6. COVERGIRL POKER (32%, ISSUE 20)

The above video is a compilation of strip poker games for the C64. The one we talk about here is the first one in the clip.

The most naked of naked girls are but a Google search away these days, ‘course. But – save for the moment a kid in school managed to get away with looking old enough to buy a jazz mag from the local newsies – those kind of images were harder to find in the early 1990s.

Commodore_Format_Issue_20_1992_05_0037 — £16 was a crazy price for a cassette game, especially when poker sims’ were free via PD. [CLICK TO READ FULL REVIEW]

‘Male interest’ publications aside, there was also The Daily Sport paper. And the girls from it lend their names and images to this game from Emotional Pictures (who? – Ed).

You get $2,500 to start with, as does the girl of your choice. At the top of the screen is a small, mono, digitised picture of her. What you have to do is decide how strong your hand is, whether to swap some or all of your cards, and how much you should bet. You have to win as much as you can per hand, and if you get to zero it’s game over. Each time you “win”, the girl takes off an item of clothing.

And that’s it, really. The poker isn’t badly done, and it can be quite easy to play against the computer – at least at first. The better you are the tougher it gets, and it has most of the features you would expect from a poker sim’. The thing is, it was £15.99 at the time. And poker games of equal strength were available for free via the public domain. Which leaves the topless girls as the only attraction.

And the Daily Sport was certainly a cheaper option there, too. CF

CF SAID: “Don’t write in asking for POKEs.”

WE SAY: Lame graphics, poor instructions and not even the option to, er , use your joystick. If you’re good at poker the game eventually becomes impossible, too.