All games · Collections
Long evening
Games that take an hour or more – for a slow evening with a full table, a bottle of something and no plans for the next day.
- Bezique Win tricks, lay out marriages and sequences, and hunt for the Queen of Spades and Jack of Diamonds – twice, for a 500-point double bezique.
- Guandan Two decks, four jokers and a wild Heart – team up, climb the levels from 2 to Ace and smash your bombs on the table.
- Schafkopf Call an Ace to find a secret partner, or take on all three alone with a Solo – the heart of every Bavarian inn.
- Doppelkopf Germany's favourite four-player game – two against two, but nobody knows who is on which side until the Queens of Clubs show up.
- Skat Germany's national card game – bid for the right to play alone against the other two and bring home 61 points.
- Rummy (Rommé) Germany's family-table rummy – collect sets and runs, open with 40 points and be the first to get rid of every card.
- Oh Hell! Say exactly how many tricks you'll take – no more, no fewer – and watch everyone else's plans go to hell.
- Jass (Schieber) Switzerland's national game – choose trumps or shove the choice to your partner, then meld, take tricks and count your way to 2500.
- Differenzler Swiss Jass for sharp minds – predict how many points you'll take, then hit your number exactly.
- Coinche (Belote contrée) Belote with an auction – bid how many points your team will make, and dare the opponents with a "coinche".
- Belote France's national card game – take trumps, declare your sequences, say "belote, rebelote" and reach 1000 with your partner.
- Spades Spades are always trumps – bid your tricks with your partner, make them, and don't collect too many bags.
- Solo Whist Team up for one hand with prop and cop, or go it alone – for five tricks, nine, all thirteen or none at all.
- Barbu Seven games in one – take turns choosing the contract that suits your hand, and double the players you think you can beat.
- Sheng Ji (Tractor) Two decks, four jokers, a trump suit that changes every hand – and pairs that roll across the table like tractors.
- Baloot Saudi Arabia's Belote – bid Hokum with trumps or Sun without, declare your projects and double the stakes all the way to Gahwa.
- Trix Five games in one – dodge the King of Hearts, the Queens, the diamonds and the tricks, then be first to empty your hand in Trix.
- Batak Win the auction, name trumps and make your bid in Turkey's great trick game – and don't be left without a single trick.
- Pinochle America's partnership heavyweight – bid for trumps, swap cards with your partner, then meld marriages and pinochles.
- Thousand (1000) Eastern Europe's cut-throat game for three – bid, take the widow and let your marriages switch trumps mid-hand on the way to 1000.
- Four-Hand Bezique Bezique for two teams – four decks, partners building melds together, and a triple bezique worth 1500 points.
- Binokel Pinochle's Swabian ancestor – win the Dabb, meld families and the Binokel, then fight for every Ace and 10.
- Preference (Preferans) Bid for tricks, take the widow and watch your pool grow while the mountain stays low – Russia's great game for three.
- Mariáš The Czech tavern classic – choose trumps from seven cards, call "flek" on a bluff and bring the trump 7 home in the last trick.
- Ulti Hungary's national game – rob the two spare cards, outbid your friends and win the last trick with the humble 7 of trumps.
- Gaigel Swabia's pub game with a double deck – race your partner to 101, open with a hidden Ace and call "Aus!" at exactly the right moment.
- Five Hundred (500) Australia's favourite card game – bid for tricks and trumps with your partner, take the kitty and reach 500 with the joker on your side.
- Canasta Uruguay's gift to the world – build seven-card canastas with your partner, freeze the pile, take it at the right moment and reach 5000.
- Hand and Foot Canasta with two hands each – play out your hand, pick up your foot and fill the table with seven-card books over four rounds.
- Samba Canasta with three decks and runs – draw two cards a turn, build seven-card sambas and take your partnership to 10,000.
- Indian Rummy India's 13-card rummy – build a pure sequence, use the cut joker as a wild card and declare before the others can.
- Rummy 500 Every card you lay down scores – dig deep into the discard pile for the one you need, and be first to 500.
- Contract Rummy Seven deals, seven contracts that get harder every time – and when the discard you need goes by, just shout "May I?"
- Kalooki Open with 40 points, build on everyone's melds and stay under 150 – or lay down all 13 cards at once for a kalookie.
- Burraco Canasta's Italian cousin – meld runs and sets, pick up your pozzetto as a second hand and close with a clean burraco.
