Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino

Last updated: January 16, 2026

Overview

Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino is a budget gambling title released by Sierra On-Line on June 5, 1992 for MS-DOS.¹ The game was part of Sierra’s “Crazy Nick’s Software Picks” series, a line of five budget compilations that extracted mini-games, arcade sequences, casino games, and board games from various Sierra adventure titles and Hoyle games, repackaging them as standalone budget releases sold in blister card packaging.² This particular entry focused on the casino gambling mini-games featured in the Leisure Suit Larry series, specifically pulling content from Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards VGA and Leisure Suit Larry 5.³

The game consists of three casino mini-games: Slot Machine, Blackjack, and Video Poker.¹ Players begin with 100.00 “Larry Dollars” to gamble with, and in the event they lose everything, the game allows them to take out a loan to continue playing.¹ While not a full adventure game, the title provided fans of the Leisure Suit Larry series with an opportunity to enjoy the gambling sequences from the mainline games without having to navigate through the adventure game content.³ The game was later included in the Leisure Suit Larry Collectors Edition CD-ROM compilation, making it accessible to a broader audience of series enthusiasts.⁴

Despite its budget origins, the game utilized Sierra’s SCI1.1 engine and supported both EGA and VGA graphics modes.⁵ The soundtrack featured music taken directly from the Leisure Suit Larry 1 VGA remake, including a shortened version of the famous Larry Theme composed by Al Lowe.² The game has since been classified as abandonware and can be played through ScummVM emulation for modern compatibility.⁶

Game Info

Developer: Sierra On-Line¹ Designer: Bill Davis (Director)¹ Publisher: Sierra On-Line¹ Engine: SCI1.1⁵ Platforms: MS-DOS¹ Release Year: 1992 Series: Leisure Suit Larry / Crazy Nick’s Software Picks Protagonist: Larry Laffer Sierra Lineage: Core Sierra

Story Summary

As a casino gambling simulation spin-off, Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino does not feature a traditional narrative or plot structure.¹ The game instead focuses purely on the gambling experience, placing the player in a virtual casino environment where they can try their luck at three different games of chance.¹

The Leisure Suit Larry series protagonist, Larry Laffer—described in the main series as “a balding middle-aged nerd” searching for love in the fictional city of Lost Wages—serves as the thematic backdrop for the game’s casino setting.⁷ The Lost Wages casino environment from the original Leisure Suit Larry adventure games provided the aesthetic and atmosphere for this budget title, though without the adventure game elements, dating pursuits, or comedic storyline that defined the main series entries.⁸

The casino games themselves are presented without narrative context, functioning as straightforward gambling simulations where the primary goal is to accumulate as many Larry Dollars as possible.¹ This stands in contrast to the original adventure games where the casino gambling served as a means to acquire money needed to progress through the game’s puzzles and romantic pursuits.⁹

Gameplay

Interface and Controls

Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino employs a point-and-select interface built on Sierra’s SCI1.1 engine.¹ Players navigate between the three available casino games using simple menu selections and control the gambling mechanics through mouse-based interaction.¹

The slot machine controls utilize function keys for operation: F4 decreases the bet, F6 increases the bet, and F8 pulls the handle to spin the reels.¹⁰ The Blackjack and Poker games follow standard casino rules with point-and-click card selection and betting interfaces.¹

Structure and Progression

The game features a simple structure centered around three casino activities:¹

• Slot Machine: A traditional three-reel slot machine where players can bet varying amounts and attempt to match symbols for payouts
• Blackjack: The classic card game where players attempt to reach 21 without going over while beating the dealer’s hand
• Video Poker: A poker variant where players draw cards to create winning poker hands

Players begin each session with 100.00 Larry Dollars.¹ Money earned or lost carries over between the different games, allowing players to move between gambling activities while maintaining their bankroll.¹¹ Should a player lose all their money, the game provides the option to take out a loan to continue gambling.¹

Notably, the game lacks a save game feature, meaning players cannot save their progress or accumulated winnings between sessions.⁵

Puzzles and Mechanics

The slot machine operates on pure chance with a defined payout table:¹⁰

Combination	Payout Multiplier
Cherry	1x
Cherry Cherry	2x
Cherry Cherry Cherry	4x
Orange Orange	2x
Orange Orange Orange	4x
Seven Seven	3x
Seven Seven Seven	5x
Bar Bar Bar	7x

