[Closed] Card games for families

first one is a gin-rummy variant - good game.
Second we used to call 'last card', good for young kids in the form of 'uno', which you can buy as a simplified set of cards.

the trick-taking games would be another type of card-game, loads of different types - whist, hearts etc up to the big daddy of them all, bridge.

Yeah rummy is good, my 7 year old regularly beats us at that.
Also play blackjack/last card which is good.
When I find my crib board, will try the kids with crib or crash.

We used to play gin rummy as a family and loved it. A good idea to make the game last a while is for the losers to add up the points of any cards not in a three or four and total them as you go along. First to 100, say, has to do a forfeit.

We used to spend hours playing Switch, similar to the second game you describe. Our variant was if you put down a 2 then the following player had to pick up 2 from the deck, unless they too could put a 2 down, which made their following player pick up 4, another 2 put down then mention 8 to pick up... Put down an ace Nd call for a suit change.

We still break out the Uno pack, same card taking idea, and gets quite furious at time.

Spoons is mad too.

seadog101 - Member

We used to spend hours playing Switch, similar to the second game you describe. Our variant was if you put down a 2 then the following player had to pick up 2 from the deck, unless they too could put a 2 down, which made their following player pick up 4, another 2 put down then mention 8 to pick up... Put down an ace Nd call for a suit change.

We call that Crazy eights but the cards differ - 2 is pick up 2, 7 is pick up 4, eight changes suit, jack is miss a go, queen is change direction. You can change suit by putting the same value of card down and you can combine same-face-value penalty cards - put down two &s and the next player must pick up 8 cards (or put down another 7 and the player after picks up 12 etc)

there's Liar - you deal out all the cards and then take turns to get rid by placing cards down. You tell people what you're putting down and they can call you a liar if they think you;re not being truthful - e.g. you say "Three jacks" and actually put down two jacks and a king, or a jack and three twos (oh yes - you can lie about the number of cards you're putting down). If they call you a liarand they're right you pick up the pack. If they call you a liar and you were being truthful, they pick up the pack

first to get rid of all cards is the winner

Not strictly a card game, but Uno is good.

Liar or cheat is an excellent drinking game - if you get caught cheating you have to down a shot.

We play [url= http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Fish ]fish.[/url]

Rummy is good, we started our two on it with 5 cards, making a run/set of 3 and a pair (not a run of two), or a run of 5 to win. made the game go a bit faster, avoiding frustration of seeing the card you wanted go by and then waiting the whole pack to come back.

Our favourite is tuppeny ha'penny bump.

Everyone gets 5 cards (or for smaller numbers of players, 7 to increase the cards in the game), and 5 counters. Used to be 1/2p's and 1p's when I was a kid, hence the name, but now we play with either buttons, or sweets.

First down, to the left of the dealer lays a card. Next player then can 'bump' the player by laying the same value card (K on K, 8 on 8, etc.). If the player is so bumped, they put a counter in. Third player round then lays a card - if they too can match the card, then second player puts two counters in; if fourth player can then match then P3 puts 3 counters in. If you can't match the card, then you just lay whatever you like, and hope the person following you can't bump you. And you are not obliged to bump if you don't want to - for example if you think the next person after you could double bump. Once your counters are gone, you're out, until the last one in wins.

It teaches the kids to watch what everyone else is laying, to count cards (if 3 kings are out their king has to be safe, etc.), and to enjoy winning and losing in the same spirit. And if you play for sweets you get to eat them as you get knocked out.

Gloom and Munchkin, not played with a normal card deck, but worth buying.

Gloom - the idea is keep your 'family' miserable and eventualy kill them off, everyone else tries to make them happy, the cards have elemetnts of story on them, so Player 1: Mr Baker (part of Player 2's family) 'found love at the lake' (+1 happy), Player 2: but while he was there he 'was mauled by a manatee -2'.

Munchkin - like dungeons and dragons, or M:tG, but for kids (or normal grownups with a sense of humour and no need to dress up as wizzards).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gin_rummy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Eights

The second one I had as a branded game as a kid, called "Whot!"

[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shithead_(card_game) ]Shit head[/url] every time, though you may want to use a more family friendly name... 😉

that's known as 'the game with no name' in our house, and the kids love it.

I want to teach the family to play [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shithead_(card_game) ]this card game[/url] but need to

a) somehow remember to not call it sheet head

b) find a more suitable forfiet for losing that rolling the next spliff or making a brew

Spent many a day playing this while stoned back in the uni/smoking days

Racing Demons - http://www.crossboweducation.com/articles/racing-demon-a-game-of-many-skills/ - fast paced and easy to learn.

Used to play it all the time with my Grandma.

Or Strip Poker - always a laugh

Our family card game of choice is [url= http://www.pagat.com/draw/golf.html ]Golf[/url].

edit: also love Uno and Bohnanza and quite like Monopoly Deal.

Skabby Queen.

[url= http://www.ehow.co.uk/facts_5162255_rules-newmarket-card-game.html ]Newmarket[/url]

[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearts_%28card_game%29 ]Hunt the ****[/url]

[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knockout_Whist ]Knock-out Whist[/url]

Our variant was if you put down a 2 then the following player had to pick up 2 from the deck, unless they too could put a 2 down, which made their following player pick up 4, another 2 put down then mention 8 to pick up

Oh this variant still causes consternation and shouting at our annual Bothy whisky farting and swearing weekend!

Best party card game I know is one I learned at school. I was never told the name for it, so we subsequently named it "Spank the Monkey."

Players sit in a circle around the table. The playing deck consists of a set of four cards of the same rank for each player; so for a six player game you might have four aces, four fours, four kings, and so on for a total of 24 cards. The play deck is shuffled and dealt, four cards to each player, and the remaining cards are placed in the middle of the table to form the "losing deck".

The object of the game is to get a hand of four cards of the same rank. To do this every player [i]simultaneously[/i] places a card on the table for the player to the left. So as you pass a card, you should be receiving a card from your right at the same time.

Take the card, add it to your hand, then rinse and repeat passing another card to your left and so on.

At some point, someone will make a hand of four identical cards (or maybe more than one person will). They declare this by placing a hand on the losing deck. Everyone else must then place their hand on top of the first one down. The last person on top is the loser of this round.

The loser receives a card from the losing deck which they put aside; [i]it is used as a score marker only and not shuffled into the playing deck.[/i] The playing deck is collected and shuffled, then re-dealt for the next round (it's nice to rotate dealers each round). Play continues in this manner until the losing deck has all been allocated, at which point everyone's losing cards are counted up and the person with the fewest is the winner.

It is verboten to touch the losing deck during game play unless you have a winning hand of four (or you're on top of someone else's hand in normal play). Bluffing is therefore encouraged, pretending to move for the deck in order to trick someone into jumping in first. Should someone touch the deck inadvertently, they receive a bonus losing card (to put aside) and play continues.

Typical play starts off civilised, and gets faster and more hectic (and chaotic) as people get involved and excited about it and start slamming hands in. It's a brilliant, brilliant game for all ages, though delicate young fingers and the ham fisted is a combination probably best avoided. (-: And, you might want to call it The Other Game With No Name.

Oh yeah - and don't use a deck you care about - some people have a habit of going for the losing deck with cards in their hand so you might end up with a few mangled cards. I have an ancient deck I used exclusively for StM; doesn't matter if there's a few cards missing from it.

(Incidentally, I'd love to know a) if anyone else has ever played this or if it's an entirely local invention and b) what the hell it's actually called!)