- Panguingue The old gambling rummy of the American West – eight decks, melds that pay chips on the spot, and eleven cards down to win.
- Texas Hold'em (No Limit) Two secret cards, five shared ones and a pile of chips – bet it all when you dare and make the best five-card hand of seven.
- Five-Card Draw Five secret cards, one chance to swap – the poker everyone learns first, all about nerve and reading your opponents.
- Seven-Card Stud Three cards hidden, four for all to see – five betting rounds in which you read the table card by card.
- Omaha (Pot Limit) Hold'em with four hole cards – use exactly two of them, bet up to the size of the pot, and watch the monster hands collide.
- Three-Card Brag Britain's old pub game – three cards, nerves of steel and the option to bet blind at half price.
- Short Deck Hold'em Hold'em without the 2s to 5s – big hands every deal, a flush that beats a full house, and antes that make every pot worth a fight.
- Razz Seven-Card Stud turned upside down – the lowest hand wins, Aces are small and the dream hand is 5-4-3-2-A.
- 2-7 Triple Draw Three chances to swap your way down to the lowest hand – where Aces are high, straights hurt and 7-5-4-3-2 is perfection.
- Badugi Four cards, three draws, and the lowest hand wins – but only cards of four different suits and ranks count.
- Baseball Seven-Card Stud with 3s and 9s wild – a face-up 4 walks you to an extra card, a face-up 3 costs you the pot or you strike out.
- No-Peek Baseball Nobody looks at their cards – flip them one by one until you beat the table, with 3s and 9s wild and a 4 bringing an extra card.
- Follow the Queen Seven-Card Stud where Queens are wild – and so is whatever card follows the last face-up Queen, until the next Queen changes it.
- Anaconda Pass your trash left – three cards, then two, then one – then roll out your hand card by card and split the pot high and low.
- Spit in the Ocean Four cards each and one face-up card for everyone – it's wild, and so is every card of its rank.
- Home Poker Variants (Dealer's Choice) Chicago, Heinz, Mexican Stud, Iron Cross and more – each dealer picks the game, the wilder the better.
- Dragon and Phoenix untested The four 2s become a Dragon, a Phoenix, a Fox and a Herald – climb, bomb and bet with your partner that you'll be out first.
- Ten Phases untested Ten tasks, one after another – collect sets, runs and suits, wave your wild Kings and make your rivals skip a turn.
- Estimation The Arab world's precision whist – bid for trumps, then predict your tricks exactly, and dare the risk call when the total won't add up.
- Marriage Nepal's festival rummy with three decks and 21 cards – lay down three pure melds to see the hidden joker, then finish with wild cards.
- Hand Rummy A rummy hit from Jordan to the Gulf – open with 51 points, win wild Aces back from the table, or meld all 14 cards at once for a "hand".
- Ellibir (51) Turkey's two-deck rummy – open with 51 points or with five pairs, lay off everywhere and go out to score minus 100.
- Pinnacola Italy's other two-deck rummy – take any card from the open row of discards, swap out jokers and hunt for the full suit from Ace to Ace.
- Dummy (Thai Rummy) Thailand's rummy – dig into the discard pile for the head card, guard the 50-point Queen of Spades and 2 of Clubs, and knock to finish.
- Rikken Name trumps, call an Ace and find out during play who your secret partner is – or take on all three alone.
- King (Kierki, Rentz) Ten deals, ten rules – dodge tricks, hearts, Queens and the King of Hearts, then win your points back with trumps.
- Chief and Vice untested Bid by laying your cards on the table, name two kinds of trumps and pick your partner – a deep trick-taking game where every hand makes new teams.
- Trigami Bugami for three, sharper – pick your bug suit, or bet on the hidden card or on a spotless hand for double points.
- Bouillotte (Brelan) The salon game of revolutionary Paris – three cards, one turned card, and your opponents' cards can win the pot for you.
- Quadrille The 18th century's most fashionable game – call a King to find a secret partner, or play alone with Spadille, Manille and Basto.
- Scharwenzel The island game of Fehmarn – two sides, the Queen of Clubs on top, and threads and hooks chalked up for every game won.
- Drogue The French soldiers' game of the 1830s – lose, and you wear a wooden peg on your nose until you win it off again.
- Vint Turn the screw of the auction, play without a dummy, score for every trick and honour – Russia's bridge before bridge.