Softporn Adventure

Last updated: January 10, 2026

Overview

Softporn Adventure is a comedic, adult-oriented text adventure game released in 1981, notable for being the only pure text adventure ever published by Sierra (then known as On-Line Systems).¹ Created by Chuck Benton as a programming exercise to teach himself Applesoft BASIC, the game became an unexpected commercial success and cultural phenomenon that would later inspire the beloved Leisure Suit Larry series.² Set in the fictional city of “Lost Vagueness” in a dystopian vision of the year 2020 A.D., the game tasks players with seducing three different women while navigating a world of bars, casinos, and discos.³

The game achieved remarkable market penetration during the early days of personal computing. Ken Williams, founder of On-Line Systems, claimed that at a time when Apple had only sold 100,000 Apple II computers, Sierra had sold 25,000 copies of Softporn Adventure—suggesting that roughly one in four Apple II owners may have played the game.⁴ This made it arguably “the first commercially successful, adult-oriented software ever.”⁵ The game’s controversial cover photograph, featuring three nude women (including Roberta Williams) and a waiter in a hot tub, became more famous than the game itself and was featured in Time magazine’s first-ever article on computer games in October 1981.⁶

Despite its commercial success and historical significance, Softporn Adventure received mixed reviews even in its era. Critics found it “hopelessly addicting” while lamenting that the author “didn’t take the time to make his program a bit classier.”⁷ The game’s crude parser and adult content made it both notorious and influential, ultimately serving as the foundation for Al Lowe’s graphical remake, Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, released in 1987.⁸

Game Info

Developer: Blue Sky Software² Designer: Chuck Benton² Publisher: On-Line Systems² Engine: Applesoft BASIC⁹ Platforms: Apple II, Atari 8-bit, MS-DOS¹⁰ Release Year: 1981 Series: Standalone Protagonist: Unnamed male protagonist Sierra Lineage: Core Sierra

Story Summary

The game is set in the year 2020 A.D., presenting a satirical dystopian future where “the skies are green with plutonium, interest rates are doubling annually, the world has become weird and bizarre.”³ In this strange world, “discount sin cities have popped up around the country,” and the player finds themselves in one such establishment.¹¹ The premise reflects 1970s disco culture despite its futuristic setting, creating an anachronistic atmosphere that Al Lowe would later describe as “so outdated that it ought to be wearing a leisure suit.”¹²

The player takes on the role of an unnamed male protagonist whose singular objective is to “score” with three different women before the night is over.¹³ The game manual states bluntly: “Your objective is to ‘score’ three times. You must hunt down your female prey and do your thing.”¹⁴ Each woman has a distinct personality and requires different approaches and items to win her affections. The three main locations—a bar, a casino, and a disco—serve as hunting grounds where the player must gather items and solve puzzles to progress.¹⁵

Chuck Benton claimed that parts of the game were semi-autobiographical, parodying “the dilemmas of a young single male,” though he never specified which elements were drawn from real life.⁵ The game’s narrative, while crude by modern standards, represented an attempt at adult humor in interactive fiction. The descriptions of the women encountered include passages describing physical attributes in explicit terms, establishing a tone that contemporary critics found both entertaining and problematic.¹⁶

The plot, while simple, proved influential enough that Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards (1987) was described as “a nearly direct graphical adaptation” with “almost identical” story and scenarios.¹⁷ The game concludes when the player successfully seduces all three women, though the journey involves various hazards including the possibility of getting killed by a bouncer in the disco.⁶

Gameplay

Interface and Controls

Softporn Adventure employs a two-word parser system typical of early text adventures, requiring players to type simple verb-noun commands to interact with the game world.¹⁸ Players navigate using directional commands (N, S, E, W, U, D) and manage their inventory using the INVENTORY command.¹⁹ The parser has been widely criticized as “extremely poor,” with reviewers noting that “the limited parser seems especially bad when considering that Infocom was using a much more powerful parser for their games during the same period.”²⁰

The interface requires players to use very specific language, often leading to frustration. One reviewer noted that the game “alternates between simple, boring puzzles and parser-wrestling nightmares.”²¹ Unlike more sophisticated text adventures of the era, Softporn Adventure’s parser struggles with synonyms and expects exact phrasing. The game memorably responds to spelling errors with the message: “Learn to spell, idiot!!!”²²

Structure and Progression

The game world consists of three primary locations that the player must navigate:

• The Bar: The starting location where players begin their adventure with $2,500 in their pocket¹⁹
• The Casino: Features gambling mechanics including blackjack, where players can win or lose money needed for progression²³
• The Disco: A hazardous location where encounters with bouncers can prove fatal⁶

