Pipe Mania

Pipe Mania
Original box art
Developer(s)	The Assembly Line
Publisher(s)	Lucasfilm Games (NA) Empire Interactive (EU) Video System (Arcade)
Designer(s)	Akila Redmer, Stephan L. Butler
Platform(s)	Acorn Archimedes, Acorn Electron, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Apple Macintosh, Arcade game, Atari ST, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, Game Boy, NES, PC (MS-DOS/Windows), Psion 3a, Sam Coupé, ZX Spectrum
Release date(s)	June 1989 (Amiga, Atari ST, DOS) 1990 (Electron, Arcade, CPC, Apple II, BBC, C64, GB, Mac, NES, ZX) 1991 (Windows)
Genre(s)	Puzzle game
Mode(s)	Single player

Pipe Mania is a puzzle game developed in 1989 by The Assembly Line for the Amiga. It was ported to several other platforms by Lucasfilm Games, who gave it the name Pipe Dream and acted as general distributors for the US. In this game, the player must connect randomly appearing pieces of pipe on a grid to a given length within a limited time.

The Windows version of the game was included in the MS Windows Entertainment Pack. In 1990, it was released as an arcade game by Japanese manufacturer Video System Co. Ltd., though with slightly altered gameplay, giving the player the task to connect a source and drain with the random pipe pieces.

Gameplay

Using a variety of pipe pieces presented randomly in a queue, the player must construct a path from the start piece for the onrushing sewer slime, or "flooz" (the 1991 Windows version's help files refer to it as "goo"), which begins flowing after a time delay from the start of the round. The player can keep clicking the same square to change the pipe pieces. The flooz is required to pass through a given number of pipe pieces in order for the player to pass to the next round. Some rounds also include an end piece, which must be the end of the pipeline the player has constructed, in addition to fulfilling the minimum pipe length requirement.

Completing the sewer pipeline in the time allotted allows the player to advance to the next level, which means a shorter interval from the start of the round until the flooz starts flowing, as well as faster-flowing flooz. On higher levels, some special pipe pieces appear in the game, such as reservoirs, one-way sections, and bonus sections. Obstacles and wrap-around sections also appear on the game board on higher levels.

If a player is able to finish the level using five cross-section pieces and filling them both ways, 5,000 bonus points are awarded.

Later versions

A version with 3D graphics was released for the PlayStation in 2000, titled Pipe Dreams 3D. Many clones of Pipe Mania have been produced, under titles such as Wallpipe, Oilcap, Oilcap Pro, MacPipes, Pipe Master, Pipeworks, DragonSnot, PipeNightDreams, and Fun2Link. A macabre interpretation called Troubled Souls was released for the Macintosh in 1994. There is also an open source clone named Vodovod available for both the Windows and Linux operating systems. Many Nokia cell phones come with a free version of the game called Canal Control.^[1]

Remake

On March 10, 2008, Empire Interactive announced a remake of Pipe Mania for the PC, PlayStation 2, Wii, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation Portable.^[2] It was released in September 2008.^[3]

The game was ported to the iPhone by software publishers Virtual Programming and Robosoft, and released as an application in July 2009.

In other games

There is a version of Pipe Mania within the game BioShock, presented to the player as a means of hacking machinery.^[4]

Within Alien Swarm, there is a simplified version of Pipe Mania akin to the one in Bioshock.

Within North Korean game called Railway Assemblage (Chosongul:렬차길 맞추기 Hanja:列車길 맞추기) sponsored by North Korean propaganda regime Uriminzokkiri (Chosongul:우리민족끼리), there is a simplified version of Pipe Mania. The game consists in joining together sections of railway in order to build as fast as possible a railroad track which constitute a path from South Korea to North Korea, before the KTX-shaped train appears on the screen. This game is released as an application on December 9 2006.

Within Puzzle Agent, there is a puzzle where Nelson Tethers, the protagonist, must repair a chimney flue using a similar style of gameplay to pipe mania.

Reception

The game was reviewed in 1994 in Dragon #211 by Jay & Dee in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Jay did not rate the game, but Dee gave the Macintosh version of the game 2½ out of 5 stars, and the Windows version 4½ stars.^[5]

References

External links

• Pipe Dream at MobyGames
• KLOV entry for Pipe Dream
• Pipe Mania at Astoria Theodor Lauppert's Homepage
• Pipe Mania at World of Spectrum
• IGN review of remake
• Aqua: A modern remake