Artworx upgraded their digital card table in 1991 with Strip Poker III, trading crude CGA pixels for VGA digitized photographs and adding a crackly Sound Blaster intro quote.

Five-card draw without the AI muscle

The core game loop of Strip Poker III remains strictly anchored to traditional five-card draw poker. You sit across a virtual table from an opponent, receive your dealt hand, and decide whether to fold, call, or raise before exchanging up to three cards to build the best five-card combination. There are no wild cards, exotic house variants, or custom house rules to fiddle with; it is standard poker played for high stakes, where every chip lost brings the computer opponent closer to stripping off another layer of clothes.

While the transition to 256-color VGA photographs made a strong initial impression on PC displays, the actual card intelligence under the hood barely evolved from earlier installments. The game relies on straightforward statistical odds rather than reading your bluffing habits, which makes long matches feel predictable once you learn when the machine tends to hold or fold. If you want to sample other early electronic casino titles from this period, browse our collection of gambling games to see how early card engines compared.

Strip Poker III card playing screen showing poker hand interface — The main interface sticks to a basic five-card draw layout against digitized VGA portraits.

Kami, Laura, and Greta form the main disk roster in Strip Poker III

The base package shipped on disk features three main opponents, structured as tiers of poker competence rather than distinct personalities. You start against Kami, who plays conservatively and makes frequent tactical missteps, making her the easiest target to clean out. Defeating her opens up matches against Laura, before facing Greta, who holds out longer and bets far more aggressively when she hits a strong hand.

The total lack of character background or interactive dialogue means these opponents function purely as portrait swaps with escalating virtual bankrolls. Artworx offset the brief roster by publishing dedicated add-on data disks, which introduced dozens of additional opponents like Kathy, Samantha, Suzi, and even a single male opponent named Jack. However, loading those extra disks on original hardware setups like the Amiga or floppy-based DOS PCs proved notoriously slow and cumbersome for players wanting a change of pace.

Sound Blaster speech meets static VGA captures

Designer duo Doug McFarland and Mitch Garnaat prioritized visual presentation for this third entry, ensuring the 256-color digitized photos looked crisp on standard VGA monitors. The addition of digitized voice lines during the introductory sequence was a notable audio step forward for PC sound cards of the era, moving past simple internal speaker beeps. Beyond that audio intro, however, the game play sound effects drop right back to minimal clicks and system tones.

Visual variety suffers during extended sessions because the digitized portraits only update when an opponent loses all her chips for that round. You end up staring at the exact same static photo across dozens of repetitive hands until the bankroll finally clears. Players looking for other software published in 1991 can explore our historical catalog to compare how developers handled hardware limits across different genres that year.

Strip Poker III opponent screen displaying digitized photo reward — Winning a full stack of chips triggers the next digitized picture in the sequence.

What holds up today and how to play Strip Poker III online

As a poker simulation, the lack of adaptive opponent logic and static match progression means it quickly loses steam once the novelty of the 1990s digitized photography wears off. The strict five-card draw rules offer very little strategic depth, and the complete absence of mid-game bio details leaves the computer players feeling identical in everything but their risk tolerance. It shows how developers used early VGA hardware and sound expansion boards to sell adult software titles.

You can play Strip Poker III free in your browser right now, with full support for the original Artworx Software Company, Inc. release. The browser emulator handles the VGA display modes and digitized sound assets instantly, meaning there is nothing to install and no setup required. Jump straight into a hand against Kami to experience how early 16-bit PC card games balanced low-resolution digital photos with simple table rules.

Players' controls

Touch and gamepad controls

The on-screen keyboard and gamepad mapping the browser player uses on a phone, a tablet or a controller, as opposed to the real keys above. $PRO members make their own in the player and share them here; anyone can pick one to play with.

Make your own touch controlsPRO

1Open the editorSign in below, then pick what to make. The game starts with the editor open over it.
2Place your keysAdd keys and drag them where your thumbs rest, or map a controller's buttons. Test plays the game with them; Save keeps them, and you play with them from then on.
3Share themShare them right after saving in the game, or name and share them here. Players vote, and the best become this game's controls for everyone.

Go PRO See how it works Sign in+20 XP for sharing · +50 XP if yours become the game's own

Choose what you play with. Use picks it, and the game starts with it next time.