Maniac Mansion

Twenty years ago today... a slimy purple meteor crashed into the front lawn of the Edison mansion, and a revolutionary Point-and-Click Adventure was released by Lucasfilm Games.

Running on some nonsense called the "SCUMM Engine," Maniac Mansion told the B-movie send-up story of a trio of college teenagers who break into a rundown, secluded Victorian mansion in the middle of the night to rescue Sandy Pantz, the school's star cheerleader and Dave Miller's (the leader of the impromptu rescue mission) girlfriend. Sandy has been kidnapped by local mad scientist Dr. Fred Edison, and, despite a sign on the decrepit iron fence that warns of assured mutilation to all trespassers and a welcome mat that reads, "Go away!" Dave and his differently talented friends head into the mansion to retrieve the scantily-clad blonde before she can lose her brain to the good doctor's "Zom-B-matic" machine.¹