Best card games playable with a standard deck of cards
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We don't go anywhere without a stack of standard cards in our bag, but we discovered that you rarely do spell know by heart, and many people have different rules for the same game.
Avoid that mistake by memorizing a few fun variations. We've written them down for you here.
What we discuss in this comprehensive post:
In between, or outside
This can be played for money or chips. It's lightning fast and while it does require a little bit of skill, it largely comes down to chance.
Playing style
The game is played in turns with each player dealt a pair of cards with a gap in between.
That player then has to guess if the next card drawn will be numerically between those two cards.
To do this, a player says “in” or “out” and then the third card is drawn.
If they guess, their turn is over and the game moves to the next player. If they guess wrong, they have to put in money, or chips (or drink).
If the drawn card matches one of the cards already on the table, they must bet or give up (or drink) twice as much.
What makes it great
Most people haven't progressed far enough to turn the game in their favor.
This means that if you play it with a chip stake, often a lot of chips have to be given up by everyone. This makes it quite raw pretty quickly.
Players: 4+
Expected: Loud about losing your loot
Game duration: n / a
Ace on the Ace (Chase the Ace)
What could be more fun than watching everyone at the table drop out on your way to glory? Do you want to help playmates with every step while you are winning?
Playing style
The purpose of Ace over Ace is to avoid having the lowest card at the end of each round.
The game begins with the dealer dealing one card to each player including himself.
The first player to the left of the dealer starts and can look at his card before deciding whether to switch or keep.
If they choose to switch, they do so with the card of the player to their left.
If a player has a king, they can flip it and prevent the player to their right from trading.
As soon as the game returns to the dealer, everyone turns their card face up.
The dealer may not trade. However, if they choose not to keep, they can draw any card from the deck to try and get a higher card.
The person with the lowest card loses a life, the kings are the highest and the aces are low here.
If several people have the same low card, they all lose.
For the next round, the dealer's role turns to the player to the left of the previous dealer.
Generally, players start with three chips and lose one for each round they lose. The winner is the last person remaining to have chips.
What makes it great
This is a great game for large groups of people. It can be played as a drinking game instead of chips with the loser (s) drinking after each round.
This is a fantastic party starter and since there are only two options per game, the rounds go extremely fast.
Players: 3+
Expect: a cozy gaming table
Game duration: n / a
Bullshit
Convince people that the cards you discard are what you say they are to literally bluff your way to profit.
Playing style
The dealer deals out the full deck of cards to the players and don't worry if they aren't evenly distributed.
Some players may end up with more cards than others, but Bullshit doesn't matter.
The object of the game is to get rid of all your cards. Players take turns swapping one or more cards face down in a central stack.
This happens in a descending sequence that changes every turn. So player 1 must discard aces, then kings for the next player, then queens and so on.
At the same time as they are placed, players must indicate how many cards they discard. And this is where the fun begins.
Players can lie about what they put down. Actually, players have to lie about what they put down.
Since the cards must go consecutively, you often have to claim to have cards that you don't have to play.
If someone suspects foul play, they can call you out by saying 'bullshit'.
At this point, the player being challenged must reveal his cards. If they tell the truth, the challenger will take up the whole pile.
If they lie, it is they who get the big hand and have to start all over again.
First player to lose all cards wins.
What makes it great
You have a free license to fool people. The bolder you are with your falsehoods, the more fun it gets. Until you have to grab a huge stack.
Players: 2-10
Expect: a lot of lying and laughter
Game duration: n / a
Crazy Eights
Eights are good and help you get rid of the rest of your hand. That's what you have to do to be crowned the winner.
Playing style
Players are dealt 5 cards each unless there are only 2 players, in which case they are dealt 7 each.
The rest of the cards are placed face down as the draw pile. The goal is to be the first player to get rid of all your cards.
To begin with, the dealer turns over one card from the remaining deck. Each turn consists of a player discarding one of his cards.
However, it must match the previous card in type or number.
For example, if someone plays a 6 of clubs, the next player must play another 6 or another of clubs.
If that is not possible, they must remove one from the draw pile.
The exception to this is if you're holding an 8 that can be played on anything. Hence the name Crazy Eights.
Anyone who plays an 8 may also name the type of card (for example clubs) that the next player should play.
What makes it great
Easy to pick up and simple to explain, Crazy Eights can also be customized to add more strategy and difficulty.
For example, some variants contain 'special cards' that produce different actions.
For example, in some versions, a queen skips a move and an ace reverses the direction of play.
Crazy Eights is actually a smaller version of bullying, which sometimes lasts indefinitely because of the bullying cards that you have to take over and over again.
Players: 2-5
Expect: laughing pleasure
Game duration: 10 minutes
Old spinster
In the old days, an "spinster" was a woman who had remained unmarried for so long that it was unlikely that this would ever happen.
Despite its somewhat sexist connotations, this game relies on anyone striving to avoid destiny of being the last with one more card.
Playing style
The dealer adds a joker to the deck before dealing the whole package.
Players then sort their hand to identify pairs of cards they are holding. These are placed face up on the table.
The player to the dealer's left must then choose a card from the dealer's hand to put into his own hand. This continues with the player to their left and so on.
As soon as a player has a pair, he must place it face up on the table with the other pairs.
The game ends when one player is left with the lone joker (or “spinster”). Of course they are the loser.
What makes it great
That sinking feeling when you grab the spinster from your neighbor's hand is devastating.
But it's quickly overshadowed by the elation when the next player plucks it from your fingers.
Players: 2-8
Expect: breathing out relief
Game duration: 15 minutes
Read also our post about the best dice games. Also easy to carry traveling!
Always something to do for the holidays or rainy day?
Play Choice now has the ultimate activity book collection, with over 60 pages of fun coloring pages and educational puzzles.
Joost Nusselder, the founder of Speelkeuze.nl is a content marketer, father and loves trying out new toys. As a child he came into contact with everything related to games when his mother started the Tinnen Soldaat in Ede. Now he and his team create helpful blog articles to help loyal readers with fun play ideas.