''Putt-Putt'' is a series of children's adventure and puzzle computer games created by

Humongous Entertainment Humongous, Inc. (formerly Humongous Entertainment, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Bothell, Washington. Founded in 1992, the company developed multiple edutainment franchises, most prominently ''Putt-Putt (series), Putt-Putt' ...

. This franchise was Humongous Entertainment's first game series to be developed. They primarily involve clicking to get to a destination, although some sub-quests and mini-games involve the keyboard. The main character, Putt-Putt, an anthropomorphic purple

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a Car, passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary across eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air drivin ...

, and his dog, Pep, travel to various locations.

History

''Putt-Putt'' was originally thought up by Shelley Day as a series of bedtime stories for her son, Travis; the first story involved Putt-Putt saving a cat caught in a tree.

Child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage, television, or in film, movies. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associa ...

Jason Ellefson did Putt-Putt's voice for the first eight of the games. In the next three games,

Nancy Cartwright Nancy Jean Cartwright (born October 25, 1957) is an American actress, best known as the long-time voice of Bart Simpson on ''The Simpsons'', for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance and an Annie Award f ...

(of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'' fame) voiced Putt-Putt. Michelle Thorson voiced Putt-Putt in ''Pep's Birthday Surprise''. The games are supported by

ScummVM Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion Virtual Machine (ScummVM) is a set of game engine recreations. Originally designed to play LucasArts adventure games that use the SCUMM system, it also supports a variety of non-SCUMM games by companies l ...

and thus can be played on other platforms such as handhelds. Humongous has brought several ''Putt-Putt'' and other titles to

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

and Android. In 1997, Humongous made an agreement with Lancit Media Entertainment to create an animated TV series titled ''Putt-Putt 'n Pals'', along with films and home video releases. Ultimately, the deal fell through. Several games from the original series were later re-released by Humongous on

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in April 2014, alongside games from the '' Pajama Sam'', '' Freddi Fish'', and ''

Spy Fox ''Spy Fox'' is a software gaming series from Humongous Entertainment starring a fictional anthropomorphic fox of the same name, intended for children 8 and up. The series follows the eponymous character, an anthropomorphic fox and secret agent t ...

'' series. The first two games used pixel art graphics; starting with the third game, the series uses hand-drawn animation.

Games

classified the adventure games as Junior Adventures for kids 3-8.

Customization

Players can change Putt-Putt's color to original purple, red, orange, yellow, green or blue. All colors can be painted on again. This also changes the color of the dashboard in ''Putt-Putt Enters the Race'' and ''Putt-Putt Joins the Circus''. In ''Putt-Putt Joins the Parade'' and ''Putt-Putt Enters the Race'', each color change costs three coins that can be collected in the game world. In ''Putt-Putt: Pep's Birthday Surprise'', Putt-Putt's color can only be changed temporarily before reverting to purple after some traveling. His color can also be changed in certain levels of '' Putt-Putt and Pep's Balloon-o-Rama'' by using Pep to pop certain balloons tied to paint buckets, then catching the bucket containing the desired color as it falls to change Putt-Putt to.

Availability

* For

the games were released as single games, or bundled together in the "Putt-Putt Complete Pack" or came packaged with all

games in "Humongous Entertainment Complete Pack". * Humongous Entertainment released 2 CD-packs titled "Humongous Entertainment Triple Treat" 1 and 2. The first pack included '' Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo'', ''Pajama Sam's Sock Works'' and '' Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds'', while the second pack included '' Putt-Putt Travels Through Time'', '' Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside'' and ''Freddi Fish and Luther's Maze Madness''. * Humongous Entertainment released a "Putt-Putt Fun & Learning Kindergarten Edition" package with a Putt-Putt notebook and a CD that included ''Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo'' and '' Big Thinkers Kindergarten''. * ''Putt-Putt and Pep's Balloon-O-Rama'' was released for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

and

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

on a compilation CD titled "Super Duper Arcade 1", along with ''Spy Fox in: Cheese Chase'', ''Pajama Sam's Sock Works'' and ''Freddi Fish and Luther's Water Worries''. * ''Putt-Putt and Pep's Dog on a Stick'' was released for Windows and Macintosh on a compilation CD titled "Super Duper Arcade 2", along with ''Spy Fox in: Hold the Mustard'', ''Pajama Sam's Lost & Found'' and ''Freddi Fish and Luther's Maze Madness''. * ''Putt-Putt Travels Through Time'' was released on the Nintendo Switch eShop alongside ''Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell'' in January 2022. The next month, ''Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo'' was released alongside ''Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside'', ''Pajama Sam: Thunder and Lightning Aren't so Frightening'', and '' Spy Fox in: Dry Cereal''.

Books

Various children's books about Putt-Putt have been published by Lyrick Publishing and Random House. A cassette tape audio adaptation was created for ''Putt-Putt's Night Before Christmas''.

Reception

The ''Putt-Putt'' series received various awards including "All-Star Software Award" from Children's Software Revue, "Reader's Choice Award" from Mac Home Journal and "2000 Best Picks Award" from Choosing Children's Software.

References

External links

''Putt-Putt'' at Humongous Entertainment
* {{Humongous * Humongous Entertainment games Video game franchises introduced in 1992 Video game franchises Video games about birthdays Video games about dogs Video games developed in the United States Works about friendship