The Three Stooges is a video game originally released by Cinemaware in 1987 for the Commodore Amiga personal computer, based on the comedy act of the same name. In the game, players control Stooges Moe, Larry and Curly in minigames based on classic Stooges films with the aim of raising enough money to save an orphanage. The game was later ported for different systems including the Apple IIGS, Commodore 64, NES and Game Boy Advance. A remake of the game was also released for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh. While the game has been praised as a faithful adaptation of the Stooges films, it has been criticized for repetitive gameplay and limited replay value.
Game designer John Cutter designed the game as a kind of board game. The Three Stooges must rescue an old woman's orphanage by earning money in various minigames based on various Three Stooges films. These include cracker-eating contests (based on the Stooges short Dutiful But Dumb) and boxing contests (based on the short Punch Drunks). Players select minigames by timing a button press as a hand randomly points to various symbols representing in-game events, including non-interactive events that can increase the Stooges' cash total. Each event takes up one in-game day - players have thirty in-game days to earn as much money as they can.
Several different game endings are received depending on the amount of money the player has earned after the thirty days, the worst being where the banker has repossessed the orphanage on account of the Stooges failing to retire the debt; the best of which has the Stooges not only saving but renovating the orphanage and marrying the orphanage owner's three daughters.