Overview and Gameplay
Moe, Larry, and Curly have 30 days to save Ma’s Orphanage from I. Fleecem by raising $5,000. The NES game is a board-style collection of short events: stop Moe’s moving hand on the job market, then earn or lose money through slapstick scenes and minigames.
Jobs include a cracker eating contest, a hospital corridor race, a pie-throwing waiter scene, a boxing errand, and Stooge trivia. Other spaces can award cash, waste a day, or spring mousetraps on Moe’s fingers. The final ending depends on how much money the Stooges collect.
Controls And Mechanics
- Job market: stop the moving hand to choose a job before it speeds past the desired space.
- Minigames: use directional movement and the main action button for scooping crackers, throwing pies, dodging, racing, and selecting trivia answers.
- Slapping game: successful hits slow the job selector, making future choices easier.
- Multiplayer: two-player mode is alternating rather than simultaneous co-op.
Version Notes
This is the licensed USA NES version, based on Cinemaware’s earlier computer game.
Release And Credits
- Release year: 1989
- Developer: Beam Software
- Publisher: Activision
- Original platform context: port of Cinemaware’s 1987 computer game
