29 fun family card games for kids of all ages

Nearly all the card games in our list can be played with just a single deck of cards, although there are a couple that are best played with 2 decks. We've included card games for as many as 7 players or more, as well as card games for just 2 – and even some brilliant solo card games. Some are challenging and require lots of strategic thinking; some are simple and silly and quick but they're all great fun to play.

Here's our pick of the best games for kids of all ages to play with a pack of cards...

Go Fish | Slapjack | Snap Pool | Concentration or Pelmanism | Beggar Your Neighbour | Old Maid | Go Boom | War | Chase the Ace | Liar or Cheat or I Doubt It | Card Dominoes or Sevens | Comet | Crazy Eights or Swedish Rummy | Commerce | Play or Pay | Patience or Solitaire | Muggins | Clock Patience | Aces Up or 4-Card Patience | Spit | Knockout Whist | Knaves | Blackout or Oh Pshaw | Blackjack | Hearts | Rummy | Casino | Kalooki

Best family card games for ages 4 and up

Preschoolers can get a lot of fun out of simple card games that are based on recognising and matching pictures and colours, such as Go Fish, variations of Snap and the Pelmanism memory game. These games also involve taking cards one by one from a pile, so are great way for improving dexterity – and learning how to take turns. You'll probably find it helps to teach your child the names of the card suits (hearts, diamonds, spades, clubs) and the names of the Ace and the rank cards (Jack, Queen, King) before you start.

1. Go Fish

For 2 or more players

Aim of the game: To collect the most 'books' of 4 cards. A book is a 4 of any kind, such as 4 Kings or 4 Aces.

How to play:

1. The dealer hands out cards from a shuffled pack: 7 cards per player if there are 2 or 3 players; 5 cards per player if there are 4 or more players. The remaining cards are placed face down in a pile called the Fish Pond.
2. Each player sorts their cards so they can see how many of each number/rank they have, making sure not to show anyone else.
3. The youngest person starts the game by asking any other player for cards they need to help complete a book in their hand. So if the youngest person has 2 Kings, they can say to another player, "Give me your Kings!"
4. If the other player has the 1 or more of the cards they are asked for, they must hand them all over. And then youngest player can ask the same player or another player for other cards – either to complete the same book (so another King, in this example) or to help complete another book. As before, if the player they're asking has 1 or more of the requested cards, they must hand them over.
5. The youngest player continues in this way until the player they ask doesn't have the cards they're asking for.
6. When a player is asked for cards they don't have, they shout, "Go Fish!" and the youngest player has to draw 1 card from the Fish Pond and add it to their hand.
7. The youngest player's turn is now finished, and it's the turn of the next player to their left.
8. When any player collects a full book of 4 cards (all 4 Kings, for example), they must lay them face up on the table in front of them.
9. The game continues until all 13 books have been laid down. The player with the most books wins.

Rules:

• A player can only ask for a particular number/rank of card if they have at least 1 of that number/rank in their hand.
• If a player runs out of cards, they can use their next turn to draw 5 more cards from the Fish Pond.
• If the Fish Pond runs dry, the game continues without drawing any more cards until no more books can be made. If this leaves a player without any cards, then they're out of the game.

Variation:

• You can modify the game for small children with limited patience by allowing players to collect 2-card pairs instead of 4-card books – and saying the winner is the 1st person to collect, say, 10 pairs (or choose a different number of pairs to aim for, if you like).

2. Slapjack

For 2 to 6 players

Aim of the game: To be the first player to win all the cards in the deck.

How to play:

1. The dealer deals out all the shuffled cards, one at a time and face down, to the players. It's fine if some players receive more cards than others.
2. Each player places their cards in a pile (face down) in front of them.
3. The youngest player starts and lays the top card from their pile face up in the centre of the table.
4. The next player – play moves in a clockwise direction – does the same. And the next, and so on.
5. When a player lays down a Jack, all the players race to be the first to slap their hand onto the top of the pile.
6. The first player to slap the pile when they see a Jack takes the whole pile and mixes it into their own pile.
7. Play restarts, with the next player being the player to the left of the successful 'slapper'.
8. Play continues until 1 player has collected all the cards.

Rules:

• Slapping must be done with 1 open hand, and the hand must make contact with the cards in the pile.
• If a player slaps the pile when the top card isn't a Jack, they must give 1 card to each of the other players.
• If a player runs out of cards, they can still compete to slap – and, if they're successful, they can take the pile and continue to play but, if they're not successful, they're now out of the game for good.

3. Snap Pool

For 2 or more players

Aim of the game: To be the first player to win all the cards in the deck.

How to play:

1. The dealer deals out all the shuffled cards, one at a time and face down, to the players. It's fine if some players receive more cards than others.
2. Each player places their cards in a stack (face down) in front of them.
3. The youngest player starts and lays the top card from their stack face up beside their stack.
4. The next player – play moves in a clockwise direction – does the same. And the next, and so on.
5. When a player lays down a card that is the same number/rank as another card in any of the other players' face-up piles, all players must race to yell "Snap!"
6. The first player to shout "Snap!" gets to add their own face-up pile and the face-up pile of the player with the matching card to their own stack.
7. If 2 players correctly yell "Snap!" at the same time, the 2 piles with the matching cards are placed on top of one another, face up, in the middle of the table. Now, when a player lays down a card that is the same number/rank as the face-up card in the centre pile, all players must race to yell "Snap Pool!"
8. The first player to shout "Snap Pool!" gets to add the centre pile to their own stack.
9. If 2 players correctly yell "Snap Pool!" at the same time, the pile with the matching card is added to the centre pile.
10. Play restarts and continues until 1 player has all the cards.

