a book of the alphabet and a few sentences written in both French and English.
• Everythings Better With Bunnies
• Everything's Better with Penguins
• Genre Popularizer — The dawn of the Pop Up Video Game.
• Macro Zone — And Macro Zones within Macro Zones. You can sail a tiny boat around the teacup of a rabbit who lives inside a fire hydrant.
• Our Dragons Are Different — This dragon is a laid-back cool dude in shades.
• Portal Picture
• Shout-Out — The whooshes of a passing spaceship form the five-note motif from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
  • In the CD-ROM version, clicking on the TV in the house plays you a trailer for Myst.
• Take That — On a shelf of children's books with pop-up descriptions of what they're about is a textbook called Metaphors of Intercultural Philosophy.

This book isn't about anything.

• Turtle Power
• Updated Rerelease — The "New and Enhanced" edition, the "Masterpiece" edition...
• Warp Whistle — Mr. Dragon's TV set.
• Wide Open Sandbox
• World of Chaos