Leisure Suit Larry Rolls the Dice

What would you do if you had a completely built casino engine and an outrageous character with nothing to do? Put them together obviously - cheese up the gaming experience, throw in innumerable one-liners and some silly group games, and make said outrageous character essentially the only employee in the entire casino. Do this and you've got Leisure Suit Larry Casino, the latest in Sierra's off-color series, due out this May.

We went to Sierra last week and got a good look at the game and chatted with designer Al Lowe.

The scoop: Casino play is set up so that five at a time can sit at a table and you can see the folks you're playing against at all times. Larry's the dealer and you choose your persona from a roster of characters from past Larry games.

Chat is going to play a big part in this game - type an emoticon in and the corresponding smile/frown/shocked look will show up on your face - same for everyone else playing.

And if you go for broke and get there, you'll have to earn more money before you can play again. So leave the table and head into the chat areas where you can test your mettle as a stand-up comedian, try to write the best line to add to the group "story" that's being written, try out your finest pickup lines and see if they actually work, or play "You Don't Know Dick" - a minigame that functions exactly like Balderdash, except you make up the word, in addition to its definition. All the other folks in the area will vote in each of the games, and if you tell the best jokes or write the most astounding line, you'll be awarded Larry bucks, the key to getting back in the game.

A restaurant and a gift shop will be available to help you spend your Larry bucks ("It's a way to brag if have been winning," adds Lowe), along with a wedding chapel, where Larry begins as a man of the cloth and ends up turning into Elvis - the wedding of your dreams, no doubt.

And don't forget that Larry designed the casino: Everyone at the tables is naked (you can't see anything) and there are hot tubs all over the place in true Larry style.

Fans of the series have a scant few months to wait to get their feet wet.