Best-of lists
Our picks – which games are the most fun for two, for a party, for a quiet evening, for thinking hard …
- The 10 card games everyone should know Our showcase: a few deep classics, easy games for the family table, one poker and one patience. 1. Hearts · 2. Skat · 3. Bridge
- Best for two Duels for exactly two players – from ten-minute reflex races to classics that can carry you through a lifetime of evenings. 1. Cribbage · 2. Gin Rummy · 3. Schnapsen
- Best for three Three is an awkward number for many card games. These are built for it – most of them pit one player against the other two. 1. Skat · 2. Dou Dizhu (Fight the Landlord) · 3. Preference (Preferans)
- Best for four Four players, mostly two against two: partnership games where reading your partner matters as much as the cards you hold. 1. Doppelkopf · 2. Bridge · 3. Spades
- Best for five Five is too many for most classics and too few for party chaos. These games are at home with exactly that crowd. 1. Oh Hell! · 2. Sheepshead · 3. President
- For big groups Six players or more around the table – games that stay fun, fast and fair when the room is full. 1. Mao · 2. President · 3. Spoons
- For thinkers The deepest games on the site: bidding, counting and card-reading that reward years of play. Expect to lose a few evenings before it clicks. 1. Bridge · 2. Skat · 3. Doppelkopf
- Easy-going games Games that don't demand silence: you can chat, snack and top up drinks while you play. Low pressure, still worth playing well. 1. Golf · 2. Canasta · 3. Whist
- Quick games Around fifteen minutes or less: games for a lunch break, a train ride or one more round before bed. 1. Durak · 2. Speed · 3. Cuttle
- Party games Loud, fast and full of laughter: games for a crowded room where nobody minds a bit of shouting or a lunge across the table. 1. Spoons · 2. Cheat · 3. Kemps
- Drinking games The classics for a party with drinks – all of them work just as well with soft drinks, points or forfeits, and nobody should be pushed to drink. 1. Kings Cup · 2. Busfahrer (Ride the Bus) · 3. Beat the Dealer
- Learn in five minutes Games you can explain to people who never play cards, and start playing straight away. Nothing here needs a rulebook at the table. 1. Cheat · 2. Golf · 3. Hearts
- For kids Card games children love, from first games for four-year-olds to ones that quietly teach counting, memory and a bit of strategy. 1. Go Fish · 2. Concentration (Memory) · 3. Snap
- Best patience games Games for one: famous screen classics, patiences you can solve by thinking ahead, and two solo adventures that turn a deck into a dungeon. 1. FreeCell · 2. Klondike · 3. Scoundrel
- Poker night Everything for a home game with chips: the big three poker forms, dealer's-choice favourites and a few lighter betting games for between hands. 1. Texas Hold'em (No Limit) · 2. Home Poker Variants (Dealer's Choice) · 3. Omaha (Pot Limit)
- Classics from the German-speaking world The games of German, Austrian and Swiss living rooms and inns – from Skat and Doppelkopf to Schnapsen, Jass and Watten, plus the family favourites. 1. Skat · 2. Doppelkopf · 3. Schafkopf
- Around the world Great games that are national favourites somewhere else but barely known in Germany, Britain or the US – from the Basque Country to Kerala. 1. Mus · 2. Truco · 3. Dou Dizhu (Fight the Landlord)
- Games with 32 cards No need for a full poker deck: these classics use only 32 cards (7 to Ace) – from brisk pub games to some of the deepest trick-taking duels in Europe. 1. Skat · 2. Belote · 3. Schnapsen