Poker Face Paul
Poker Face Paul is a series of four video games for Game Gear that simulates various card games, all released in 1994. The individual games are Poker Face Paul's Blackjack, Poker Face Paul's Gin, Poker Face Paul's Poker, and Poker Face Paul's Solitaire.
| Poker Face Paul | |
|---|---|
 Cover art of Poker Face Paul's Blackjack | |
| Developer(s) | Spidersoft (Blackjack, Solitaire), Adrenalin Entertainment (Poker, Gin) |
| Publisher(s) | Sega, Adrenalin Entertainment (Blackjack) |
| Platform(s) | Game Gear |
| Release |
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| Genre(s) | Sports (card games) |
| Mode(s) | Single-player Multiplayer |
Summary
Blackjack
Poker Face Paul's Blackjack is a card game where the player starts out with a certain amount of money on the Las Vegas Strip and play in a series of blackjacks games to either win big or bust. The player can choose to play in four different casinos and can select options on how they play including how much bets are worth and how many decks are used. The game will also help the player out with the rules and regulations of blackjack.
Solitaire
There are four different versions of solitaire to play (Klondike, Monte Carlo, Eleven and Calculation) each with their own look and set of rules. There are in-game instructions as well as hints that will help out the player as the progress. Players can turn these hints on or off as well as change time limit (ten minutes, eight minutes, seven minutes, six minutes, or disabled).
Poker
There are two versions of Poker to choose from: the standard five-card stud where the player competes against computer opponents in an attempt to get a good hand such as a straight, flush, etc.
Video poker is the second option where the player goes at it alone, but still with the same objective as five-card stud trying to assemble a winning hand, however since the player is alone they receive a certain amount of money according to the hand they assemble. There are also instructions that help the player out.
Gin
The player can choose from three different players with each being a level of difficulty: Jack is the easiest and has the player learn the basics, Jane is a medium setting and a little harder while Ming is the hardest setting. Players can also customize a variety of options including rule settings and can learn the basics of Gin through a built-in strategy that is essentially a learning tool.
Reception
In their July 1994 issue GamePro reviewed all of the Poker Face Paul games except Gin. They gave Poker a mostly negative review and outright panned both Blackjack and Solitaire, remarking that all three games suffer from poor graphics and sounds, and that aside from Poker they offer less fun than can be had by playing the game with a real deck of cards, which also cost far less than a Game Gear cartridge.[1]