with the directional keys and by inputting commands into a text parser (e.g. "talk to man", "open window", etc.). If Larry is too far away from a person or object to comply, or if the command is invalid, a caution message appears with hints on what to do. The game begins outside a bar in Lost Wages. The city consists of five areas: Lefty's Bar, a hotel-casino, a 24-hour wedding chapel, a disco, and a convenience store. The player can walk between areas that are next to each other, but other areas can only be accessed by hailing a taxi, which costs the player money; failure to do so results in Larry's being mugged or hit by oncoming traffic. During the early stages of the game, Larry can survive most premature deaths. In the original release, a compartment opens beneath Larry's body and takes him to a laboratory where heroes from Sierra's computer games—such as King's Quest—are re-assembled; in the remake, Larry's remains are instead thrown inside a blender and reformed. Larry's interactions with key women are accompanied by a detailed image of whomever he is speaking with, unlike other non-player characters. With the exception of the prostitute, each of the women shuns Larry at first but responds favorably to gifts of varying sorts. Although it is not possible to woo all of the women, giving gifts is needed to advance to the game's final area, the hotel penthouse. To this end, money is essential to advance through the game. The only available method of augmenting Larry's funds is to gamble in the casino, playing blackjack and slots. Players are given seven real-time hours (eight in the 1991 remake) to complete the game, at which point a despairing Larry commits suicide, resulting in game over. A prostitute is available as soon as the game starts. Should Larry have unprotected intercourse with her, he will contract a sexually transmitted disease and die shortly thereafter. This fate may be avoided by buying a condom at the convenience store. Larry questions the validity of losing his virginity to a prostitute, but the game resumes without a time limit. Development and release Al Lowe, a former high school teacher, had carved a niche for himself at Sierra with his work on such Disney-licensed edutainment titles as Donald Duck's Playground, Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood, and The Black Cauldron, which he wrote,