Buddy Burbank was a B-movie actor who one day met the wealthy Hildegarde Montague and married her. His wife's money allowed him to open his own studio, where he began to produce movies such as Attack of the Killer Rutabagas and other horror titles that gained little critical acclaim but apparently sold rather well. He then died of a heart attack, and Hildegarde followed him soon. In her will, she left the Burbank estate to her favorite nephew, under one condition: he has to find ten famous props from Buddy's movies within one night.

Hollywood Hijinx is a text adventure game. The player interacts with the environment by typing combinations of verb commands and objects. The game's environment contains secret passages and mazes, which are necessary to explore in order to find the props and successfully complete the game.