The Manhole

The Manhole is an adventure video game in which the player opens a manhole and reveals a gigantic beanstalk, leading to fantastic worlds.
Summary.
The game was first released on floppy disks in 1988 by Cyan, Inc. (now "Cyan Worlds") and distributed through mail order. In 1989, it was produced for Activision as a CD-ROM version based on the floppy disk game. This version was the first computer game distributed on CD-ROM (although there had already been two games released in late 1988 in Japan for NEC's PC Engine game console on its CD-ROM² format). It runs in black-and-white on the Apple Macintosh line of computers. 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". The Manhole was later also released for the PC Engine and FM Towns.
The game was re-released for MS-DOS twice, once in 1992 by Activision as "The Manhole: New and Enhanced" (including a Windows 3.1 version) and again in 1995 as "The Manhole: CD-ROM Masterpiece Edition" by Broderbund which featured the use of color, music, voice, sound effects, and some new characters. Cyan artist Chuck Carter designed all of the color graphics in about 3 months using StrataVision 3D. In 2007, the game was released on GameTap. As of February 2011 the game is available from Good Old Games, iTunes, and as part of the "Cyan Complete Pack" on Steam.
"The Manhole" is a notable computer game because like Cosmic Osmo and Spelunx it has no goal and no end; as a software toy the object is simply to explore and have fun.
Reception.
Describing "The Manhole" as "the first children's software to require a hard disk", "Macworld" in March 1989 stated that its "realistic sounds, the fantasy-filled graphics, and the stack construction are truly impressive". The magazine "highly recommended [the game] for young children[, and] it's hard to imagine a playful soul of any age who wouldn't enjoy exploring the mind-tickling world inside The Manhole".
"The Manhole" won a Software Publishers Association Excellence in Software Award in 1989 for Best New Use of a Computer.