Maniac Mansion

Maniac Mansion is a 1987 graphic adventure game developed and published by Lucasfilm Games. It follows teenager Dave Miller as he tries to rescue his girlfriend from a mad scientist whose mind has been enslaved by a sentient meteor. Using a point-and-click interface, you guide Dave and two of his six playable friends through the scientist’s mansion, solving puzzles and avoiding dangers. Gameplay is nonlinear, and you can complete the game in different ways depending on which characters you choose. Originally released for the Commodore 64 and Apple II, Maniac Mansion was Lucasfilm Games’ first self-published product.

Maniac Mansion is set inside the mansion of the fictional Edison family: Dr. Fred, a mad scientist; Nurse Edna, his wife; and their son, Weird Ed. Two large disembodied tentacles also live in the house—one purple and one green. In the opening, a sentient meteor crashes near the mansion twenty years earlier, brainwashes the Edisons, and directs Dr. Fred to acquire human brains for experiments. The story begins as Dave Miller heads into the mansion to rescue his girlfriend, Sandy Pantz, who has been kidnapped by Dr. Fred. Most of the mansion’s inhabitants are hostile (the green tentacle is the exception) and will throw playable characters into the dungeon—or in some situations kill them—if they are spotted. When a character dies, the player must choose a replacement from the characters not originally selected, and the game ends if everyone is killed. Maniac Mansion features five possible endings, determined by which characters you choose, who survives, and what they manage to accomplish.