Rules:

• When a player calls "Snap!" or "Snap Pool!" mistakenly, they has to give 1 card from the bottom of their stack to each of the other players.

Variations:

• Play with 2 decks of cards instead of 1, to increase the chances of a Snap. (If you have more than 3 players, playing with 2 decks is more fun anyway.)
• Instead of shouting "Snap!" or "Snap Pool!", make animal noises. You could either assign a different animal noise to each player or you could assign a specific animal noise for "Snap!" and another for "Snap Pool!" To make this version of the game slightly more challenging, you could make it a rule that instead of "Snap!", you have to make the animal noise of the player who lay down the card that was matched by the card that's just been laid down. So, if the "meow' player lays down a 7, then the "woof" player lays down a 10, then the "oink" player lays down a 7, you need to be the first to "meow".

4. Concentration or the Pelmanism Memory game

For 2 or more players

Aim of the game: To find as many matching pairs of cards as possible.

How to play:

1. Shuffle the cards and place them face down on the table in rows and columns – or any pattern where the cards don't overlap.
2. The youngest player now turns over any 2 cards. If they are a matching pair (in terms of number/rank), the player picks them up and places them at their side, and then takes another turn. If the cards do not match, they players turns the cards back over in exactly the same position.
3. The next player – play moves in a clockwise direction – now takes their turn. And the next, and so on. Finding matching pairs becomes easier if you can remember where each card that was turned over and then turned back is.
4. Play continues until all the cards have been taken as matched pairs. The player with the most pairs wins.

Variations:

• You can make this game a little easier by only using a small portion of your card deck – say 26 cards, instead of 52. But you do need to make sure that the cards you use all have a match.
• You can make this game harder by saying that you can only picked up pairs if they match in number/rank and colour – so the 7 of clubs and the 7 of spades make a pair, but the 7 of clubs and the 7 of hearts do not.

Best family card games for ages 5 and up

Once your child is more confident in recognising numbers, you can start introducing them to card games that are all about trying to avoid getting stuck with particular cards, like Chase the Ace or Old Maid, or require players to count out 'payments' for particular cards, like Beggar Your Neighbour. At this age, your child may also be ready to enjoy the faster pace and more competitive mayhem of games like Go Boom and War.

5. Beggar Your Neighbour

For 2 to 6 players

Aim of the game: To win all the cards in the deck.

How to play:

1. The dealer deals out all the cards, face down, and each player tidies their cards into a face-down stack. It's fine if some players have more cards than others.
2. The youngest player starts the game by turning over the top card of their stack, and placing it face up in the middle of the table. Play continues – play moves in a clockwise direction – in this way UNLESS a player turns over a 'rank' card: a Jack, Queen, King or Ace.
3. If a player turns over a Jack, Queen, King or Ace, they can demand 'payment' from the player whose turn is next of 1 card for a Jack, 2 cards for a Queen, 3 cards for a King, and 4 cards for an Ace. The player making the payment places the required number of cards onto the middle of the table, one at a time and face up.
4. If no more rank cards are turned over when the payment is made, the player who demanded payment gets to add the cards in the middle of the table to the bottom of their stack. They then start play again.
5. If a rank card is turned over when payment is made, this payment stops and the player who is next to play after the paying player must now make payment. This goes on until a payment is made without a rank card being turned over, and the paid player can take the cards in the middle of the table and begin play again.
6. Play continues until 1 player has won the entire deck of cards.

Rules:

• Players who run out of cards are out.
• Use 2 decks of cards if you have more than 4 players

Variations:

• You can shorten the game (it can be long!) by setting a time limit (winner is the player with the most cards at that point) or by removing some of the lower number cards (say the 2s, 3s and 4s) from the deck.

6. Old Maid

For 3 or more players

Aim of the game: To avoid being the player left holding the Queen of Spades at the end of the game.

How to play:

1. Remove the Queen of Hearts, the Queen of Diamonds and the Queen of Clubs from the deck.
2. The dealer deals all the other cards face down. It's fine if some players have more cards than others.
3. Each player sorts their hand and lays down on the table, face down, any matching pairs of the same number/rank – so 2 7s, say, or 2 Jacks. The youngest player goes first and shows the backs of their cards, fanned out, to the next player – play goes clockwise. The next players selects 1 card from the youngest player's hand. If that card matches a card the next player has, they can make another pair to lay, face down, on the table. If the card they take isn't a match for any in their hand, they keep it.
4. The player who has just taken a card now offers their cards to the next player and play continues until all the cards have been put down in pairs and only the Queen of Spades remains.
5. The person holding the Queen of Spades loses the game.

Rules:

• If a player has 3 of the same number/rank, they must lay down 2 as a pair and keep the 3rd in their hand; if they have 4 of the same number/rank, they must lay down 2 sets of pairs.
• The game can be played with multiple decks if there are more than 5 or 6 players. Do remember to remove all the Queens from the 2nd pack.

Variations:

• For a slight less sexist version of the game, you can call it Old Jack and remove the Jack of Spades instead.
• For a more complicated version of the game, you can remove only the Queen of Clubs (or the Jack of Clubs if you're playing Old Jack) and then pairs must match in colour (hearts with diamonds; spades with clubs) as well as number/rank.

7. Go Boom

For 2 or more players

Aim of the game: To be the first player to get rid of all their cards and shout "Boom!"

