How to play Pick Up online
- Move left and right: left and right arrow keys
- Shoot: Space bar
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
Gameplay
Your character walks along the bottom of the screen. The woman waits on a platform at the left, and a set of objects flies around randomly at the top: a fast car, a flower, perfume, money, a wine glass and a heart. You need to shoot each of them once. The catch is that you must not shoot the same kind of object twice. If you do, you lose that object again and one of your lives, and her platform drops a step closer to the ground. An object that is left alone too long starts to flash, and you then have only a short time to hit it before it costs you a life too.
Once you have collected all six objects, you run over to the platform and leave with her. A short scene shows the couple walking into the Love Nest Hotel and the blinds closing, and the sign above the hotel shows your score. Then the next round begins. If you lose all your lives, your character sinks into the ground in embarrassment and the game is over.
Tips
- Keep track of what you already have. Repeating an object is the most common way to lose a life, so check which items are left before every shot.
- Deal with flashing items first. A flashing object will cost you a life if you ignore it.
Why Pick Up was never released
Mark Klein first offered the game to the publisher Telesys under the even less subtle name “Scoring”, and they turned it down. He also pitched it to Imagic, which did not want to publish an adult game but did hire him; at Imagic he went on to write Subterranea. 20th Century Fox took on Pick Up, but by then the video game market was collapsing, and Fox left the games business before the cartridge came out. The surviving prototype, labelled revision 4, appears complete. In 2002 it was finally released at the Classic Gaming Expo with its own label, box and instructions.
Similar games to play next
- Subterranea – the game Mark Klein went on to write at Imagic
- Porky’s – a 20th Century Fox cartridge based on the teen comedy film
- Unknown 20th Century Fox Game – another unreleased 20th Century Fox prototype
- The Entity – another 20th Century Fox game that was never released