History VideoGame / ThroughTheLookingGlass

''Through the Looking Glass'', also known as ''Alice'' and ''[=AliceX=]'', is the earliest known game developed for the UsefulNotes/{{Macintosh}} computer. [[TheGameOfTheBook Inspired by]] [[Literature/AliceInWonderland the books]] of Creator/LewisCarroll, it pits Alice against a full set of pieces in a fast-action HumanChess match.

* ThemedCursor: A three-dimensional "X" that matches the board's perspective. At the suggestion of [[UsefulNotes/AppleII Steve Wozniak]], it gets smaller when moved into the distance.

* ArtImitatesArt -- The cover and title screen are based on a 1474 woodcut (with the addition of a hidden Music/DeadKennedys logo).
* BookSafe -- The packaging.
* CanonIllustrations -- Alice appears just as Sir John Tenniel drew her.

* FlawlessVictory -- The game challenges you to achieve a perfect score of 999, which means letting every pawn become a queen while never being captured yourself.
* GameMod -- The sprites are kept in [=MacPaint=] files, which are easily edited--and include a message encouraging you to do just that.
* GravityScrew -- One of the {{Easter Egg}}s turns the world upside down.
* NintendoHard -- Capps repeatedly increased the difficulty at the request of an addicted co-worker, but never dialed it back for publication.

* ReadingsAreOffTheScale -- By invoking an easter egg that makes the chess pieces [[InvoluntaryShapeshifter randomly shapeshift]], you can reach scores above 999--but only the last three digits are visible on the [[ScoringPoints scoreboard]].
* SillinessSwitch -- The iPhone port lets you transform the chess set into a hip hop group or the UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush administration (with Alice replaced by UsefulNotes/BarackObama).
* TemporaryPlatform -- [[PortableHole A rabbit hole randomly wanders the empty squares]]; it can't be jumped over but can be jumped into. Chess pieces will be swallowed up, but Alice will be safely deposited on a board where [[RealTimeWithPause all her opponents are frozen until she moves again]].
* ThemedCursor -- A three-dimensional "X" that matches the board's perspective. At the suggestion of [[UsefulNotes/AppleII Steve Wozniak]], it gets smaller when moved into the distance.

* CartoonCheese -- The game's icon has the traditional wedge of Swiss on one side of a maze, and a mouse on the other.
* JustOneMoreLevel -- Bill Gates himself claimed to have [[http://www.folklore.org/images/Macintosh/gates_letter.jpg "wasted a lot of time solving mazes"]].
* PipeMaze -- On the highest difficulty setting, the pipes are so densely layered that you often can't see where you are or where you can move.
* TrailOfBreadCrumbs -- Rather than guiding an avatar through the maze, you draw out a line from one end to the other (and trace back along it if necessary).

* ArtImitatesArt -- The program's icon is a [[Art/ThePersistenceOfMemory pocketwatch melting its way off a shelf]].
* {{Cap}} -- Due to an overflow bug, the date function returns gibberish starting on September 18, 1993.
* InspirationForTheWork -- Capps credits the 1974 computer-animated short, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwU3UARE6yc La Faim (Hunger)]]''.
* SpiritualSuccessor -- Jamie Zawinski's [[http://www.jwz.org/xdaliclock/ Dali Clock]].

--> I was going to have the Queen in the Bush set be Laura Bush but [[AcceptablePoliticalTargets Cheney is way better]].

* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins -- The victory screen is a penguin blowing a trumpet.

* ArtImitatesArt -- The program's icon is a [[Creator/SalvadorDali pocketwatch melting its way off a shelf]].

* DisneyOwnsThisTrope -- The WorkingTitle ''Alice'' had to be dropped as it already belonged to a database product. (It still appears in much larger print than the title, as the first word of the instructions.)

''Through the Looking Glass'', also known as ''Alice'' and ''[=AliceX=]'', is the earliest known game developed for the {{Macintosh}} computer. [[TheGameOfTheBook Inspired by]] [[Literature/AliceInWonderland the books]] of Creator/LewisCarroll, it pits Alice against a full set of pieces in a fast-action HumanChess match.

* ThemedCursor -- A three-dimensional "X" that matches the board's perspective. At the suggestion of [[AppleII Steve Wozniak]], it gets smaller when moved into the distance.