Strip Poker

A Sizzling Game of Chance


What is it? US
The first strip poker computer game ever, 1982, Apple ][, ported to a wide number of platforms.
What computer or emulator will it run on?
System requirements are in general very low.
Similar Games
Hollywood Poker, Samantha Fox Strip Poker, Teenage Queen.

According to Artworx, theirs is the first strip poker game ever. I have no reason to doubt this. It was released over the years in a wide variety of versions, which were all sold in the same box:

Apple ][, 1982

The first version, by Roger Harnish. The graphics by Joanne Adams look rather strange since the Apple ]['s garish palette wasn't really fit for the depiction of humans. It gives an interesting surreal effect, though.

Commodore 64, 1983

Sheldon Leemon & Glen Carbon. This version had new graphics by Doug McFarland. The palette used is the Pepto palette.

Atari 800, 1983

I know no very little about this version. I found it only on the Polish page listed among the links below. The screenshot you can find there shows completely different graphics. These screenshots, which show the Doug McFarland artwork, were uploaded to MobyGames in June 2006.

DOS/CGA, 1985

This looks like a quick hack of the C64 version. There are no credits on the title screen and the graphics are the same. Still it looks better than most other CGA games.

Amiga, 1986

Unsurprisingly, graphics were redrawn for this little known version. The cards are moved to the top of the opponent graphics.

Atari ST, 1987

ST conversion by Arthur Walsh and Todd Kepus. While the title screen was redrawn and cards moved to the bottom again, opponents are taken from the Amiga version with little changes. On MobyGames, you will find an Atari ST screenshot that exactly matches the one I have for the Amiga, only the T-shirt is green.

The Sequels

Strip Poker II (Apple ][GS, Amiga, DOS/EGA) was just a version of the same game with better graphics, while Strip Poker Three, released in 1991 for Amiga and DOS/VGA, was a completely new game. You now played against three opponents, and digitized speech was added.

Just a word about the nomenclature: the name of the game was always simply Strip Poker, not Artworx Strip Poker. But since have been many strip poker games since, it has become good practice to include the company name, especially since it was prominently displayed on all three title screens. An apostrophe was added to it only in the third game, and the version numbers were really II (Roman numerals) and Three (spelled out).

Links


Last modified 2006-11-09