Reply With QuoteAsshole.
My wife and I have been playing different types of board games lately, and I'm always tempted to run off to the game store and buy more (I do the same thing with video games, and have managed to build up quite a healthy backlog thanks to digital download services and my impulsive buying habits). In an effort to stem the flow of cash from our checking account to the game store I decided to start researched fun games that can be played with a regular deck of 52 playing cards.
Besides the standard Texas Hold'Em, 5 card stud and black jack games (which aren't so fun for two players in our case), what are some of your favorite card games to play?
A recent discovery I made (I think in a thread somewhere on boardgamegeek) is an Ecuadorian game called Cuarenta. It's a pretty fast paced game that only took us a few minutes to learn once we plowed through the instructions, and it is very well suited for two players (you can play with two or four players).
Because I'm not at all familiar with games like Gin, Hearts, Spades, and have only dabbled in Rummy (twenty years ago), I can't really compare this game to any others I've played.
The basic gameplay involved laying cards down between the players and subsequently trying to scoop them back up using a couple different methods by either match them with cards in your hand or using a couple other methods which add to the complexity and potential strategy of the game. The winner is the person to earn 40 points first.
Asshole.
Yea, that one went right over my head. Am I duplicating a thread of yours?
Cribbage is the best 2-player card game I've ever played. Once you get into the strategic layers of the game, it gets even more fascinating. That and spades (with the right house rules) are the two best 2-player card games I know of.
Oh, and "Asshole" is the name of a card game, usually involving a lot of drinking.
Oh yea, by the way I welcome two player games, but feel free to add 4 player games etc too. My wife and I have been having a couple over for the last couple months and so now we have four people to play with. Yee haw.
Also, I used to play Crazy Eights years ago. Plays like Uno.
Also, yea I figured Asshole was the name of a card game, I was being hipster.
Asshole is a great game with 4 people. Doesn't really fit your needs but I love the game.
Cribbage is absolutely awesome. I only ever got to be mediocre at it, but always enjoyed it a great deal. Hearts and Spades are good light games. I've also played more Gin and Gin Rummy than I care to admit. Great games. Those get even more fun 4 handed. Canasta is good fun, but is generally better with four players than two (imo anyway).
And what card game doesn't involve a lot of drinking? Just curious, as I've never heard or played such a game.
http://www.pagat.com/climbing/thirteen.html
We played this at work at lunch for quite awhile. Our variant eliminated any double sequences. It's main attraction is that it's so simple, but still has quite a bit of strategy.
4 people? Bridge. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett can't be wrong!
500 is my favourite card game. It can be played with 2-5 players. I've never played 2 player 500 though.
Cribbage is a game made for two and is/was huge not only in England but also in Maine. It can also be played by three or four and does not play like many other card games keeping it unique. Plus you can get all nutty finding unique and fun cribbage boards like here: http://www.houseofcribbage.com/
We (me and my homies) used to play this all the time. It was like Solium Infernum for us.Originally Posted by Factory
Bridge is amazing for 4 players, although it takes some learning. 2 player 500 is quite enjoyable, but you probably need to play some 4 player 500 first to get the idea of it.
You can also get a hell of a lot of mileage out of some dice and this book.
2 or 3 people - Cribbage
4 People - Pitch
My parents are avid Pedro players. It's a pretty fun game.
Not a good 2 player game at all. Asshole requires passing out all the cards, and two people holding 26 cards each just doesn't make for a fun game, especially since the game is based heavily on people playing out of turn (making quads or doubles for a social) and the social structure of the king going down to the asshole.
Bullshit, Asshole
The best five-player game with regular cards is Sheepshead. As far as I can tell, the only people in the world who play it are people from Wisconsin, but don't let that invalidate my claim.
For four-player card games, nothing beats euchre.
Euchre is sheepshead for people who can't handle complexity.
The great thing about Cribbage is that once you get into it, you learn how to set traps, how to foil them, how to turn a trap on the other player, how to exploit that...the strategy is pretty intense. Sure, there are going to be games where one person (or team) has all the cards, but more often than not pure skill wins.
Bullshit and asshole can't really be played with 2 people because you know exactly what the other person has. for 2 players it doesn't get much better than speed.
I didn't realize Cribbage was so highly thought-of... I'll have to relearn it.
My choice for 4 players has always been pinochle, but I guess that's a 48-card deck.
Has anyone ever played 2-handed whist? It's fantastic, my favorite two-player card game (with a standard deck). All the cards are dealt but a quarter of them start visible and another quarter of them are invisible to both players because they are covered by the visible ones. (They become visible once the originally visible cards are played.) The open information makes the trick-taking mechanic quite, er, tricky.
However, I have always been curious about the game because I learned it from my Dad, and I have never seen anyone play this game anywhere... [I go visit Wikipedia] ...holy smokes, it's called Minnesota Whist or Norwegian Whist, which is apt because my Dad is from South Dakota and his father was Norwegian! How interesting to find a bit of my family's history in the games handed down to me. The Wikipedia article still has no reference to the two-handed game, which makes me quite curious where that developed exactly...
Asshole and it's variants are great games for 4+ people.
For just 2 people my wife and I play Golf and Gin. You could put together a deck for Lost Cities (an excellent two player game) using two decks of regular cards though it's non-trivial (basically you need 5 suits). A great, fairly cheap game that scales to 2 players is Reiner Knizia's Razzia. My wife and I have played a LOT of that together.
Yea, we own the Lost Cities card game and I remember thinking "Hey, I just paid $20 for a game I could recreate with a deck of playing cards.." when I got it home and played a few rounds.
It's a fun (but absolutely torturous at times) game for me and my wife. I say Torturous because I have a hard time laying cards down that I'm not prepared to build on if I don't have matching suits in my hand already.
Last edited by kerzain; 03-14-2010 at 01:40 AM. Reason: I didn't overpay by $185
Pitch can be played with 2-7 people.
$205 for Lost Cities?!
One of those numbers does not belong.
This, yes. Its like the hidden national past time of the Midwest. Though it really is a four player game and you only need half of that 52 card deck (9-A). It's appeal is that it plays quickly, encourages cross table banter, doesn't require a lot of space, forces players to consider different risk/reward trade-offs, and the "culture" that surrounds it. Once you have the perfect hand for a loner only to have your partner call a suit from the color you don't got... you'll be part of a cultural group joined and united by a common experience. Sort of like veterans. And people who were alive when Kennedy was shot.
Pshaw. Euchre is a fun card game and a great way to past the time, even with complete strangers. And its relatively easy to learn how to play. A friend of the family actually had a Euchre tournament at his wedding reception.Euchre is sheepshead for people who can't handle complexity.
True - I just have no fun with 2 people. Partners is the best way to play it.
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