 | Playmate of the Month: Ashley Cox, photographed by Mario Casilli, Phillip Dixon and Arny Freytag Scorpio Rising | December’s Ashley Cox is determined to make it big in the movies. And what Ashley wants, Ashley usually gets |
 | The World of Playboy (with Playmate Sondra Theodore) |
| Dear Playboy | |
| Playboy After Hours | |
| The Playboy Advisor | |
| Selected Short: How the South Spread — and The Rose Again, by Julian Bond | |
| Selected Short: Buck Rogers and I, by Ray Russell | |
| Playboy Sex Poll | An informal survey of current sexual attitudes, behavior and insight | |
| The Playboy Forum | |
 | Playboy Interview: John Denver | A candid conversation with the unbelievably cheerful, sweet-singin’ country boy |
 | Fiction: Abhorrent Green Slippery City | As the gondola glided along, Dubin dreamed of passionate love in a fantastic city, by Bernard Malamud |
 | Article: Blackjack for Blood | A top player reveals that all it takes is lots of homework and a steel-trap memory, by Maurice Zolotow, illustrated by John Casado |
 | Parody: Star Spats | Will Luke rescue Princess Orgasma? Can a gay android find happiness in a bit part? Will the universe be saved? Does anybody have a valium? Funny you should ask, by Laurence Gonzales |
 | Pictorial: Whoooooosh — When Rocket Ships Were Really a Blast, illustrated by Ron Villani |
 | Humor: The Dirtiest Old Santa on the Block | Anyone who hates dogs and kids can’t be all bad — unless he’s dumb enough to take a job as Saint Nick, by Jay Cronley, illustrated by Ignacio Gomez |
 | Pictorial Essay: Playboy’s Playmate House Party | (with Playmates Sondra Theodore, Sheila Mullen, Hope Olson, Lillian Müller, Patti McGuire, Lisa Sohm, Denise Michele, Laura Lyons and Susan Lynn Kiger) |
 | Personality: Not Just Another Great White Hope | Is dunking the ball into Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s face really the way to nirvana? For Bill Walton, it’s close, by Ted Green, illustrated by Dickran Palulian |
 | Pictorial Essay: Swingers’ Scrapbook | Tag-team orgies, odd couples, sister twisters, fantasy freaks and other explorers of the sexual frontier — it’s show-and-tell time , as real swingers bare their bodies and souls for our camera and tape recorder, photographed by Robert Scott Hooper |
 | Fiction: The Henry Miller Dawn Patrol | Under the sheet the lone eagle swooped — her widespread legs guiding him like landing-strip lights, by Philip Jose Farmer |
 | Verse: Playboy’s Christmas Cards | Missives and missiles for the jolly season, by Judith Wax, comics by Eldon Dedini, Buck Brown, Don Madden, Rowland Wilson and John Dempsey |
 | Humor: Playboy’s Party Jokes |
 | Food: A Spirited Finale… | In which those lucky stiffs, Shields and Yarnell, really get their juiced desserts, by Emanuel Greenberg, photographed by Mario Casilli |
 | Article: The Humminest Little Football Movie in Town | Turning Kris Kristofferson and Burt Reynolds into genuine gridiron monsters for the making of “Semi Tough” proves to be semi-difficult, by Mark Goodman, illustrated by Kinuko Y. Craft |
 | Gifts: Playboy’s Christmas Gift Guide | Exceptional goodies that make giving and getting a yule delight, photographed by Don Azuma |
 | Symposium: Sex from the Sages | Down through the ages, the famous have talked and written about it — here are some samples from quotable notables, by Edward F. Murphy |
 | Attire: Club Date | Great disco garb for those with fidgety feet, by David Platt, photographed by Bruce Laurance |
 | Article: Sex Stars of 1977 | And, lo, the lady with the three names, the lion’s mane and the pearly teeth led all the rest (with Playmates Daina House and Sondra Theodore) |
 | Article: How I Spent My Spring Vacation | On tour with Kiss in Japan, by David Standish, photographed by Bob Gruen |
 | Humor: Great Moments in Sexual Censorship | As someone never said, “no nudes is good nudes”, by John Blumenthal and Kate Nolan |
 | Music: The 1978 Playboy Music Poll | Cast your ballot for your jazz, rhythm-and-blues, pop/rock and country-and-western favorites, illustrated by Wilson McLean |
 | Compendium: Don’t Pay Attention to Any Advice on Physical Fitness … Except This, by Leonard Gross and G. Barry Golson, photographed by Richard Izui |
 | Cautionary Calisthenics, by Gahan Wilson |
 | Ribald Classic: Tomeu and his Daughters | From the Mallorquin tale from Enginy d’un qui havia feta donaciò, translated by Richard Willis, illustrated by Brad Holland |
 | Pictorial: Card Tricks | How to win friends and influence blondes with a full deck or less — a prestidigitatorial pictorial starring crack card shark Ricky Jay, photographed by Ron Seymour |
 | Humor: Playboy Funnies (Neon Vincent’s Massage Parlor, The Kinky Report, Dirty Duck, Dr. Lustful’s Pictorial Guide to Sexual Success) |
 | Playboy Potpourri | People, places, objects and events of interest or amusement |
 | Satire: Little Annie Fanny, by Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder |
 | Playboy on the Scene: Sports | Going nowhere in a hurry, by Robert L. Green |
 | Playboy on the Scene: Hobbies | First-class females, by Brian R. Peterson |
 | Playboy on the Scene: Grapevine (Dick Cavett, Robert Coover, Johnny Casablancas, Donna Summer, Bruce Dern) |
 | Playboy on the Scene: Sexcetera |
 Alden Erikson |  Bernard Kliban |  Buck Brown |  Eldon Dedini |
 Francis Wilford Smith |  Gahan Wilson |  John Dempsey |  Michael Ffolkes |
 Rowland Wilson |  Roy Raymonde |  Phil Interlandi |  Eldon Dedini |
 Playmate Calendar ad |  Playboy Music Poll ad |  Playboy Book Club ad |  Subscription ad (with Playmate |
Pipe and PJs 