Playing online and offline card games is a pastime that has existed among family and friends throughout the centuries. Even today, card games remain a popular hobby.
While there are hundreds of card games worldwide, classic card games remain the most common games played. Here’s a breakdown of how to play some of the more popular card games with your friends and online:
500 Rummy
500 Rummy is a popular game because it’s simple and doesn’t take a long time to play. It also places emphasis on smart gameplay rather than the luck of the cards. It’s possible for a player to start with a bad hand and come back to win.
500 Rummy involves grouping cards together to create sets and sequences. The aim of this variation is to be the first player to reach 500 points. You need to score points by playing sets consisting of a minimum of three cards of the same rank or a run of cards of the same suit.
This game is played in rounds, with the round only ending when a player has no cards left in their hand. Any cards left in your hand will be deducted from your overall score.
Hi-Lo
Hi-Lo is a simple card game that has also been replicated in countless slot games within online and offline casinos. It takes only seconds to learn Hi-Lo card game rules in this game of chance.
The aim of Hi-Lo is to accurately predict whether the next card drawn will be higher or lower than the previous card. It sounds simple enough, but decks often throw up a few surprises to catch even experienced players off guard.
Poker
Poker is a competitive card game that has become ingrained within our culture via the evolution of entertainment through technology. It’s a game of luck, skill and bluff, all rolled into one.
Poker brings drama, big wins and massive losses, but you don’t need to be a card shark to enjoy this game. The aim of the game is to make the best possible hands, ranging from a simple high card to the royal flush of 10 to ace, all within the same suit. Traditional poker means making a hand from your best five cards, whereas Texas Hold’em requires you to make the best hand from the two cards in your hand and the five community cards in front of you.
You need to learn how to bet, bluff and fold to protect your stack of chips and dominate your opponents. Countless variations of poker exist, but the principles of the game remain largely the same.
Hearts
Hearts is a trick-taking card game and is among the most popular type of card games in this niche. Gamers find it particularly exciting. In a study surveying gamers, 57% of them owned at least one board or card game at home, with many citing games such as Hearts.
In this game, you want the fewest number of tricks to avoid scoring points. It’s a game of evasion requiring three or more players, but the most common version involves a minimum of four players.
All the cards are dealt, with every heart scoring a point. The queen of spades is worth 13 points. Leading with low-ranking spades is one of the most common strategies to get rid of the queen as soon as possible.
The game can only end when one player scores 100 points or more. Once this happens, every player tallies their points, and the player with the fewest number of points wins.
A quirk in the rules is that you can attempt to shoot the moon, whereby you can collect all 13 hearts and the queen of spades to reduce your score by 26 points or add 26 points to all other players.
99
If you’re searching for a more fast-paced game, 99 is a card game requiring quick mental addition. Each card has designated values and actions.
The objective is to play all of your cards without causing the center pile to total 100 or more. Push the value of the pile up to put your opponents under pressure, and reverse the direction of the play when needed. The player to push the value of the center piles over 100 is the big loser.
Conclusion
Card games have always been popular because of the number of variations that have evolved worldwide. A single 52-card deck offers hours of fun, with hundreds of variations of the same game. Many regular players may even decide to create their own games from scratch.
Whether you’re looking to make a friendly wager or add a wrinkle to an evening of good, old-fashioned family fun, there’s no better way to while away the hours than with a favorite card game.
What’s your favorite card game to play?