Additional locations include a whorehouse, wedding chapel, and penthouse, each serving specific purposes in the player’s quest.²⁴ Players must collect various items and use them in creative ways to win over each of the three women. Money management plays a crucial role, as items cost money and casino games can deplete resources quickly—a shot of whisky costs $100 in the game’s inflated economy.²⁵

Puzzles and Mechanics

The game’s puzzle design follows Chuck Benton’s philosophy of “100 simple puzzles better than 1 killer.”²⁶ Players must locate and use items appropriately, including finding passwords hidden in bathroom graffiti (the password “BELLYBUTTON” appears on the wall)²⁷ and remembering phone numbers from radio commercials (555-0987 for wine delivery).²⁷

Unlike most adult interactive fiction of the era, “Softporn Adventure has actual puzzles and gameplay outside of simple seduction.”²¹ The game includes functional casino minigames where players can gamble their starting funds, and various inventory puzzles requiring items to be combined or used in specific locations. One reviewer noted it was “one of the few text adventures you can play without first downloading a tutorial.”²⁸

The death system is notably harsh and somewhat random. When the player dies, they’re presented with numbered options for revival, but the outcomes are random despite being numbered, and choosing the wrong option can throw the player back to DOS without a reload option.⁴

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

Softline magazine’s January 1982 review by Derrick Bang offered a mixed assessment, calling the game “a refreshing change of pace from the average software game” while criticizing it for reinforcing “the notion that all computer freaks are emotionally underdeveloped high school and college boys.”⁷ The review described the game as “hopelessly addicting” but lamented that “it’s just a shame that [the author] didn’t take the time to make his program a bit classier.”⁷

ANTIC magazine’s December 1982 review by Davey Saba was more positive, stating “When you get tired of shoot ‘em up attacks, Softporn Adventures by ONLINE SYSTEMS could be a refreshing break.”²⁵ Saba noted the game was one of his first adventure game purchases and concluded that “Even though my favorite game is still Centipede, Softporn is a welcome addition to my software library.”²⁵

French gaming magazine Jeux & Stratégie reviewed the game in April 1982, with Michel Brassinne praising the gambling mechanics.¹⁰ The Dirty Book gave the game a score of “X-tatic” (3 of 4 stars), calling it a “challenging adventure with a twist.”¹⁰

Modern Assessment

Modern retrospectives have been significantly harsher. PC Gamer’s Richard Cobbett declared “Softporn Adventure is absolutely dreadful and only a moron would defend it even as a product of its time,” further stating it’s “jaw-droppingly awful. Even by the standards of the era.”¹⁶ GameFAQs reviewer SPaul gave it 3/10, writing “From Sierra comes the inspiration for Leisure Suit Larry. Too bad Larry did it much, much better” and “There’s toxic waste that’s better to handle than this crap.”²⁴

However, some modern critics have found merit in the game. The Digital Antiquarian’s Jimmy Maher wrote “I found Softporn really, genuinely funny.”²⁶ Academic researcher Laine Nooney of NYU offered a more nuanced perspective, arguing that “Softporn is a game that is least interesting as a game, and is most interesting as a piece of social theatre” and that “The dialogue around Softporn was perhaps the first time a cultural debate was happening in and around a computer gaming community itself.”²⁹

Aggregate Scores:

• MobyGames: 70% (Critics), 4.0/5 (Players)⁴
• IMDB: 6.7/10 (30 ratings)³⁰
• GameFAQs: 2/5 (13 users), ranked #1 lowest rated Atari 800 adventure game³¹
• MyAbandonware: 3.82/5 (22 votes)³²
• IFDB: Grade C (12 ratings)²¹
• Adventure Gamers: Poor (community rating)³³

Development

Origins

Softporn Adventure began as a programming exercise when Chuck Benton, a Massachusetts native, purchased an Apple II computer and decided to teach himself Applesoft BASIC by creating a game.² According to Gary Thompson, who later ported the game to DOS, “Chuck thought that a perfect test of database programming would be to write a little adventure game… thus Softporn was born.”³⁴ Benton believed databases were the future of computing and designed the game around multiple database concepts.⁴

The game was originally titled “Super Stud Adventure” during development.⁵ Benton created it partly to entertain himself and his friends, conducting weekend playtesting sessions to gather feedback and refine the gameplay.²⁶ He never initially intended for commercial release, making the game primarily as a personal project and learning exercise.³⁵

Production

Benton self-published the game under his own company name, Blue Sky Software, initially producing approximately 1,000 copies and selling only about 100.⁵ He had difficulty finding a mainstream publisher due to the adult content, as computer magazines refused to carry advertisements for the game.³⁶ The breakthrough came when Ken Williams discovered the game at a trade show (AppleFest) and decided to give it a chance with On-Line Systems.³⁵

