When it comes to a game night, unwinding after a long day, or killing time while traveling, nothing can beat playing cards. Card games include all elements required for challenging gameplay – strategy, bluff, and opponents. The feeling of getting the best hand, defeating your opponents, maintaining a poker face to hide your expressions is something no other game offers. Moreover, even the card games meant for children are easily enjoyable by adults. You may often find yourself playing card games that you played during your childhood. For instance, Solitaire and Uno are popular card games played by children and adults, irrespective of their ages.
Whether you are going for a game night with your family or playing online card games, here’s a list of the top card games of 2023 that you absolutely must try with friends or random opponents.
Poker
Poker is one of the best card games played across the globe by millions of card game fans. Poker is not only a great game but is also a good mental workout. The game has grown massively, transforming from a mere recreational activity to a widely popular game with numerous professional players and multi-million dollar tournament prizes. Texas hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha are two of the best variants of poker. You can play poker variants online here.
Texas Hold’em Gameplay
Each player is dealt two hole cards, which are dealt face down, and then five community cards are dealt face up in three phases – the flop, the turn, and the river. Three cards are dealt at the flip, an additional single one at the turn, and a final one at the river. Each player aims for the best five-card poker hand from the combination of the seven cards. Players also have four betting options – check, call, raise, and fold. Before the flop is dealt, and after each consecutive deal, there are rounds of betting. The person with the best hand and no fold at the end of all betting rounds win the bet for the hand, also called pot.
Pot Limit Omaha Gameplay
PLO is quite related to Texas Hold’em in terms of the gameplay.The players are dealt four cards and are required to use two of those cards and three of the five community cards to make the best hand.
Indian Rummy
The Indian Rummy or 13 Card Rummy game is another popular game amongst card game lovers. The draw-and-discard game has three variants – Points Rummy, Deals Rummy, and Pool Rummy. The game is played between two to six players with one or two decks. Every player is dealt 13 cards each. The objective of the game is to make valid sequences and sets by grouping all 13 cards and making a declaration. Each player is required to draw and discard cards turn by turn to group their cards as per the rules. To win the game, you have to be the first to make a valid declaration on the table. The three variations of rummy have few differences in the gameplay but are all fun to play. To play rummy variants online, hop on the MPL app.
Teen Patti
Teen Patti or 3 Patti is an entertaining card game which originated in the English game of three-card brag, with influences from poker. The game is also known as Indian Poker and Flash. According to the teen patti rules, each player receives three cards and attempts to make the highest hand combination. At the end of the game, the player with the best hand ranking wins the pot.
Due to its similar gameplay to that of poker, Teen Patti makes for an entertaining game. The game can be played between 4-7 players with a standard deck of 52 cards. You can try your hands at the Win Patti Skill game by MPL for one of the best 3 Patti gaming experiences.
Gin Rummy
Gin rummy is a 2-player card game and is widely popular across the globe. The game is played with a deck of 52 cards, and the cards are ranked in a high to low order as King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and Ace. The objective is to score more points than the pre-decided number of points before the opponent. The strategy of the players is to improve the hand by melding cards in sets or runs and to eliminate deadwood. A set can be made by grouping 3 or 4 cards of the same rank, while runs are a group of 3 or more cards of the same suit in consecutive order.
Call Break
Call Break comes in the category of the easiest card games, just like solitaire. The rules and gameplay are relatively simple to understand. Call Break is a trick-based card game that is quite similar to the Spades game. It is played in 5 rounds between four players. Spades is the trump suit in the game. Each person is dealt 13 cards each, and the players have to make a bid/call after looking at their cards. The bid is based on how many tricks the players can win during that particular round.
Also read: Call Break Multiplayer Game: The Basics to Get Started!
The game starts in an anticlockwise direction with the first person playing any preferred card, and the other players have to follow by playing a card of the same suit. If a person doesn’t have the same suit card, that person can either play a trump card or any other card. The person with the highest rank card wins the trick; however, if one or more players have played a trump card, the higher-rank trump card will win the trick. The points are calculated after every round based on the number of tricks won by each person. At the end of 5 rounds, the person with the highest points is the winner. To play Call Break online, hop on to the MPL app.
Exploding Kittens
Exploding Kittens is one of the best card games to play with family and a fun game for kids. It is a strategic game that is a version of Russian Roulette and is also fast-paced. The aim is to trick your opponent into drawing cards until they draw an exploding kitten to make them lose the game. If the opponent cannot play a Defuse card to neutralize the threat, the opponent “explodes” and is eliminated from the game.
Uno
Uno can never be too old and boring. If you haven’t played the Uno card game, you are missing out on a lot; it is one of the best card games for a reason. Uno is a great game for kids and adults. The gameplay is extremely easy for anyone to enjoy with friends and family.
The gameplay consists of each person playing cards following the first person. The cards should either match the color or the number of the last card played. The aim is to be the first to finish all the cards in hand to win the game. The elements that add a twist to the game are the special cards – reverse, draw 2, draw 4, wild card, and skip.
SlapJack
The perfect card game for all age groups – children, teens, and adults. SlapJack is played between four to ten players. The game The objective of the game is to collect all the cards by slapping the jack card as it comes. All the players are seated in a circle on a table, and all the cards are dealt clockwise. Players hold the cards face-down without looking at them. Each person then draws a card from the deck without seeing it and places it in the center, followed by other players. When a Jack court card comes up, the person that covers the card first collects the entire stack. It’s as easy as that and fun when all the players slap the card at once to collect the stack.
Crazy Eights
The last one of the best card games for all ages is Crazy Eights, played between two to eight players. This is another engaging game that can get the whole family involved. The objective here is to get rid of your cards in hand.
Sit in a round circle and deal 5 cards faced down to each player. The rest of the cards are placed at the center of the table faced down, and the top card is placed face-up beside the stack. Each person has to place one card on the face-up stack matching the number of the top card on the stack. For example, if a Queen of Hearts is on the pile, the next card should also be a Queen of any suit. If the player doesn’t have a suitable card, they must draw from one card from the face-down pile. The eight cards are wild cards and can be used any time to substitute for another card. The first person to get rid of all the cards is the winner.
Conclusion
Save this list of the best games for the time you are looking for fun card games. While some of these games can be played online for free or real cash, others can be played physically with friends or family. Most of these games require strong strategy-making skills but are never lacking in entertainment.