How to play:

1. The dealer deals 7 cards, face down, to each player. The remaining cards are stacked, face down, in a draw pile in the centre of the table.
2. Each player arranges the cards in their hand from high to low (Ace is high), regardless of suits.
3. The youngest player lays down any card from their hand face up next to the draw pile.
4. The next player – play moves in a clockwise direction – must now lay down a card from their hand that matches either the suit or the number/rank of the card that has just been laid down.
5. If a player cannot lay down a card, they must draw a card from the draw pile. If they still cannot play, they continue drawing until they draw a playable card.
6. Every player plays 1 card in this way, then the dealer clears all the played cards away to one side.
7. The player who played the highest card in that round now starts the next round.
8. Play continues until 1 player has no cards left. They shout "Boom!" and are the winner.

Rules:

• If a player draws the last card from the draw pile and still cannot play, that player misses a turn.

Variations:

• For a longer, more complicated variation, you can turn it into a scoring game. When a player goes "Boom!" you add up the value of the cards all the other players are still holding (aces, Kings, Queens and Jacks score 10) and that is the Boomer's score. You play again, and the 1st player to reach 200 points (or you can choose a different total) is the winner.

8. War

For 2 or more players

Aim of the game: To collect all the cards from your opponents.

How to play:

1. The dealer deals out the full deck, face down, to the players. Players mustn't look at their cards but keep their cards face down in a stack in front of them.
2. All players – at the same time – now turn over the top card of their stack and put it face up in the centre of the table.
3. The player with the highest-ranking card (Aces high) takes all the cards that have been played and adds them to the bottom of their stack.
4. Play continues in this way UNTIL 2 (or more) players turn over 2 cards of the same value (two 7s, for example). These players are now "at war". They must each take 3 additional cards from their stack and place them face down on their original played card and then 1 more card that they play face up on top of the face-down cards. The player with the higher-ranking face-up card wins all 6 (or more) cards. If the face-up cards match again, it's "double war" and the players repeat the "battle".
5. Play continues. When a player runs out of cards, they are eliminated from the game.
6. The winner is the last player with cards in hand.

Rules:

• The suits (hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades) do not affect the ranking in this game.
• If you have a lot of players, you can play with multiple decks and/or reduce the number of face-down cards in each battle.

9. Chase the Ace

For 5 or more players

Aim: To avoid being stuck with the lowest cards and losing all your "lives".

How to play:

1. Every player has 3 "lives". You may want to keep track of these with counters or a scorer.
2. The dealer deals 1 card, face down, to each player, and then puts the rest of the cards in a face-down stack on the table.
3. Each player looks at their card: high-ranking cards are good; low-ranking ones are bad and an ace is worst of all.
4. The youngest player goes first. They decide if they want to keep their card or swap it with a card from the player on their left.
5. If they want to keep their card, they say, "Stand." If they want to swap, they say, "Change." The players on their left must swap if asked – unless they are holding a King. If they are holding a King, they must say "King" and place it face up on the table, and then the youngest player can ask next player (play keeps moving to the left) to swap.
6. Play continues in this way, until it comes to the dealer's turn. If the dealer wants to swap, they must bury their card in the middle of the stack and take another card from the top.
7. The dealer now flips their card over to show all the other players. If that card is a King, the dealer automatically loses a "life".
8. All the other players flip over their cards (if they haven't already done so to reveal a King) and the player with the lowest-ranking card loses a "life".
9. A new player becomes the dealer and play continues until someone loses all 3 of their "lives".

Rules:

• The suits (hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades) do not affect the ranking in this game.
• Cards must be swapped facing down.
• Even if the dealer loses a life (by drawing a King), there is a still another life to be lost from the remaining card in that round.

Best family card games for age 6 and up

These card games are all great for practising and improving your child's ever-developing numeracy skills. Games such as Comet and Crazy Eights also introduce the idea of 'following suit' and having a special card that can change the game or reverse the direction of play. With Commerce, your child can begin to grasp the risks and rewards of trading cards to try to improve your hand and, with Liar, they – thrillingly – get to learn how to pull the wool over your eyes and bluff themselves into a winning position.

10. Liar or Cheat or I Doubt It

For 3 or more players

Aim of the game: To be the first player to get rid of all your cards.

How to play:

1. The dealer deals all the other cards face down. It's fine if some players have more cards than others.
2. Each player sorts the cards in their hand by number/rank, regardless of suits.
3. The youngest player goes first and places face-down into the middle of the table any Aces they hold, calling out what they're placing down – "3 Aces", for example. If they don't have any Aces, they still have to play by placing down other cards and making a bluff call – saying "2 Aces", for example, but placing down a 7 and and Queen (or whatever other 2 cards they select from their hand) – and hope no other player notices their bluff. Also, if the player is feeling particularly cunning, they can place down more cards than they declare, saying "2 Aces," for example, but placing down 3 cards (which may or may not be Aces).
4. If another player thinks the player placing down cards is bluffing, they must can challenge them, saying, "Liar!" or "Cheat!" or, if you prefer something a little less judgy, "I doubt it!"
5. If the player is challenged, they must turn over the cards they have placed down – revealing whether they have bluffed or not. If it was, in fact, a bluff, the player must pick up all the cards in the middle pile. If the player turns out to having been telling the truth, the challenging player must pick up all the cards in the middle pile
6. Play continues with the next player – play moves in a clockwise direction – taking their turn to place down cards. The cards they put down must be 2s (or bluff 2s), and the cards the next player puts down must be 3s (or bluff 3s). When play get to the Kings, the next player starts again with Aces.
7. The first player to get rid of all their cards wins.

