Paradise Café (video game)

Paradise Café is a 1985 Portuguese video game developed by Damatta for the ZX Spectrum, whose identity as of 2025 is still unknown. The game portrays facets of the conservative Portuguese society of the time through the lens of the game's main character, searching for a partner to have sex with.^[1]

The player controls the character searching for adult entertainment in a city,^[1] presumed to be Lisbon. Doors randomly open in the street, which can reveal an old woman, a thief, a policeman, a prostitute or even the door to the titular Paradise Café nightclub. The game starts with 30,000 escudos (€150 as of 2026) and the goal is to accumulate the highest amount of points possible by engaging in several activities. The random nature of the doors can lead to situations where the thief is revealed, causing the player to lose money. At Paradise Café, the player can drink, but can also afford items from people entering the place, such as a gun (for 1000 escudos) or buying or selling drugs. If the player loses money by losing the wallet from the thief, one of the game over scenarios is triggered and Reinaldo is sent to jail. The gun is used to defend from the thief. If the old woman comes out of the door, the player can either rob or rape her. Robbing can earn extra money, while raping can add 100 points to the player. The other game over scenario happens when the character lost his wallet and is visited by the police to check for identification, which puts him in jail.^[2]

Not much information is known about Damatta,^[3] likely due to the context of the society of the time.^[2] Not much information is known about Damatta,^[3] likely due to the context of the society of the time.^[2] The topics tackled in the game were still deemed taboo in the local society of the time of release^[3] The story involving one of the prostitutes and the character Reinaldo is based on an early 80s Portuguese urban legend involving a sexual act between Laura Diogo of girls band Doce and Bissau-born Benfica footballer Reinaldo Gomes, where, after the act, Laura went hospitalized.^[2]

Paradise Café was one out of fifty video games developed in Portugal in the 1980s, and the most remembered of them all.^[1] Even players who didn't have the game were aware of its existence because of its sex and violence.^[3]

In April 2025, Larvae Records issued a 40th anniversary rerelease, coming at a time when initiatives such as the LOAD ZX museum and the massification of the Planeta Sinclair blog reignited interest in the game.^[3]