Pipe Mania

Lore & Background

The game is played on a grid of squares, one of which is marked as an entry point for a flow of green slime, referred to in-game as 'flooz' or 'goo' depending on the version. A column of five pipe sections is displayed to one side as a dispenser. When the player clicks on an empty square, the bottommost piece in the dispenser is placed there and a new piece drops in from the top. Pieces cannot be rotated or flipped and must be used in their original orientation. The objective is to form an unbroken pipeline through which the flooz can flow, starting from the entry point and extending for at least a specified minimum number of squares. The flooz begins to flow after a set time delay, and continues to do so until it reaches a pipe-end that is either open or blocked by a square/playfield edge. If the pipeline has reached or exceeded the minimum required length, the player advances to the next level; if not, the game ends. If the flooz has not yet entered a pipe section, the player can click on it to replace it with the next one in the dispenser, though doing so carries a score penalty and causes a short delay. Later levels introduce added complications such as higher minimum pipeline lengths, shorter delays, higher flow speeds, obstacles, an end piece, wrap-around edges, reservoirs, and one-way pipe sections. The player scores points for every pipe section the flooz crosses, and loses points at the end of each level for any unused sections. Bonus points can be scored for using more than the minimum number of pipe sections, routing the flooz to cross itself in a four-way intersection, filling reservoirs, and routing the flooz through pre-placed bonus pipes. A bonus round is played after every fourth level, in which the player slides pieces to build as long a pipeline as possible; a password is given after each bonus round.

Reader's Guide

Pipe Mania was widely ported and received notable recognition. In Japan, Game Machine listed the arcade version as the most successful table arcade unit of October 1990. The game was reviewed in 1994 in Dragon #211 by Jay & Dee in the 'Eye of the Monitor' column; Dee gave the Macintosh version 2½ out of 5 stars and the Windows version 4½ stars. Macworld named the Macintosh version of Pipe Dream the Best Arcade Game of 1990, putting it into the Macintosh Game Hall of Fame, and called it an 'addictive strategy game'. The editors of Game Player's PC Strategy Guide gave Pipe Dream their 1989 'Best PC Strategy Game' award, writing: 'Pipe Dream is destined to become a classic on the order of Tetris or Breakout.' Many clones have been produced under titles such as Wallpipe, Oilcap, MacPipes, Pipe Master, and others. Many Nokia cell phones come with a free version called Canal Control. A version with 3D graphics was released for the PlayStation in 2000, titled Pipe Dreams 3D in the US and Pipe Mania 3D in the UK. In September 2008, Empire Interactive released a remake for Windows, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation Portable, developed by Razorworks. Within BioShock, a variation of the game exists as a means of hacking vending machines, robots, and cameras.

Did You Know?

• The game was developed by The Assembly Line for the Amiga and published in 1989.
• Lucasfilm Games ported it as Pipe Dream and distributed it in the US.
• The arcade version by Video System Co. Ltd. was the most successful table arcade unit in Japan in October 1990.
• A variation of the game appears in BioShock as a hacking minigame.