Rules:

• The suits (hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades) do not affect the ranking in this game.
• Players must play at least one card from their deck, even if they don't hold the number/rank of card they need. The only option in this case is to bluff.

11. Card Dominoes or Sevens

For 2 or more players

Aim of the game: To be the first player to get rid of all your cards.

How to play:

1. The dealer deals out all the cards, face down. It's fine if some players have more cards than others.
2. Each player sorts the cards in their hand by number/rank and suit (Aces high).
3. The player holding the 7 of Diamonds starts by laying it face up in the centre of the playing table.
4. The next player – play moves in a clockwise direction – must now lay the 8 of Diamonds down on top of the 7 of Diamonds or slide the 6 of Diamonds under the 7 or start a new stack by laying down a 7 from another suit. If they don't have the card to do any of these, they must skip a turn.
5. Play continues with everyone building up the stacks in the centre of the table by laying down/sliding under cards in the same suit in number/rank order – or skipping a turn.
6. The player who gets rid of all their cards first is the winner.

Rules:

• If a player has a card that can be played, they must play it – even if they'd rather not. You can only skip a turn if you really don't have a playable card.

12. Comet

For 3 or more players

Aim of the game: To be the first player to get rid of all your cards.

How to play:

1. The dealer deals out all the cards, face down. It's fine if some players have more cards than others.
2. Each player sorts the cards in their hand by number/rank and suit (Aces low).
3. The player with the Ace of Spades starts the game by placing the card face up in the centre of the playing area.
4. The next player – play moves in a clockwise direction – must then play the 2 of Spades. If they don't have it, they must skip a turn.
5. Once the 2 of Spades is played, the next player must play the 3 of Spades – or skip. And so on.
6. If no player can play the next card, the player who played the last card in the sequence starts a new round by playing their lowest card of any suit.
7. Players also have the option to play a 'comet' card. A comet card is a card of different suit but the same rank as the previous card played. If a 4 of Hearts had been played, for example, the next player can play a 'comet' by placing down the 4 of Diamonds, 4 of Spades, or 4 of Clubs. Playing a 'comet' card reverses the direction of play.
8. The game continues until 1 player has no more cards left.

Rules:

• If a player has a card that can be played, they must play it – even if they'd rather not. You can only skip a turn if you really don't have a playable card.

13. Crazy Eights or Eights or Swedish Rummy

For 2 to 4 players

Aim of the game: To be the first player to get rid of all your cards.

How to play:

1. The dealer deals 7 cards, face down, to each player. The rest of the deck is placed face down in a stack in the centre of the playing area. The top card is turned face up and placed beside the stack as the 'starter' card. If this starter card is an 8, it should be buried back in the stack and another card turned up as a the starter.
2. Each player sorts the cards in their hand by number/rank and suit. Aces are high and an 8 is a 'wild card' that can stand for any other card the player wants it to.
3. The youngest player must now place down on top of the starter card any card from their hand that matches either the number/rank or suit of the starter card. So if the starter is the 6 of Hearts, they can play any Heart or the 6 of Spades, 6 of Clubs or 6 of Diamonds. Alternatively, if they have an 8 and want to play it, they can place it down and choose which suit is in play next. If they don't have a card that matches the number/rank or suit of the starter and don't have an 8 (or don't want to play one yet), they must pick up a card from the top of the stock pile.
4. Play continues in this way – play moves in a clockwise direction – until 1 player has no more cards left in their hand.

Rules:

• If you have an 8, you do not have to play it, even if you have no other playable cards. You can pick up a card from the stack instead.
• If the stack runs out before the game is over, the discard pile can be turned over to start a new stack.

Variations:

• You can make the game longer and more challenging by playing several rounds and using scoring to find the winner. So when a player has no more cards left, all the other players must count up the value of the cards left in their hands (an 8 is worth 50; Kings, Queens, Jacks and Aces are worth 10). The total value of all the cards is the score for the winner of that round. The overall winner is the first players to reach a chosen total – say 500 points.

14. Commerce

For 3 or more players

Aim of the game: To finish with the best 3-card combination in your hand

How to play:

1. The dealer deals 3 cards face down to each player, allowing the player on their right to cut the deck first.
2. The dealer then turns 3 cards face up in the middle of the playing table, creating the 'widow' hand.
3. Each player looks at their hand. The goal is to have a Tricon (3 of a kind – so, 3 Aces or 3 7s, for example), a Sequence (3 cards of the same suit in rank order – so, the 3, 4 and 5 of Hearts, for example) or a Point (more than 1 card of the same suit – so the 2 and 10 of Diamonds, for example). The higher the numbers/ranks in your Tricon or Sequence, the better; the higher total scorn of the number/ranks in your Point the better. Aces are high, and in a Point, a King, Queen or Jack counts as 10 and an Ace counts as 11. A Tricon beats a Sequence and a Sequence beats a Point.
4. The player to the left of the dealer begins play by deciding whether to trade up to 3 of the card in their hand with cards in the widow hand. They do not have to trade and can choose pass instead but, if they pass, they cannot trade again.
5. The next player – play moves in a clockwise direction – then decides whether to trade or not.
6. Play continues. When any player is happy with their hand, they knock on the table to signal that they're 'standing' and won't be trading again. As soon as 2 players have knocked, play stops.
7. Everyone now reveals their hand, and the winner is the person with the highest-scoring hand.

Variations:

• You can extend the game by using tokens and playing multiple rounds. Everyone gets the same number of tokens at the start of the game, and then the winner of each round collects 1 token from each of the other players. The winner is the player with the most tokens at the end of pre-decided number of rounds,

Best family card games for age 7 and up

By the age of 7, most children are ready for card games where rules are more complicated and winning is harder. This is the age at which solo games of Patience come into their own, with your child trying to beat the odds and end up with the whole deck arranged in a certain way. We've also included Muggins, which is all about trying to spot other players' mistakes but stealthily get away with your own...