Upon acquisition by On-Line Systems, Benton rewrote portions of the game for publication.⁵ The game’s success was immediate—it temporarily doubled On-Line’s sales and caused work to halt at the company office as employees became absorbed in playing it.³⁶ By October 1981, approximately 4,000 copies had been sold, eventually reaching an estimated 50,000 copies over its commercial lifetime.³⁶

Development Credits:²

• Designer/Programmer: Chuck Benton
• Publisher: On-Line Systems (Ken Williams)
• DOS Port (1991): Gary Thompson

Technical Achievements

Written in Applesoft BASIC for the Apple II, Softporn Adventure required 48K of memory.²⁶ The game utilized disk-based text files for its narrative content and employed a simple two-word parser system.¹⁸ While technically modest compared to contemporaneous Infocom titles, the game demonstrated that adult-themed content could be commercially viable in the nascent computer game market.

The game’s structure—featuring multiple locations, inventory management, casino minigames, and multiple “endings” based on successful seductions—established a template that would influence the later graphical Leisure Suit Larry games.¹⁷

Technical Specifications

Apple II Version:²⁶

• Memory: 48K RAM required
• Storage: 5.25” floppy disk
• Display: Text-only, no graphics
• Sound: None
• Language: Applesoft BASIC

MS-DOS Version (1991):³⁴

• Programming: Microsoft C, Quick-Assembler, Macro-Assembler
• Display: Supports 43/50 line screens
• Screen Modes: Text-based

Cut Content

Chuck Benton had plans for additional content that never materialized. A female version of the game was planned in response to customer requests but was never completed.²⁶ Benton also considered a university-based sequel inspired by the film Animal House, but this project was abandoned.²⁶ Additionally, a graphical version was planned but stalled, though this concept would eventually be realized years later through Al Lowe’s Leisure Suit Larry.⁵

Version History

Version	Date	Platform	Notes
Original	Spring 1981	Apple II	Blue Sky Software self-published release32
On-Line Systems	1981	Apple II	Commercial release after Ken Williams acquisition2
Atari 8-bit	June 14, 1981	Atari 400/800	Port to Atari platforms37
PC Port 1.1	Late 1980s	MS-DOS	Gary Thompson shareware version with 43/50 line support34
PC Port 2.1	~1991	MS-DOS	Major rewrite, bug fixes, casino games redesigned34
PC Port 2.2	1994	MS-DOS	CD-ROM release in LSL Greatest Hits34
PC Port 2.3	1994	MS-DOS	Added file-missing error trap34
PC Port 2.4	1994	MS-DOS	Bug fix for taxi driver payment calculation34
Las Vegas	1986	PC-88, PC-98, FM-7, Sharp X1	Japanese graphical remake by Starcraft10
Z-code Port	October 18, 1997	Z-Machine	Ported by Patrick Kellum38
Browser	2002	Web	Unofficial browser port39

Technical Issues

The MS-DOS port by Gary Thompson contained several bugs in early versions. Most notably, a taxi driver payment bug in versions prior to 2.4 would give the player $65,000 instead of charging the correct fare.³⁴ The game was also known for its unforgiving death system, where choosing certain revival options would exit the game entirely to DOS without allowing a save reload.⁴

The parser’s limitations frustrated many players, with one commenter noting: “This game is soooo hard!!! I am bald from pulling my hair out… The major improvement [Al Lowe] made was making it possible to win Leisure Suit Larry without a walk-through, or a PHD.”³²

Easter Eggs and Trivia

• Bathroom Graffiti: The password “BELLYBUTTON” is hidden in bathroom graffiti and is essential for progression²⁷
• Phone Number: The wine delivery phone number 555-0987 must be remembered from a radio commercial²⁷
• TV Distraction: Setting the TV to channel 6 can distract certain characters²⁷
• Television Channels: The game includes humorous descriptions when flipping through TV channels⁴
• Hot Tub Cover Photo: The famous cover photograph was taken in Ken and Roberta Williams’ actual hot tub at their home. All the women in the photo—including Roberta Williams—were completely nude, though only visible from the shoulders up⁴⁰
• Time Magazine: The cover image appeared in Time magazine’s first-ever article about computer games on October 5, 1981⁶
• Tom Clancy Connection: Chuck Benton knew Tom Clancy personally, and a character named Jones in The Hunt for Red October was allegedly inspired by Benton²⁶

