Leisure Suit Larry

Our beige computer sat in the corner of the TV room on the desk that ran the width of the room, butteressed on the left end with a refinished lovely wood file cabinet.  It sat in the corner just shy of the front windows. The beige computer replaced the TI-99.  I thought it was an IBM clone but my brother said it was a Laser 128 apple clone.   Dad didn’t buy brand name computers. 

I don’t remember playing much on the Laser 129.  I do remember my younger brother playing Leisure Suit Larry.  There was no way my mom knew what sort of game it was. 

It must have been Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards.  The virgin Larry Laffer is trying to get laid.  It’s an adult themed 8-bit adventure.  One quest is to buy a condom before banging a prostitute to avoid getting an STD.  Money is earned by gambling.

Spoiler alert – early game play deals with avoiding premature deaths. One game ending has Larry getting an STD.

I have no idea how we got it or if my dad played it.  Dad must have brought it home.  I’m not sure where he got the games from.  Maybe he got copies from co-workers or mail order.  My bro definitely didn’t acquire the game. 
It was developed by Sierra On-Line and published in 1987.  It started off on PC DOS and Apple IIe then was ported to other platforms.  Sierra was known for pioneering graphic adventure games such as King’s Quest, Space Quest and Police Quest.  I had no idea that this raunchy game came from the same place as the legendary King’s Quest IV – an icon of graphic adventure gaming.

Softporn Adventure was the comedic adult adventure game released by Sierra Online.  It was built for the Apple II in 1981.  The nameless player was the root  of  Leisure Suit Larry.   Larry sprung forth and Sierra Online lost their Disney contract. Notable for being the first porn software game which is rather mind bending as it was a single player interactive text game without any graphics. 

The more provocative thing about the game was the photography used for an ad and the cover of the retail box.   

Leisure Larry goes on and on.  The series sold over 10 million copies  by 2011.  .   New games come less frequently as Larry grows older.   All the games are available on Steam.   The current publisher is Assemble Entertainment.