15. Play or Pay

For 3 to 7 players

Aim of the game: To have the most counters after 10 rounds.

How to play:

1. Each player starts with 20 counters.
2. The dealer deals out all the cards face down.
3. The players look at their hand and sort the cards by number/rank and suit. Aces are high and low.
4. The youngest player starts by placing any card from their hand face up in the middle of the playing table.
5. The next player – play moves in a clockwise direction – now needs to play the next card 'up' in the same suit. So, if the youngest player put down the 4 of Hearts, they need to play the 5 of Hearts. If they don't have it, they have to put a counter in the middle of the table.
6. Play continues in this way. Aces are high and low, so whenever a King is played, the Ace follows, and then the 2.
7. When all the cards in one suit have been placed down, the player who played the last card starts the next suit with a card of their choice.
8. The 1st player to get rid of all their cards wins the round and takes all the counters in the middle.
9. The players with the most counters after 10 rounds wins the game.

16. Patience or Solitaire

For 1 player

Aim of the game: To sort the whole deck into 4 piles, 1 for each suit, with all the cards in ascending order, starting with the Ace and ending with the King

How to play:

1. Deal out 7 cards in a row, with the card on the far left face up and the other 6 face down.
2. Now deal out 6 cards in the same way, this time starting with the face up card on top of the 2nd card from the left (leaving the card on the far left on its own) and putting the other 5 cards face down in each of the other columns to the right.
3. Now deal out 5 cards, starting with the face up card on top of the 2 cards in the 3rd column from the left and putting the other 4 cards face down on each of the other columns to right. And so on, until you are dealing out 1 card, face up, on top of 6 face down cards on the far-right column.
4. Place the remaining cards face down in a separate draw pile.
5. Look at the cards you have dealt out. If you have any face up Aces, pick them up and use them to start your piles of each suit. When you do this, you can turn over the face down card your Ace was on top of.
6. Your aim now is to build up your suit piles, from Ace to King in number/rank order. You can only play cards that are face up into the suit piles.
7. If you can't put any more cards in your suit piles, you can try to expose more cards to turn face up by moving cards that are already face up between columns – but you can only do this by putting a face up card on top of a face up card that is a different colour and 1 number/rank higher. So if you have a face up 7 of Hearts, you can move it onto a face up 8 of Clubs or 8 of Spades. As the game progresses, you can move face up sequences, too – so if you have a face up Jack of Spades, you can move onto it a sequence of red 10, black 9 and red 8. Any time you have an empty column, you can move a King (or a sequence headed by a King) into that column.
8. When you can now longer move any more cards, you can pick up the draw pile and count out 3 cards, turning them over to expose the 3rd card. You can move this 3rd card onto a suit pile or put it onto a column card, if either is possible. If you do do this, you can then see if you can do the same with the 2nd card, which has now been exposed, and so on. Once you can no longer make use of the exposed draw card, and you can't move any other cards, you can count out another 3 cards.
9. Play continues in this way until you have completed all 4 suit piles or can't make any more moves, even using the draw pile.

Rules:

• Cards must alternate between red and black in each sequence and must be order from highest to lowest number/rank with Aces low.
• The cards in each suit pile must all be of the same suit and must be stacked in ascending order from Ace to King.

17. Muggins

For 4 to 8 players

Aim of the game: Not to be spotted making mistakes and to be the first to get rid of all your cards.

How to play:

1. The dealer places 4 cards, face up, in a row in the middle of the playing table.
2. The dealer then deals each player an equal number of cards, face down, and places any leftover cards face up on any one of the 4 centre piles.
3. Each player tidies up their cards into a (face-down) stack but must not look at them.
4. The youngest player starts by turning over the card at the top of their stack. If that card is 1 number/rank higher or lower than any of the face-up cards in the centre piles, they can place their card on top of it. Aces are low (so can only be played on a 2) and Kings are high (so only a Queen can be placed on a King). If the youngest player can place on more than 1 centre pile, they are free to choose which one. If they can't play their card into a centre pile, they must place the card face up next to their own face-down stack.
5. The next player – play moves in a clockwise direction – takes their turn in the same way but now they have 1 additional playing option: they can place their card on the youngest player's new face-up pile (if it's 1 number/rank higher or lower). They can only take this option if they cannot play their card into a centre pile.
6. Play continues in this way. If, as more face-up piles are made, a player can place a card on more than 1 face-up pile, they must always choose a centre pile first or, if that's not an option, the pile of the other player who is closest to their left-hand side.
7. If a player makes a mistake – and, with all these complicated rules, that's very possible– and another player spots it, they can shout, "Muggins!" and, as a penalty, the player who made a mistake must take 1 card from the face-down stack of each of the other players and add it to their own stack.
8. The first player to get rid of all their cards is the winner.

Rules:

• If a player uses up all their face-down stack, they should turn their face-up pile over and use that as their new stack.
• If a player can play their card on a centre pile and on another player's face-up pile, they must choose the centre pile.
• If a player can play their card on more than 1 other player's face-up pile, they must choose the pile closest to them on the left.

18. Clock Patience

For 1 player

Aim of the game: To have every card placed in a clock-face pattern so that its position reflects its number on an analogue clock – so the 6s are at the bottom, with, going clockwise, the 7s next to them, then the 8s and 9s and so on.

