This is the first CD-ROM game of Sierra On-Line, and one of the first computer games ever released on CD rather than on diskettes.
The country woman portrayed on the game box is Roberta Williams, with two children reading a book of nursery rhymes, accompanied by several characters from the rhymes. The children are not Roberta's.
Like the original game, the game is made especially for children so the controls are very simple (even simpler than in the original game), and can be understood even by children who did not learn to read yet: First, the player can have only one item in possession, in contrast to most Sierra games. Second, the game has icon interface, so player does not need to type commands like "take the item" or "open the door" - walking close to an item results in picking it up, and doors are automatically opened when the player walks through them. Third, the actions which the player can perform (talk, quit, increase/decrease the game speed, increase/decrease the music level) are depicted with large pictorial icons, so the young children can understand themselves what each icon does. Fourth, when talking to characters who need items, a picture of the requested item will be displayed above them. Fifth, the player cannot die. Sixth, the interface includes a map which shows where the characters are and which rhymes have been restored, so the child can easily find its way around.
Unlike the original game and most of Sierra games, the game saving cannot be done to the hard disk, but only on floppy diskette. The reason given by the designers: "We figure schools and large families would use the game, a classroom would quickly fill up all the saved game spots. Scrolling shelves did not work too well with the kids, nor did having kids try to use a file selector. Saving to floppy diskette was the best compromise".
Old King Cole needs only one item for his rhyme - the pipe. In the original game, the player must bring him in addition a bowl and three fiddlers.