Samantha Fox Strip Poker - The Video Game

In 1986, we were in a world of pre-internet entertainment accessed by means of videos (VHS or Betamax) and retro gaming platforms. Gamers would use consoles like the Commodore 64 or a ZX Spectrum to play a range of popular standards like Pac-Man, Tetris, Super Mario or the wonderfully-titled Donkey Kong.

The live version of strip poker that you'd play on strip poker party night with friends was as popular then as ever, just as the thought of being able to encourage those friends to remove clothing and get down to their underwear for a bit of fun.

But playing a video game alone was an interesting option for those of us that couldn't pull that sort of party together, and these single-player games began to attract some interest from gamers. Strip poker apps were unheard of at that time, so video gaming was the only real alternative to a live party.

Perhaps it slipped under the radar slightly, but 1986 gave us the ultimate single-player video game of Samantha Fox Strip Poker. The glamour model was 20 years old at the time and had appeared as a Page Three Girl in Britain’s biggest-selling newspaper, The Sun. She was a household name and even launched a pop career with three top 10 singles in the US and UK singles charts. The game did well, although it had little competition at the time other than the Artworx Strip Poker video game series.

It was at the height of Sam's career when Software Communications developed and launched a video game, which would see poker players complete challenging tasks for a reward of Samantha Fox removing several items of clothing until nudity.

In the game itself, players would challenge the computers’ skills (using Samantha Fox’s name) at 5-card stud poker. Players could also use the International 7-card stud mode as an alternative. The more winning hands that are produced, the more items of clothing were debagged by the former model.

Samantha Fox Strip Poker gameplay screenshot courtesy of MobyGames.com

The video game cost just £1.99 ($3.00) when purchased for use on the Commodore 64 or 128 platform. It was slightly more expensive when purchased for the Spectrum 48K platform.

Promotion

Although the graphics and concept of the game may seem dated by today’s standards, it was promoted as a groundbreaking idea at the time. Taglines like: “Will you be able to tell if Sam is bluffing?” and “Will you be able to keep your cool when the stakes are high?” seemingly stem from the Las Vegas casino heydays of the 1970s.

However cheesy and dated this game might appear to the modern gaming enthusiast community, its appeal seems to be taking a huge interest today. This attraction is known as “retro appeal” and examples of this can be seen in today’s museums.

The British Science Museum has a huge section of retro features that formed part of our everyday lives in the 1970s and 1980s. Consoles like the BBC Apple computer, the MSX home computer, and Space Invaders machines can be seen today displayed on the top floor of the London museum.

A publishing company Martech handled the promotion of the video by claiming it was “probably the most powerful simulation ever written for a home microcomputer”. The term “microcomputer” was used back then to mean a console with a keyboard that was small enough to sit on the desk at home. One must bear in mind that computers in 1986 formed an entire room in an office building and had to be delivered in 40-foot arctic trailers.

What Else in Included in the Game?

When the game was developed, it came with background music of “The Entertainer” by Scott Joplin (or rather a digitally enhanced cover version). David Rose’s “The Stripper” is also played as a winning hand rewards an item of clothing to be despatched by Samantha Fox.

The original game came with a manual and was categorized as erotic poker. It was even made available on the BBC Micro home system in the form of a 5.25-inch disc later in the year of its release.

Perhaps the release of Samantha Fox Strip Poker was a little too late. Her modeling career had peaked and Ms. Fox announced she would be retiring from posing topless in newspapers and would instead concentrate on her singing career.

This career move may have hampered sales of the retro game back in the day – but as for today, it is slowly becoming a novel attraction of the way we used to be technically, some 35 years ago.