How to play:

1. Deal 13 cards out in a circle, with 1 card at each of the 12 'clock number' positions and 1 card in the centre. Repeat 3 more times, make 13 piles of 4.
2. Turn over the top card of the pile in the centre of the circle. Place it on top of the pile that corresponds to its number/rank on the clock – so a 6 goes when the 6 on a clock would be (at the bottom of the circle at 'half past'). Aces are the 1s on the clock, Jacks are the 11s, Queens at the 12s and the Kings go in the centre pile.
3. When you've put the card on its new pile, take your new card from the bottom of that pile and turn it over. Now place this card in its clock position.
4. Continue in this way, aiming to complete each pile of face-up cards on the clock face before you collect all 4 Kings in the centre. If you manage it, you win.

Rules:

• The game ends as soon as the 4th and final King has been revealed.

Variations:

• To extend the game – and improve your chances – when the 4th King is revealed for the 1st time, replace it with a face-down card from somewhere else on the clock and continue playing. This version of the game is often called Watch.

19. Aces Up or 4-Card Patience

For 1 player

Aim of the game: To end up with all 4 Aces in a row, with no other cards underneath or on top of them.

How to play:

1. Deal 4 cards out, face up, onto the playing table in a row.
2. If any of the cards are Aces, leave them where they are.
3. If any of the other cards are of the same suit, discard the ones with the lower number/rank. Aces are high. So, if you have a 10 of Spades and a Queen of Spades, discard the 10.
4. When you can’t discard any more cards, deal out 4 new cards, 1 on top of each card in the row.
5. Repeat step 3, discarding the lowest-ranking card for each suit. You can only discard cards if they are at the top of 1 of the 4 piles in the row.
6. If there are any empty columns in the row, you can fill them with any available Ace. It's only available if it's at the top of any row, not if it's covered up by other cards.
7. Keep going until you have dealt out all the cards.
8. You win only if you are left with a row of 4 Aces and no other cards.

Variations:

• You can make it a little easier by allowing the highest-ranking card that is on top of the rows to fill an empty column, instead of only allowing Aces to fill an empty column.

Best family card games for ages 8 and up

With increased dexterity, hands that are big enough now to hold cards more comfortably and speedier response times, your child is now ready for super-fast-paced card games, like Spit. And, as their ability to think logically, plan ahead and strategise has come on in leaps and bounds, this is the age to learn how to play card games centred on taking tricks and playing trumps, like Knockout Whist.

20. Spit

For 2 players

Aim of the game: To be the first player to get rid of all their cards.

How to play:

1. Players sit opposite one another and divide the deck of cards equally between them.
2. Each player then takes the 1st 10 cards from their pile, without looking at them, and lays them out in the following pattern: first make a row of 4 cards, left to right, with the first card face up and the other 3 face down; then place a card on top of each card in the row, except the card on the far left, with the first card face up and the other 2 face down; then place a card on top of the 2 right-hand cards in the row, with the first card face up and the other one face down; then just place 1 card face up on the cards on the far right. Each player should now have a kind of mini-Patience set up, which is a called the Grid.
3. Each player places their remaining cards to the left of their row in a face-down stack. This is the Spit pile.
4. When both players are ready, they count down together to the start of play with, "3, 2, 1, Spit!" and then each player puts the top card from their Spit Pile, face up, into the middle of the playing area.
5. As quickly as possible, each player tries to add to both of the 2 middle piles from the face-up cards from their Grid. You can only add a card to 1 of the middle piles if it is 1 number/rank higher or lower that the card at the top of the middle pile. Suits don't matter. So for example, if 1 of the middle piles has the 5 on the top, you can add a 4 or a 6 to it.
6. Each time you play a card from your Grid, you can turn over the face-down card underneath it.
7. If a player has an empty space in 1 of their 4 rows in the Grid, they can fill it up with a card from their Spit pile.
8. When both players have no valid cards to play, they both again shout, "Spit!" and play the top card from their Spit pile onto the middle piles. If a player has no cards left in their Spit pile but still has cards in their Grid, they must "Spit" with the face-up card furthest to the left in their Grid.
9. Play continues until 1 player successfully gets rid of all their cards.

21. Knockout Whist

Players: 2 to 7

Aim of the game: To avoid being knocked out and win the last trick.

How to play:

1. Each player is dealt 7 cards. The next card is turned face up in the centre of the playing area and whatever suit it is becomes the 'trump' suit. So, if the card turned face up is the 10 of Hearts, then Hearts are trumps.
2. The players arrange the cards in their hand in order by suit and number/rank.
3. The youngest player starts by placing 1 of their cards in the centre of the playing table. Play continues clockwise, with each player placing down a card that 'follows the suit of' (is the same suit as) the card the youngest player played.
4. If a player has no cards of the same suit, they can play a card of any other suit.
5. When every player has played a card, the highest-ranking card win the 'trick' (round). Aces are high and trumps beat all other suits. If more than 1 trump card has been played, the trump card with the highest number/rank wins.
6. The winner of the trick starts play again.
7. Each player makes a pile of the tricks they have won.
8. After every player has played all 7 of their cards, any player who hasn't won any tricks is knocked out.
9. The remaining players now start again but, this time, with 6 cards to start with.
10. Play continues, with knockouts continuing and the number of starting cards reducing until each player only starts with 1 card.
11. Whoever wins the trick from the 1-card game is the winner.

Rules:

• You can only play a trump card if you cannot follow the suit of the 1st card played.
• You do not have to play a trump card.

22. Knaves

For 3 players

Aim of the game: To win be the first player to get 20 points.

