The project was based on a concept by Sierra VP of Development/Creative Director, Bill Davis, who also designed the game's main characters.

This was intended to be the first in a series of edutainment games in which the player, as Pepper, traveled back in time to set right mixed-up situations surrounding famous individuals.

Via humorous dialogue and interaction with both the townspeople and Franklin, Pepper is responsible for ensuring that history unfolds the way it should, as well as first locating and subsequently reuniting with Lockjaw.

[4] Metzomagic thought the game was hilarious, but felt the humour was too sophisticated for its target audience, due to references to things like Monty Python and academia.

[6] Kokatu noted the intertextuality of this game and Day of the Tentacle (released the same year) both having the player help Benjamin Franklin complete his kite experiment.