Year: 1986

Publisher: Infocom

Developer: Infocom

Creator: Steve Meretzky

Country: US

Genre: Interactive Fiction

Platforms: PC/Mac

Leather Goddesses of Phobos actually began at the intersection of two ongoing jokes at Infocom, according to Jimmy Maher (2015). First, the title began as a joke, and then became the default for projects that had yet to be named (all described in Maher, 2015). Second, when brainstorming games inevitably someone would suggest a porn game. Following a horrible year for the company, Meretzky decided to do a racy, science fiction, comedy type game to give the company the hit it needed to rebound. It was, reportedly, one of the companies better selling titles.

The game had three playing modes: Tame, Suggestive, and Lewd. At the start players can choose male or female for the player character by selecting which restroom they want to use in the opening scene.

This choice, among other minor changes gives them a sidekick of the same gender they select (Trent for male PCs, Tiffany for female PCs). The protagonist must stop the Leather Goddesses from invading Earth and turning it into their pleasure dome. The game was distributed with multiple “feelies” or add ons like 3-D glasses, scratch and sniff cards, etc. The full contents can be seen here.

LGBTQ references in this game:

Leather Goddessess

Citations:

1. Carless, S. (2008, September 20). Great Scott: Infocom’s All-Time Sales Numbers Revealed. Game Set Watch. Retrieved from http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2008/09/great_scott_infocoms_alltime_s.php
2. Cobbett, R. (2010, November 21). Crap Shoot: Leather Goddesses of Phobos. PCGamer. Retrieved from http://www.pcgamer.com/crap-shoot-leather-goddesses-of-phobos/
3. Kalata, K. (2010, September 4). Leather Goddesses of Phobos. Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved from http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/lgop/lgop.htm
4. Leather Goddesses of Phobos. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://infocom.elsewhere.org/gallery/leather/leather.html
5. Leather Goddesses of Phobos. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leather_Goddesses_of_Phobos
6. Leather Goddesses of Phobos. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=3p9fdt4fxr2goctw
7. Leather Goddesses of Phobos. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.the-commodore-zone.com/articlelive/articles/52/1/Leather-Goddesses-of-Phobos/Page1.html
8. Leather Goddesses of Phobos. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.infocom-if.org/games/leatherg/leatherg.html
9. Leather Goddesses of Phobos Transcript. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.lacegem.com/samples/lgop.html
10. Maher, J. (2015, March 5). Leather Goddesses of Phobos (or, Sex Comes ot the Micros—Again). The Digital Antiquarian. Retrieved from http://www.filfre.net/2015/03/leather-goddesses-of-phobos-or-sex-comes-to-the-micros-again/
11. Rosenthal, M.M. (1986, October). Interview with Steve Meretzky. Computer and Video Games. Retrieved from http://archive.org/stream/cvg-magazine-060/CVG_060_Oct_1986#page/n117/mode/2up