How to play:

1. The dealer shuffles the 52-deck card and deals each player 17 cards, face down.
2. The players arrange the cards in their hand in order by suit and number/rank.
3. The youngest player starts by placing 1 of their cards in the centre of the playing table. Play continues clockwise, with each player placing down a card that 'follows the suit of' (is the same suit as) the card the youngest player played.
4. If a player has no cards of the same suit, they can play a card of any other suit.
5. When every player has played a card, the highest-ranking card win the 'trick' (round). Aces are high and trumps beat all other suits. If more than 1 trump card has been played, the trump card with the highest number/rank wins.
6. The winner of the trick starts play again.
7. Each player makes a pile of the tricks they have won.
8. When all the cards have been played, the points are tallied. Players get 1 point for each trick they've won BUT points are substracted for Jacks. The Jack of Hearts carries a penalty of -4 points; the Jack of Diamonds -3 points; the Jack of Clubs -2 points and the Jack of Spades -1 point.
9. There is one big exception, though: if a player has all 4 Jacks, they are awarded 10 points.
10. After the scores are totalled, the cards and shuffled and dealt out again.
11. The game continues in this way until 1 player reaches 20 points and wins; if 2 or more players pass 20 points, the one with the highest score wins.

Best family card games for age 9 and up

Now that your child can play Whist (see Knockout Whist, no 21, above), you can show them trickier variations, like Hearts, and introduce the idea of bidding with card games like Blackout or Oh Pshaw. (It's also known as Oh Hell!, Oh Well!, Blob, Elevator, and Up and Down the River.) We've also included a fun version of Blackjack – without the chips and gambling!

23. Blackout or Oh Pshaw

For 3 to 7 players

Aim of the game: To score the most points by accurately predicting how many tricks you'll win.

How to play:

1. Select the dealer: each player picks a card from the deck and the player who draws the highest-value card is the dealer for the 1st round. They shuffle the deck and 1 card to each player, face down.
2. At this point, it's worth knowing that the job of dealer moves to the player to the left with every round. And for each round, the number of cards to deal out increases by 1 from the previous round (so the 2nd round would be 2 cards to each player; the 3rd round 3 cards to each player, and so on). The rounds continue until it's not possible to increase the deal by 1 card per player. This means that for a 3-player game, there will be 15 rounds, for a 4-player game, 13 rounds, for a 5-player game, 10 rounds, for a 6-player game, 8 rounds, and for a 7-player game, 7 rounds.
3. When the dealer has dealt the card, they turn the top card from the pile of remaining cards face up to establish the trump suit. A card in the trump suit will beat all cards from any other suit. If (as happens in later rounds) there are no cards remaining after the deal, there's no trump suit.
4. The remaining cards are set aside and a scorekeeper is nominated to write down the bids and scores.
5. The player to the dealer's left 'bids' first by looking at the cards in their hand and stating the number of tricks they think they'll win in this round. 'Legal bids' range from 0 to the total number of cards in each player's hand (so in the first round, the only legal bids are 0 or 1). It's usually a good strategy to underbid by 1, so, in a later round where more cards are dealt out, if you think you can take 3 tricks, you should bid 2.
6. Once every player has made a bid and the bids are written down, the player to the dealer's left 'leads' by placing a card face up from their hand in the centre of the playing table. Play continues clockwise with each player following suit, if possible, by placing a card of the same suit as the lead card into the centre. If a player doesn't have a card of that suit, they can play a card from the trump suit. If the player has neither a card of the lead suit nor a trump card, or chooses not to play the trump card, they can play any card from any suit.
7. The trick is won by the player who played the card with the highest number/rank (Aces high) in the suit that was led – unless another player or players played a trump card. If a trump card is played, it wins the trick; if several trump cards are played, the highest-ranking trump card wins.
8. The winning player now leads the next play (if the players have more cards in their hands). If the players have no cards left, the scorekeeper tallies up each player's score (see How to tally the scores, below) and the new dealer deals out the next round.
9. Play continues until all the rounds have been dealt and played.
10. The winner is the player with the highest score.

How to tally the scores:

• Players only win points when their bid matches the number of tricks they won.
• A player is awarded 1 point for each trick, plus 10 points. For example, if a player bids 4 tricks and wins 4 tricks, their score would be 14 (4 + 10).
• Bidding 0 is the exception to the scoring rule. Because winning no tricks becomes increasingly harder as more cards are dealt, a player that bids 0 and wins 0 tricks is awarded 5 points plus 1 point for each trick played during that round.

24. Blackjack or 21

For 2 players or more

Aim of the game: To have a hand with a score 21 points (or as close as possible to 21) that also beats the score of the dealer's hand

How to play:

1. The dealer deals each player 2 cards, face down. The dealer then deals themselves 1 card face down and 1 card face up.
2. The dealer now turn to the 1st player on their left. That player looks at their cards: they're aiming to end up with a hand that scores 21 (Kings, Queens and Jacks each score 10, and an Ace scores either 1 or 11). The best possible score is 21, made up of an Ace and a King, Queen, Jack or 10 but you can make 21 with a combination of 3 or more other cards. If the player has Blackjack, they must turn their card over face up for everyone to see, and play passes to the next player. If the player thinks they can add another card to their hand without going over 21, they say, "Twist!" If the player doesn't want to take another card, they say, "Stick!"
3. If the player says, "Twist!", the dealer deals them another card, face down. If the card they are dealt takes their hand to a score over 21, they player must say "Bust!" and is out of the round. If the card doesn't 'bust' them, the player must then decide whether to say "Twist!" again or say "Stick!"
4. Once the player has gone bust, got a Blackjack or decided to stick, the dealer moves on to the next player and repeats Steps 2 and 3.
5. After all the players have completed their turn, the dealer reveals their face-down card. If this makes their hand a Blackjack, the dealer wins the round outright – unless another player also has Blackjack, in which case that player and the dealer both win.
6. If the dealer doesn't have a Blackjack, they must twist if the score of their hand is 16 or less, and stick if it is 17 or more.
7. If the dealer goes bust, all the players who are still in play win the round. If the dealer sticks without going bust, the player or dealer with the highest score (that's 21 or under) wins the round.
8. Winning a round earns a player or dealer 1 point; if a player wins with a Blackjack, they earn 2 points.
9. You now begin a new round. The 1st player to score 10 points wins.