One walkthrough author noted that the optimal strategy for the slot machine involves “save scumming”—increasing the bet to $20, saving when winning, and loading when losing—though this approach is rendered impossible by the game’s lack of a save feature.¹⁰ The author also observed that unlike the Blackjack game, there is “no winning tactic like in the card game and it’s pure luck.”¹⁰

The Blackjack game follows standard casino rules and allows for basic strategy application, while the Video Poker game tests players’ knowledge of poker hand rankings and their ability to select which cards to hold or discard.¹

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

As a budget compilation title released in blister card packaging, Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino received minimal coverage from major gaming publications during its original release.⁴ The game was positioned as an inexpensive curiosity for existing Leisure Suit Larry fans rather than a major release warranting extensive critical attention.²

Modern Assessment

Modern assessments of the title have been mixed, with many reviewers questioning its value proposition even as a budget release. User paperbrain on MyAbandonware summarized the game’s appeal: “This is a collection of all the video poker and slots games from Larry 1 and 5. Recommended if you are a fan of both Leisure Suit Larry and video gambling. However, if you were bored with the gambling sequences in the Larry games, don’t bother.”³

A contributor on the Universal Videogame List observed: “This is a game from a budget line of Sierra games that I was unaware of thus far. It was also included in the Leisure Suit Larry Collectors Edition CD-ROM compilation. The three Casino games implemented are not really ‘new’ games however. They appeared in the Leisure Suit Larry 1 remake as well.”⁴

MobyGames reviewer Aaron Jones expressed strong criticism of casino spin-offs in general, stating: “Just…don’t ask me about Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino because I don’t even consider that worthy of having Leisure Suit Larry in its title.”⁸

Aggregate Scores:

• MobyGames: 3.0 out of 5¹
• MyAbandonware: 3/5 (4 votes)⁶ to 4.33/5 (alternate listing)³

Development

Origins

The Crazy Nick’s Software Picks series emerged from Sierra’s strategy to leverage existing game assets from their adventure game library.² The concept involved extracting the mini-games, arcade sequences, and gambling components that were embedded within larger adventure titles and repackaging them as standalone budget products.² This approach allowed Sierra to monetize content that had already been developed while providing an entry point for consumers who wanted specific gameplay experiences without purchasing full-priced adventure games.⁴

For the Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino release specifically, Sierra drew upon the casino gambling sequences that had become a recognizable element of the Larry series.⁴ The original Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards featured casino games as a means for players to earn money needed to progress through the adventure, and these elements were repurposed for the standalone casino compilation.⁴

The budget line’s name, “Crazy Nick’s Software Picks,” followed Sierra’s tradition of creating branded product lines, though the identity of “Nick” in this context appears to be a marketing construct rather than a reference to a specific Sierra employee.²

Production

The game was developed internally at Sierra On-Line under the direction of Bill Davis.¹ The production team utilized existing assets from the Leisure Suit Larry 1 VGA remake and Leisure Suit Larry 5, adapting the casino game code and graphics for the standalone budget release.²

Development Credits:¹

• Director: Bill Davis
• Producers: Tammy Dargan, Tony Caudill
• Software Supervisor: J. Mark Hood
• Lead Programmer: Thaddeus M. Pritchard
• Quality Assurance: Michael Brosius
• Special Thanks: Randy MacNeill

The music for the game was sourced directly from the Leisure Suit Larry 1 VGA remake rather than being newly composed for this release.² This included the famous Leisure Suit Larry Theme, though presented in a shortened version for the casino compilation.²

Technical Achievements

While Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino did not introduce any new technical innovations, it demonstrated the flexibility of Sierra’s SCI1.1 engine for creating smaller-scale gambling simulations.⁵ The game supported both EGA and VGA graphics modes, providing compatibility with a wide range of PC hardware configurations available in 1992.⁵

The SCI engine’s versatility is evidenced by the fact that the same underlying technology powered both complex adventure games with elaborate puzzles and narratives as well as straightforward casino simulations like this title.¹

Technical Specifications

DOS Version:⁵

• Engine: SCI1.1
• Video Modes: EGA, VGA
• Minimum OS: DOS 6.22
• Media: Single 3.5” floppy disk²
• File Size: 425-445 KB⁶
• Audio: Sound Blaster, Roland MT-32/MUNT support²