Legacy

Sales and Commercial Impact

Softporn Adventure achieved remarkable commercial success for its era. Ken Williams claimed that Sierra sold 25,000 copies at a time when Apple had only sold 100,000 Apple II computers total, suggesting the game may have been “played by the highest percentage of computer owners of any game in history.”⁴ With copies selling at $29.95,thegamegeneratedsubstantialrevenue—estimatedataround$1.4 million gross.⁴¹

The game’s success had immediate impact on On-Line Systems, temporarily doubling the company’s sales.⁷ For Chuck Benton personally, “After a while, the royalty checks outstripped his salary and Chuck quit to go to developing software full time.”⁵ The game was also widely pirated and bootlegged, particularly among high school students, further expanding its cultural reach.⁴⁰

Collections

The game was included in Sierra’s “Leisure Suit Larry’s Greatest Hits and Misses!” collector’s edition CD-ROM in 1994, featuring an updated, bug-fixed PC version (2.2).³⁴ This remains the most accessible official release of the game. The game is also available as freeware on Al Lowe’s personal website.¹

Fan Projects

Gary Thompson’s 1991 DOS port represents a significant fan preservation effort. Thompson spent approximately three months recreating the game in C after discovering the original in 1984, later claiming “my game is the only surviving copy of the original Softporn.”³⁴ The game has also been ported to Z-code format by Patrick Kellum in 1997, allowing it to run on Z-Machine emulators.³⁸

A Pascal port by Paul Schlyter was created in 1986 for CP/M and MS-DOS, originally as a learning exercise for Turbo Pascal 3.0.²² More recently, modern Free Pascal ports have been developed to preserve the game for contemporary systems.²²

Related Publications

• Original Game Manual: Included with Apple II release, containing game instructions and the famous warning about adult content¹⁴
• Shareware Manual (DOS): Gary Thompson’s comprehensive manual documenting the port’s development history and version changes³⁴

Critical Perspective

Softporn Adventure occupies a unique and somewhat uncomfortable position in gaming history. As potentially the first commercially successful adult-oriented software, it helped establish that video games could address mature themes—even if crudely—and still achieve commercial success.⁵ The game’s influence on the Leisure Suit Larry series cannot be overstated; Al Lowe’s 1987 remake retained the puzzles, locations, and basic premise while adding graphics, humor, and the iconic character of Larry Laffer.⁸

Laine Nooney’s academic analysis frames the game’s significance beyond its gameplay: “The dialogue around Softporn was perhaps the first time a cultural debate was happening in and around a computer gaming community itself.”²⁹ The controversy surrounding the game, including hate mail “some of it full of Bible scripture and prophecy of the damnation ahead,”²⁶ presaged decades of debates about adult content in video games.

The cover photograph, more than the game itself, became a cultural artifact of the early personal computing era. Nooney noted that “These people were friends, they were screwing around in a time before Twitter and Instagram, doing regrettable things they really couldn’t fathom the ultimate reach of.”²⁹ That Roberta Williams—who would become one of gaming’s most celebrated designers—appeared nude on the cover of an adult game speaks to the informal, pioneering spirit of the early Sierra years.

As Al Lowe observed when approached to remake it: “that game is so out of date it should be wearing a leisure suit”—a quip that ultimately named the franchise that would far eclipse its predecessor.¹²

Downloads

Purchase / Digital Stores

• GOG - Included in some Leisure Suit Larry collections

Download / Preservation

• Internet Archive - Apple II Version⁴²
• Al Lowe’s Website - Free download¹
• MyAbandonware³²
• IF Archive - Source Code⁴³

Manuals & Extras

• DOS Manual (Gary Thompson Version)³⁴

Series Continuity

Softporn Adventure stands as the precursor to the entire Leisure Suit Larry series, though it differs significantly in tone and presentation. While the original game was a straightforward (if crude) adult text adventure, Al Lowe’s graphical remake in 1987 transformed the material into comedy, introducing the lovable loser Larry Laffer as the protagonist.⁸ Lowe noted that “There were no characters in the game. There was no central character at all. There were almost no characters to the women. And so it was a real role-over. I think there’s one line of dialogue that I kept of the original game and all the rest was fresh.”⁴⁴

The game’s setting of “Lost Vagueness” became “Lost Wages” in the Larry series, and the three-women-to-seduce structure remained intact. However, where Softporn Adventure played its premise relatively straight, Leisure Suit Larry used the same framework for parody and satire. The Larry series would continue for multiple sequels, becoming one of Sierra’s flagship franchises, while Softporn Adventure faded into obscurity—remembered primarily as a historical curiosity and the unlikely origin of a gaming icon.

