Pick Up

Name:	Pick Up
Company:	20th Century Fox
Model #:	11034
Programmer:	Mark Klein
Year:	1983?
Released?	No
Notes:	Originally called Scoring

This is one game where the name says it all. Your goal is to "pick up" the girl on the left side of the screen for a little err. let's just say for a little midnight rendezvous at the local hotel.  While the concept may be umm... unique, the game was a little too racy for the stuffed suits at 20th Century Fox who wanted to promote more family oriented games like Porky's.  So Pick Up wound up shelved indefinitely.

You control our horny young hero, who must woo the lady of his dreams off her platform by bribing her with various items that fly across the screen.  These objects represent things that drive the ladies wild such as: A fast car, a flower, perfume, money, a wine glass (alcohol), and a heart (true love?).  To capture one of these items you must carefully shoot them as they randomly fly around the top of the screen.  If you shoot the same item twice (which is very easy to do), you loose that item and one of your chances (lives).  If you loose all your chances you'll sink into the ground from embarrassment and spend an eternity rotting in hell (so don't screw this up!).  If you take too long to shoot an item it will begin to flash, this means you have a short amount of time to hit it or you'll lose a chance.

If you succeed in collecting all the items you can run over to the platform, grab your gal, and run off to the Love Nest Hotel.  The hotel screen shows you and your girl entering the building and closing the blinds.  After the deed is done, the sign above the hotel displays how many "Scores" you have.  At this point one begins to wonder if this game wasn't originally intended for Mystique or PlayAround.  After you're  done doing the nasty, you must go back to the main screen (to the left) for another shot at the girl of your dreams.  If you decide that you've had enough of this game and would rather explore the city to the right, a big dog will show up and block your path.  And before you even ask, taking the dog back to the hotel isn't an option!

So why was Pick Up was never released?  Other than its rather adult theme (even if you don't see anything), the video game market was rapidly collapsing and 20th Century Fox decided to get out of the game biz.  Interestingly 20th Century Fox was not the original choice for a publisher, Mark had originally brought the game to Telesys under the even less subtle title 'Scoring' but Telesys rejected it.  Mark also pitched Pick Up to Imagic who wasn't keen on publishing an adult oriented game, but it did end up getting Mark a job there where he wrote Subterranea. While Pick Up is fun in short bursts, its long term playability is questionable and the whole hotel thing gets old fast.  As it stands Pick Up is your average soft porn shooter, suitable for small children and household pets. 

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