Shout Out / Thimbleweed Park

As it's a throwback game written by Ron Gilbert almost specifically for old-school Adventure Game fans, Thimbleweed Park is full of references, with especial reference to late-1980s and early-1990s pop culture.

• To Maniac Mansion:
  • Many characters from that game can be seen or are mentioned in this one:
    • Sandy and Dave are married and run a diner together.
    • Razor and the Scummettes are still a band, being played by the DJ at the radio station (In-Joke option only).
    • Dr. Fred, Nurse Edna, Syd (wearing a Groucho Marx disguise), Michael, Wendy, and Green Tentacle can be seen watching Ransome's show (In-Joke option only).
  • Chuck the Plant is the mansion library, where the stairs are again "out of order".
  • Maniac Mansion as a game is mentioned, but under the name Mansion Mansion from MmucusFlem.
  • There are references to locations and puzzles within Maniac Mansion. The inside of the Edmunds's fridge is the same as the Weird Ed's fridge. Ironically, it's all useless stuff except for the one different item, some hot sauce. Later on in the game Delores enters the world's wireframe, which looks like the mansion. There is a chainsaw that is out of gas, just like in the mansion. It's even called the Chainsaw of Disappointment (In-Joke option only). This time, however, you find gas for it, and you need it to complete the game. L'il Beeper, Ransome's pet hamster, also lives in Ransome's microwave.
• Ransome mentions that he wouldn't microwave a hamster (In-Joke option only).
• The entire setup is reminiscent of Twin Peaks (right down to the town's initials being "T.P."!), but there are a few specific references. For example, if you try to get Delores to pick up more than one log, she says "I'm not some kind of log lady." Also, if she tries to order cherry pie from the diner, Sandy will say that the last pie was eaten by some tall guy from the city who ate it with his coffee.
• Ray and Reyes's dynamic (a redheaded, straight-laced woman paired off with an eccentric brown-haired man) brings to mind Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.
• Ransom's appearance (specifically his ubiquitous red balloons, in addition to being a clown never seen without his make-up) heavily resembles Pennywise from It, an iconic slice of pop culture from the era in which the game is set.
• An optional puzzle in the full game allows the player to use a severed head to find your way to a buried treasure. Unfortunately, the player has no shovel to dig it up. Like so many other things in the game, this is lampshaded. (In-Joke option only)
• Your uncle died, and all you got was this lousy T-shirt! Not so useless, however, as it has the schematics for a missing vacuum tube.
• The puzzle to get to the "sekrit base" calls back to many different versions of labyrinthine woods, but the chief one would be The Secret of Monkey Island.
  • Also, both games feature circuses - only the one in Thimbleweed Park is actually well attended when Ransome performs there, whereas the one on Melee Island is deserted. The locked door behind the alley is also a reference to 'Secret' and the labyrinth of sewers underneath is a reference to the one from Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. The enormous library in the mansion is a reference to the Phatt Island library from MI2 and even features some of the same books. The hint line in the game is a reference to the Lucasarts Hint Line in that game, only this time it actually works. The occult books store is a subversion - you would think she would have a similar function to the voodoo lady in the Monkey Island games, but she doesn't give you any useful advice about anything. The grog mugs in Secret were made out of pewter, and the radioactive waste you see in Thimbleweed Park is luminous green - so it isn't a surprise that Delores' pewter trophy can hold it (although, it doesn't melt the trophy, unlike the grog mugs in MI).
• One of the many books on Madame Morena's shelf is "The King's Quest III spell book"
• 1138 is the lucky number of Uncle Chuck, the number that won him the lottery, and the number used to decode his will. Also, a certain carney needs $1138 that Ransome the Clown has to pay up to get his joke book back.
• The Simpsons:
  • Ransome the Insult Comic's voice is reminiscent of Krusty the Klown. His name is reminiscent of Triumph the Insult Dog.
  • The Sheriff's Hyperaffixation of adding "a-reno" to words mirrors that of Ned Flanders.
• While pushing in the tubes to defeat the Chuck AI, he will start to sing Daisy, Daisy.
• Ron Gilbert's name is mentioned frequently throughout the narrative, not all of it flattering.
• Star Trek:
  • At Thimblecon, there is both a Silent Spock and a Sexy Riker.^note The latter is actually a small anachronism: while TNG had just started airing in 1987 (when the game is set), Jonathan Frakes hadn't yet grown the distinctive facial hair that would be so essential to Riker's eventual sexy image. Despite this, the cosplayer portrays Riker with his later-season appearance, including the beard.
  • Delores has a collection of Kirk/Spock slash fanfiction in her bedroom.
• Two siblings that are plumbers and go on adventures. Are these the Pigeon brothers, or Mario and Luigi?
• One reason the Pigeon Brothers couldn't be called the Pigeon Sisters is that The Odd Couple beat them to it (In-Joke option only).
• Delores has a Billy Idol poster in her room. The wireframe world has posters of Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, Maniac Mansion and The Secret of Monkey Island as well.
• The playable games in the arcade (although the item required to play them is hidden) calls to mind those in Ron Gilbert's post-Lucasarts game "Putt-Putt Goes To The Moon".