Put your trust and communication skills to the test in this free, bite-sized, experimental project from Mini Metro and Mini Motorways developers Dinosaur Polo Club.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – April 4, 2026 – Released for April Fool’s Day, RTFM (Read The F*cking Manual), is a bite-sized co-op experimental puzzle game from Dinosaur Polo Club, shared under an Alternative Name, “DPC Labs”. RTFM simulates the surreal stress between workers at a fictional corporation called Harmonic Inc, while they work together to process mysterious data. Players must cooperate, or not, to solve puzzles and prevent a ‘decoherence meltdown.’ The game is out now for free on PC and Mac via itch.io.
Best known for Mini Metro and Mini Motorways, both enjoyed by millions of civil engineers, Dinosaur Polo Club shares their first bite-sized experimental project created over a week-long game jam (also coined as Creativity Week in studio) by a core team of seven people.
“We love game jams!” says Amie Wolken, CEO of Dinosaur Polo Club. “Since before my time, DPC has embraced Creativity Week, a time where you can express yourself in imaginative ways that there isn’t time for in an ordinary work week. During Creativity Week, we spend time making things together but without the constraints of project work, and it’s not just game jams; we’ve had dinos who will paint, or make physical prints, or other wildly cool creative things. RTFM is just one of the awesome results born of the passion and creativity in the team, sparked during one of these weeks.”
In RTFM, office terror unveils its hysterical side as two players work together as Troubleshooter and Operator, solving puzzles and staying one step ahead of a hostile ghost in the machine. The brief, replayable experience centers around social sleuthing and puzzle-solving, a bite-sized experience inspired by games such as Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, and sci-fi media such as classic creepypastas, The X-Files, Portal, and Control. Reciprocate trust and communication to hold reality itself together!
Crack open the User Manual and read the f*cking thing as the Troubleshooter (protip: print it out to help prevent prying eyes from seeing something they shouldn’t), or sit down behind the controls as the Terminal Operator to relay on-screen puzzles to one another. Work together or weave white lies into your teamwork to discover three different endings.
Mysterious consequences are threatened by your corporate overlords as the two players must work together without fear of failstates. Decode one another’s actions as trust either blossoms, or worse, erodes. While reality defragmentation may sound horrifying, the real horror may be in your ear pretending to help. Or in getting a negative performance review.
“While it takes a few years between major game releases, we’re always making stuff at Dinosaur Polo Club,” says Casey Lucas-Quaid, the studio’s Community Manager. “We liked this Creativity Week project enough that we thought other people might, too. And we always do something for April Fool’s, so this seemed like a way to let others have a play with something the team enjoyed making while also getting back to our roots a bit. Mini Metro was born in the Ludum Dare game jam, after all.”
RTFM is out now for free on PC and Mac via itch.io. For more information, visit the official RTFM and Dinosaur Polo Club website, follow the studio on Bluesky, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, or search for #RTFMgame on social media.
About Dinosaur Polo Club
Dinosaur Polo Club is an independent game development studio based in beautiful Wellington, New Zealand. Founded in 2013 by brothers Peter and Robert Curry, the studio first made waves with their award-winning and BAFTA-nominated debut Mini Metro. Created in collaboration with Disasterpeace and Jamie Churchman, Mini Metro explores relaxed and minimalist subway design. The second game developed by Dinosaur Polo Club introduces a brand new type of city management with colorful road-building and resource management found in Mini Motorways. Combined, Mini Metro and Mini Motorways make up two parts of an expanding Mini Collection.
With an inclusive and supportive culture that believes in giving back to its creative community, the studio has grown and is now home to nearly 30 Dinos as it works on new titles with relatable simplicity.
