Easter Eggs and Secrets in Leisure Suit Larry 1

Al Lowe filled Lost Wages with jokes that most players never find. Here are the best secrets, in-jokes and hidden responses in the original 1987 version, all found during my own playthrough.

"Ken sent me"

The password for Lefty's back room is a nod to Ken Williams, co-founder of Sierra On-Line and the man who asked Al Lowe to make the game.

"Yeah. Whatsda passwoid?"

"Al sent me" works too

Ken isn't the only Sierra name that gets you past the door. Knock and type al sent me, a nod to Larry's creator Al Lowe, and the doorman lets Larry in just the same.

"Yeah. Whatsda passwoid?"

"Come on in!"

Sierra's real phone number

Dialling 209-683-6858 on the Quiki-Mart payphone is worth 5 points. It was Sierra On-Line's actual phone number in Oakhurst, California, and a pleasant voice answers accordingly.

"Hello," a pleasant voice responds. "Sierra On-Line."

The survey that comes back

The only readable number on the payphone is 555-6969. Call it and a breathy voice runs Larry through a survey. Later, when the payphone rings outside the Quiki-Mart, the caller reads back a "personal" message assembled from your answers. Give silly answers for a sillier result.

The only legible (and printable) number on the phone

The Ball Street Journal

Use the toilet at Lefty's and Larry settles in with a newspaper that sounds very familiar.

An ancient copy of the "Ball Street Journal"

A comedian for programmers

The comedian in the casino cabaret works the crowd with computer jokes, a wink at the people who were actually buying the game in 1987.

"His teacher called him a 'master byter.'"

The brothers

The cabaret comedian and the wedding chapel minister look suspiciously alike, and fan sources say that in the original game they're brothers. Compare the two.

The minister, on his way to refill his flask

Over 1 billion served

The Quiki Wed chapel borrows its slogan from a certain fast-food chain. In Lost Wages, weddings are fast food too.

Quiki Wed: "Over 1 Billion Served"

The man in the barrel

The broke man selling the apple outside the casino wears nothing but a barrel. Some fans read him as a joke about a well-known computer industry figure. Al Lowe never confirmed it.

"The price is reasonable: only $1.00."

Sierra's censor

Every time things get steamy, a big black CENSORED sign covers the action. For a game sold as adults-only, it's remarkably shy.

The famous CENSORED sign

Ken Williams' sales pitch

Finish the game and your victory is short-lived: Ken Williams himself walks on screen to promote the sequel. It doesn't have a name yet, and he asks you to buy a few extra copies "just in case our disk copier is screwed up again", a jab at how widely the game was pirated.

"Coming to this very computer Real Soon Now..."

Where adventurers are made

Die, and the Sierra adventure team hauls Larry to their underground workshop, under a big Sierra logo, and drops him into the "bit bucket" to be recycled into future games. Watch the conveyor belt: a whole row of spare Larrys is lined up and ready to go.

A production line of spare Larrys at the Sierra workshop

TV parodies

The pimp in Lefty's back room is glued to his TV, and Larry can flip channels with the remote. Most of them are "another boring soap opera" or "another boring commercial", but a few are parodies of real 1980s pop culture:

• "Oh, John." "Oh, Marsha." The whole script is two names said with growing passion, lifted from Stan Freberg's 1951 comedy record John and Marsha.
• Al Fartles and Fed Ames thanking you for your support: a send-up of Frank Bartles and Ed Jaymes, the folksy pitchmen of the Bartles & Jaymes wine cooler ads that were everywhere in 1987.

Keep flipping until you find the channel that holds the pimp's attention (Part 1 of the walkthrough).

"Oh, John." "Oh, Marsha."

"I'm Al Fartles, and this is my partner, Fed Ames."

Larry's inventory

Press Tab at the start of the game to see what Larry brought to Lost Wages: a wallet, breath spray, a wrist watch and some pocket lint. The lint is useless. It's there purely for the joke, and the 1991 VGA remake dropped it.

Everything Larry owns at 10 PM

The boss key

For players sneaking a game in at the office, Larry has a boss key that instantly replaces the screen with a fake business chart. Nobody walking past your desk would ever guess.

The boss key screen: very serious numbers

Back to the walkthrough.