• Next: 1987 - Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards

References

Footnotes

1. Al Lowe’s Official Website – Downloads – confirmation as only non-graphic Sierra game, download availability ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. MobyGames – Softporn Adventure – developer, designer, publisher, release information ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

3. Sierra Chest – Softporn Adventure – game setting, year 2020 premise, narrative description ↩ ↩²

4. MobyGames – Softporn Adventure Trivia – Ken Williams sales claims, death system bugs, trivia ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

5. Get Lamp Interview – Chuck Benton – development history, original title, autobiographical elements, sales figures ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

6. Time Magazine / Yahoo Finance – The Odd History of the First Erotic Computer Game – Time magazine coverage, sales data, disco bouncer hazard ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

7. Wikipedia – Softporn Adventure – Softline review quotes, sales impact, reception ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

8. Ars Technica – History of Graphic Adventures – Al Lowe remake, AGI version, Larry Laffer introduction ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. Grokipedia – Softporn Adventure – Applesoft BASIC engine, technical specifications ↩

10. Wikipedia – Softporn Adventure – platform releases, Jeux & Stratégie review, Japanese remake ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

11. Data Driven Gamer – Softporn Adventure – game manual premise, dystopian setting ↩

12. IGN – Talking Leisure Suit Larry with Al Lowe – “leisure suit” quote origin, remake context ↩ ↩²

13. Hardcore Gaming 101 – Softporn Adventure – game objective, starting location ↩

14. Abandonware DOS – Softporn Adventure Manual – game manual quotes, objective description ↩ ↩²

15. Gamer Walkthroughs – Softporn Adventure – three locations, Leisure Suit Larry connection ↩

16. PC Gamer – Saturday Crapshoot: Softporn Adventure – modern critical assessment, game text quotes ↩ ↩²

17. Game Solutions – Softporn Adventure Walkthrough – comparison to Leisure Suit Larry, player comments ↩ ↩²

18. The Adventurers’ Guild – Missed Classic: Softporn (1981) – two-word parser, Sierra history ↩ ↩²

19. Gamer Walkthroughs – Softporn Adventure – controls, starting money, inventory system ↩ ↩²

20. MyAbandonware – Softporn Adventure – HOTUD review, parser criticism vs Infocom ↩

21. IFDB – Softporn Adventure – user ratings, puzzle content assessment, parser issues ↩ ↩² ↩³

22. GitHub – Softporn Modern Port – error messages, Pascal port history, game objectives ↩ ↩² ↩³

23. Games Nostalgia – Softporn Adventure – casino gameplay, blackjack learning ↩

24. GameFAQs – Softporn Adventure Review – review score, locations, critical assessment ↩ ↩²

25. ANTIC Magazine – December 1982 Review – Davey Saba review, price ($29.95), economy details ↩ ↩² ↩³

26. The Digital Antiquarian – Softporn – development philosophy, playtesting, cut content, hate mail ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

27. Sierra Chest – Softporn Adventure Walkthrough – easter eggs, passwords, phone numbers ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

28. Games Nostalgia – Softporn Adventure Review – accessibility praise, tutorial not needed ↩

29. Gamasutra/Game Developer – Secret Histories of Indie Games (IndieCade) – Laine Nooney academic analysis ↩ ↩² ↩³

30. IMDB – Softporn Adventure – user rating, credits ↩

31. GameFAQs – Softporn Adventure Stats – user ratings, rankings ↩

32. MyAbandonware – Softporn Adventure – user ratings, developer comments, difficulty ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

33. Adventure Gamers – Softporn Adventure – community rating, publication details ↩

34. Abandonware DOS – Softporn Adventure Manual (Gary Thompson) – DOS port history, version information, bug fixes ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

35. RetroMania.gg – Softporn Adventure – trade show discovery, publishing difficulties ↩ ↩²

36. Retro365 Blog – Softporn – sales timeline, company impact, advertising difficulties ↩ ↩² ↩³

37. Every Game Going – Softporn Adventure – Atari release date, technical specifications ↩

38. IFWiki – Softporn Adventure – Z-code port by Patrick Kellum ↩ ↩²

39. MobyGames – Softporn Adventure (Browser) – 2002 browser version details ↩

40. Sierra Fandom Wiki – Softporn Adventure – cover photo details, bootlegging, Time magazine ↩ ↩²

41. Methodshop – Softporn Adventure – revenue calculations, market penetration ↩

42. Internet Archive – Softporn Adventure – preservation, file details ↩

43. IF Archive – Softporn Source – source code availability ↩

44. Choicest Games – Where Are They Now: Al Lowe – Al Lowe quotes on rewriting, one retained line ↩