The game featured music in MIDI format, with tracks available for both Sound Blaster and Roland MT-32 playback.² Al Lowe, the creator of the Leisure Suit Larry series, had noted that by this era, game music had evolved significantly from the “horrible IBM-compatible tweakers” and “beeps and boops” of earlier PC gaming.¹²

Cut Content

No specific cut content has been documented for this budget release, as the game was assembled from pre-existing components rather than developed as an original title with its own design scope.²

Version History

Version	Date	Platform	Notes
1.0	June 5, 1992	MS-DOS	Initial release1
Collection	1997	MS-DOS	Included in Leisure Suit Larry: Collection Series1
Collection	1999	MS-DOS	Included in Leisure Suit Larry: Ultimate Pleasure Pack1

SCI Interpreter Version:⁵

Game Version	Interpreter	Type	Notes
1.0	SCI1.1	SCI1.1	Initial release, no save feature

Some sources list release dates ranging from 1992 to 1993, which may reflect different distribution phases or regional releases.⁶⁴

Technical Issues

The most significant technical limitation of Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino is the complete absence of a save game feature.⁵ Players cannot save their accumulated winnings or game progress, meaning each session starts fresh with the initial 100 Larry Dollars.⁵

For modern players, the game can be run through ScummVM, which provides compatibility with contemporary operating systems and hardware.⁵ ScummVM version 2.1 and later supports cloud saves on third-party cloud storage services, though this does not address the game’s fundamental lack of save functionality.⁵

Easter Eggs and Trivia

The game’s music includes the famous Leisure Suit Larry Theme, which series creator Al Lowe composed in just 20 minutes on May 11, 1987, inspired by Irving Berlin’s “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” from 1929.¹² Lowe later reflected on the theme’s unexpected longevity: “Little did I know that over the next decade my silly little ditty would be heard by millions of gamers, many of whom have sworn revenge against me for making it so ‘whistle-able’ that they can’t get it out of their heads!”¹²

Al Lowe also noted the evolution of game music technology throughout the Larry series: “And to think, by Larry 7 we could actually have live musicians in a real recording studio play real instruments! Not only did my little Larry’s Theme Song grow past the tweaking PC speaker, it outlived MIDI!”¹³

The casino games themselves contain the same mechanics that appeared in the VGA remake of Leisure Suit Larry 1, where one walkthrough author documented a bug: “Sometimes, when you go into the casino, Larry will stop just inside the doors. The doors will close and Larry will get ‘stuck.’ If this happens there is no way to get out.”⁷ This bug would not apply to the standalone casino compilation, which lacks the adventure game environment.

Voice Cast

Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino does not feature voice acting.¹ The game predates the widespread adoption of CD-ROM technology that enabled voice-acted games, and as a budget title, such features would have been beyond its scope.¹

Legacy

Sales and Commercial Impact

As a budget title sold in blister card packaging, Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino was not positioned as a major commercial release and no specific sales figures have been documented.² The game served primarily as a supplementary revenue stream for Sierra, capitalizing on existing Leisure Suit Larry brand recognition and pre-existing game assets.⁴

The Crazy Nick’s Software Picks series as a whole represented Sierra’s experiment with budget-priced compilations during the early 1990s, a period when the company was exploring various approaches to market segmentation and asset utilization.²

Collections

Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino appeared in several compilation releases following its original standalone release:

• Leisure Suit Larry: Collection Series (1997)¹
• Leisure Suit Larry: Ultimate Pleasure Pack (1999)¹
• Leisure Suit Larry Collectors Edition CD-ROM⁴

These compilation appearances ensured the game remained accessible to series fans even as the original standalone release became difficult to find.⁴

Fan Projects

No significant fan projects specifically targeting Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino have been documented. The game’s status as a minor budget spin-off rather than a mainline series entry likely contributed to limited fan engagement with the title specifically.¹

However, the broader Leisure Suit Larry series has seen substantial fan activity, including the 2013 crowdfunded remake “Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded” which reimagined the original adventure game but did not incorporate this casino spin-off.¹⁴

