Funnybone Interactive

Background : Funnybone Interactive was a software developer aimed at kids, formed as "The Cute Company" in 1985. It was renamed to its then-current name in the early 1990s, and was acquired by Davidson & Associates in 1995, and the next year it became a part of the CUC Software family, before folding into Cendant in 1997.

Nickname : "The Laughing Dog", "The Dog and His Bone"

Logo : On a white background, we see a bone in the distance. A whistling cartoon dog, which vaguely resembles a Dalmatian, then walks up out of nowhere before stopping near the bone. He then makes some silly faces before suddenly biting his teeth, prompting him to start laughing maniacally, pointing at the bone and pounding the ground as he does so. In the middle of his laughing fit, he takes the bone and throws it in the air, before stopping it with his finger in a blue box with some grungy edges. The yellow text "FUNNYBONE", in a weird font with some grungy outlines, appears at the bottom of the blue box and "interactive" appears underneath.

FX/SFX : The dog laughing and the bone flying upwards. Nice animation for the time.

Music/Sounds : A weird, cartoonish tune played on kazoos is heard throughout, and we hear the dog briefly whistling as he walks up. There's also some sound effects correlating to the actions, and the dog laughing almost like Stimpy from The Ren & Stimpy Show. There's also a bang as he catches the bone with his finger.

Availability : Extremely rare. Appeared on some children-oriented CD-ROMs of the time, such as Eat My Dust, Stay Tooned!, and Animaniacs Game Pack.

Editor's Note : None.