Top 10 Card Games

Top 10 Card Games

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Regardless of age, culture, or background, this is one popular pastime that humans will always go to for a good time. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down our picks for the top 10 card games. For this list, we’re taking a look at traditional card games that you can play using a conventional deck of playing cards, rather than a specially printed deck. Sorry Uno; we think you’re fun too.

#10: Crazy Eights

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This card game falls into the category of a shedding game, where the objective is to be the first player to get rid of all your cards. That means that players try to match the rank or suit of the top card of the discard pile, or failing that put down an eight. If they do not have any of these, they must take cards from the stockpile until they get a card they can play. With many variations to this game existing under many different names, including Screw Your Neighbor, anywhere from two to seven people can join in on a hand of this crazy fun.

This All-American game with Depression era roots became popular during World War II, as soldiers from its birthplace in Cincinnati, Ohio taught it to military men from various nations across the globe. In this trick-taking game, each player or team, with 13 cards in hand in the case of four players or teams, must commit to win a certain number of tricks – which are basically rounds. Better hope you have some spades in your hand, however, as they act as the trump in this challenging game, meaning they can win a trick over any suit. If you’re the first to reach 500 points, congratulations: you’ve just won spades!

Based on a Japanese card game, this fast-paced game is known by many different names, but under any moniker the objective is to get rid of all your cards before your fellow players by adding the same number of matching cards of a higher value on top of the card played by the dealer at the start of the round. So let’s say the dealer plays two 4s; you’d want to play two 5s or higher. Sounds easy, right? If you play your cards right, you will be assigned the title of President after winning the trick, and if not you could be Vice Pres, Vice Scum or Scum depending on how you did. But be careful if you choose to play this as a drinking game…

It’s been described as one of the most complex card games in existence, originating in the late-1800s under the Russian name Biritch, also known as Russian Whist. One of the more popular partnership card games – and card games in general – Bridge is played by two teams of two players, who go through four steps in gameplay: dealing the hands, an auction or bidding, playing your cards, and scoring the outcome. With dozens of variations, including rubber bridge and duplicate bridge, the most common one in play today is known as contract bridge.

A trick-taking game categorized in the Whist family, like Bridge and Spades, Hearts is another game that goes by a variety of labels – like Black Lady, The Dark, Slippery Anne or more. The main difference here is that the objective of Hearts is evasion; players must try NOT to get certain cards during a round, with the winner amassing the fewest points by the end of the game. With its roots in a popular Spanish game called Reversis, which rose to prominence around the mid-1700s, Hearts remained well-liked through the decades and even found success online. Of course, it really hit its peak when Microsoft included it on Windows-based computers beginning in the 1990s.

Apparently invented by the English poet Sir John Suckling in the early 1600s and beloved especially by American submarine crews, this card game has several features that make it unique. The most distinct is perhaps the traditional scoring board, which contains a series of holes – referred to as streets – where a tally of points is kept using small pegs, and players try to reach a specific score – often 121. Each game is played with stages that include the deal, the play, and the show – which are also unique to Crib. At any point during the game, if a player reaches the target score, the round ends and they are the winner.

Created in the early-20th century by Elwood T. Baker and his son, the strategy in this fast-paced two-player game is to improve your hand by creating melds and by removing deadwood. Melds are sets of 3 or 4 matching cards – like three 9s for example – or a run of three or more successive cards that share the same suit – like the 7, 8 and 9 of hearts. Deadwood cards are those one-offs that don’t belong in any meld. Practice all you want but you’ll never be as good at Gin as professional card player Stu Ungar: he’s considered the greatest player ever, who had an almost psychic skill to see his rivals’ cards.

Who says you need a partner to have some fun? Probably originating in Scandinavia or Germany, but spreading first to France and then to England and the United States in the 19th-century, the game most often played by a single player has since become a staple as a computer game. Almost like a puzzle, the game sees players trying to arrange stacks of cards by swapping suit colors and going from high to low. Also known as Patience, the first recorded mention of this game dates back to 1783 in a German anthology of games – and it’s just as popular today as it was centuries ago.

Also known as twenty-one, this casino banking game is the most popular of its kind in the world. In a game that pits players versus the dealer, the way to win is to get 21 points with your first two cards, reach a final score higher than the dealer without exceeding 21, or to let the dealer exceed 21. The first mention of this game was in a Spanish short story written in the early years of the 1600s by Miguel de Cervantes, and has since risen in popularity to the point that there now exists a Blackjack Hall of Fame. Before we deal in our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions: - Go Fish - Cheat [aka Bullshit] - Pinochle - Old Maid - Canasta

As popular with amateurs as it is with the pros, this is one of the most played betting card games you’ll encounter. Whether you’ve played the original or a variation like Texas hold ‘em, all adaptations of poker are challenging, fun and suspenseful, with each player betting, folding or upping the ante based on what he thinks his hand is worth compared to other players’. Traveling from its humble origins in New Orleans on riverboats up the Mississippi and onto the Gold Rush-era West, this beloved, usually high-stakes game has become a cultural phenomenon that involves strategizing and psychology. Just remember to bring your best poker face to the table. Do you agree with our list? What card games do you love playing the most? For more informative top 10s published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.