Maniac Mansion (1987)
Maniac Mansion is a 1987 point-and-click video game made by Lucasfilm Games.
A meteor crashed near the Edison mansion years ago, and Dr. Fred has not been right since. Now teenager Dave Miller's girlfriend is missing inside, and Dave picks two of his friends to help break in and get her out. Each friend brings different skills, so the sprawling house opens up differently depending on who you bring, and there are several routes through it. You point and click to poke through rooms full of traps, tentacles, and B-movie gags. An early graphic adventure that helped define the genre, played for laughs and low-budget horror dread in equal measure.
Quick answers
What is Maniac Mansion about?
A meteor crashed near the Edison mansion years ago, and Dr. Fred has not been right since. Now teenager Dave Miller's girlfriend is missing inside, and Dave picks two of his friends to help break in and get her out. Each friend brings different skills, so the sprawling house opens up differently depending on who you bring, and there are several routes through it. You point and click to poke through rooms full of traps, tentacles, and B-movie gags. An early graphic adventure that helped define the genre, played for laughs and low-budget horror dread in equal measure.
When was Maniac Mansion released?
Maniac Mansion was released on 1 October 1987.
Who made Maniac Mansion?
Maniac Mansion was made by Lucasfilm Games.
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A few thoughts on Maniac Mansion
The game later became a live-action TV comedy: Maniac Mansion takes the mansion's oddball family and plays it as a sitcom. It is a very different tone, but the same haunted-house-of-eccentrics premise if you want to see where these characters went.
Adventures where your choices open new paths
Maniac Mansion lets you pick which kids to bring, and the house changes with them. For more games that branch on your decisions and reward a second run, these build multiple routes and endings into their DNA, from a monster-filled RPG that remembers everything to stealth and choice-heavy stories.
Atmospheric games to get lost in
Poking through the Edison mansion is all about mood, traps, and B-movie dread. For that same pull of atmosphere over action, these are quieter, stranger journeys where the world does the talking, each built to unsettle and enchant you long after the credits roll.
Landmark games that shaped the medium
An early graphic adventure, Maniac Mansion sits alongside the games a whole hobby grew up on. If you like tracing those roots, these are the touchstones, the Nintendo adventures and enduring greats that defined what came after and still play beautifully today.