Related Publications

No dedicated hint books or strategy guides were published for Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino, which is consistent with its status as a budget compilation of straightforward gambling games that did not require walkthrough guidance.¹

The original Leisure Suit Larry adventure games, from which the casino content was derived, had their own hint books and strategy guides published by Sierra.¹⁰

Critical Perspective

Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino occupies an unusual position in Sierra’s catalog and in adventure gaming history more broadly. Rather than representing creative ambition or technical innovation, the title exemplifies a particular business strategy that many game publishers employed during the early 1990s: the extraction and repackaging of modular content from larger games.²

The game’s historical significance lies primarily in what it reveals about Sierra’s business practices during this period and the company’s efforts to maintain multiple product tiers and revenue streams.⁴ The Crazy Nick’s Software Picks series demonstrated that even a company known primarily for narrative-driven adventure games recognized the commercial potential of standalone mini-games marketed to casual audiences or budget-conscious consumers.²

From a preservation standpoint, the title remains notable as one of five budget compilations in the Crazy Nick’s series, representing a lesser-known corner of Sierra’s extensive catalog.² Modern emulation through ScummVM ensures the game remains playable, though its limited gameplay depth and lack of save functionality mean it holds primarily archival rather than entertainment value for contemporary audiences.⁵

Downloads

Download / Preservation

• MyAbandonware – Download page with game files⁶
• LaunchBox Games Database – Database entry with metadata¹⁵

Emulation

• Playable through ScummVM for modern system compatibility⁵

Manuals & Extras

• No dedicated manual documentation has been archived for this budget title

Series Continuity

Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino exists as a spin-off compilation rather than a numbered entry in the Leisure Suit Larry adventure game series. It was released between the mainline entries and drew content from Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards VGA (1991) and Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work (1991).¹

The game’s casino content represents the gambling elements that were integrated into the adventure games as both gameplay mechanics and thematic elements reflecting the “Lost Wages” (Las Vegas parody) setting of the original game.⁸ While the casino spin-off stripped away the narrative context, the gambling mechanics themselves remained faithful to their adventure game origins.⁴

The Crazy Nick’s Software Picks series also included compilations featuring content from other Sierra properties, making this Leisure Suit Larry title part of a broader budget product strategy that extended across multiple Sierra franchises.²

It should be noted that this 1992 budget release is distinct from the later “Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino” released in 1998 for Windows, which was a more elaborate casino simulation featuring five casino games, party games, gift shops, restaurants, and bars, designed by Al Lowe and based on concepts from the unreleased “LarryLand” project.¹¹

• Previous: 1991 - Leisure Suit Larry 1 - In the Land of the Lounge Lizards VGA
• Next: 1993 - Leisure Suit Larry 6 - Shape Up or Slip Out!

References

Footnotes

1. MobyGames – Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino – release date, developer, publisher, credits, gameplay description, ratings, collection appearances ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹

2. Sierra Chest – Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino – series context, music sourcing, media format, development background ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹

3. MyAbandonware – Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry Casino – user review quotes, alternate ratings ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. Universal Videogame List – Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino – collector edition inclusion, game origins commentary, technical details ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

5. PCGamingWiki – Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino – engine version, video modes, save feature absence, ScummVM compatibility ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

6. MyAbandonware – Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino – abandonware status, file size, user ratings ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

7. GameFAQs – Leisure Suit Larry 1 VGA Walkthrough – character description, casino door bug documentation ↩ ↩²

8. MobyGames – Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards – user review criticizing casino spin-off, VGA remake information ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. Wikipedia – Leisure Suit Larry – series overview, Crazy Nick’s series mention ↩

10. GameFAQs – Leisure Suit Larry 1 Slots Guide – slot machine controls, payout table, strategy commentary ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

11. Larry Laffer.net – Larry’s Casino 1998 – distinction between 1992 and 1998 casino releases, LarryLand origins, money carryover feature ↩ ↩²

12. Al Lowe’s Website – Larry Music History – theme song creation story, composition date, Irving Berlin inspiration ↩ ↩² ↩³

13. Al Lowe’s Website – Music Downloads – music evolution commentary, composer credits for series ↩

14. GameFAQs – Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded – 2013 remake information ↩

15. LaunchBox Games Database – Crazy Nick’s Software Picks: Leisure Suit Larry’s Casino – release date, genre classification, player count ↩