Variations:

• You can play with Splits. This means that if a player is dealt 2 cards of the same number/rank (so 2 7s or 2 Queens), the player can choose to Split their hand, placing their cards beside each other on the table and asking the dealer to deal 2 more cards, 1 to each card they've split – turning their hand into 2 hands. They can then twist or stick each of the hands in turn. Splitting works well if you're dealt 2 Aces or 2 8s; it doesn't work so well if you're dealt 2 10s, 2 4s or 2 5s.
• Traditionally, the dealer remains the dealer for the entire game but you could change dealer with each round, to add variety and spread the dealer advantage.

25. Hearts

For 3 to 6 players

Aim of the game: To be the player with the lowest score at the end of the game

How to play:

1. If there are 4 players (including the dealer), you'll need all 52 cards. If you have 3 players, you'll need to discard the 2 of Clubs before you start; if you have 5 players, you'll need to discard the 2 of Clubs and the 2 of Diamonds; if you have 6 players, you'll need to discard the 2 of Clubs, the 2 of Diamonds and the 2 of Spades.
2. The dealer deals out the cards, face down. Every player picks up their cards and arranges them by suit and rank.
3. When play starts, the idea will be to avoid winning tricks that contain any Hearts cards or the Queen of Spades because these cards incur penalty points. With this is mind, before play starts, each player selects 3 cards from their hand to pass on to the player on their left.
4. If there are 4 players, the player with the 2 of Clubs leads the 1st trick; if there are 3 players or more than 4 players, the player to the left of the dealer leads the 1st trick but cannot play a Hearts card or the Queen of Spades.
5. The next player (play passes clockwise) must follow suit, unless they cannot. If they cannot, they can discard any other card (including a Hearts card), except for the Queen of Spades.
6. After all the players have played a card, the player who played the highest card in the leading suit takes the trick and places it face down next to them – which is not good news if the trick contains some Hearts cards.
7. Play continues with the player who won the last trick leading the next trick. This time they can lead with any Club, Diamond or Spade (including the Queen of Spades) but not with a Heart unless a Hearts card was played in the previous round.
8. Play continues in this way until all the cards have been played.
9. Now each player examines the tricks they've won and tallies up their penalty points: each Heart incurs 1 penalty point; the Queen of Spades incurs 13 penalty points.
10. The cards are now shuffled and dealt out again. And play continues until 1 or more players reach 50 penalty points. When this happens, the player with the lowest penalty points is the winner.

Variations:

• To add extra jeopardy, you can add in a rule that if a player 'wins' all the Hearts and the Queen of Spades in a single round, 26 points are deducted from their tally. This is called "shooting the Moon" and can really turn the game – but deliberately playing to try to shoot the Moon is a very risky strategy!

Best family card games for age 10 and up

As children approach secondary-school age, they can derive enormous fun from really quite challenging and complicated card games, with lots of rules, lots of point-scoring – and lots of scope for strategising. Rummy introduces the idea of collecting sequences and sets, as does our simplified, contract-free version of Kalooki. And, with Casino, it's all about thinking mathematically, remembering the intricate rules and staying super sharp.

26. Rummy

For 2 to 6 players (3 or 4 is best)

Aim of the game: To score the highest number of points by being the first to get rid of your cards in each round.

How to play:

1. The dealer deals the cards 1 at a time to each player, as follows: if there are 2 players, they get 10 cards each; if there are 3 or 4 players, they get 7 cards each; if there are 5 or 6 players get 6 cards each.
2. The remaining cards are placed face down in a stack in the middle of the playing table. Then the dealer turns over the top card on the stack and places it face up next to the stack to start the discard pile.
3. Each player looks at their cards and arranges them in their hand, so they can easily see if they have, or nearly have, 3 or 4 of a kind (cards of the same number/rank, so 3 Kings, for example, or 4 9s) or 3 or more of a sequence (cards of the same suit that run up or down by number/rank, so the 5, 6, and 7 of Diamonds, for example, or the 5, 4 and 3 of Hearts). In a sequence, Aces can be high or low but cannot be both high and low in 1 sequence: so Ace, 2, 3 and Queen, King, Ace are both fine but King, Ace, 2 is not.
4. The youngest player starts play by taking the top card from either the (face-down) stack or the (face up) discard pile. Then, if they have a 3 or 4 of a kind or 3 or more of a sequence, they lay it down face up in front of them. They must then discard 1 card from their hand face up into the discard pile.
5. Play continues with the next player – play moves in a clockwise direction – repeating this process.
6. As the game progresses, players can also place a card down on any other player's sequences or 3 of a kind sets. For example, they could add the Queen of Clubs to an 8, 9, 10 and Jack of Clubs sequence.
7. Play continues until 1 player has no more cards left. At this point, the player with no more cards gets to tally their score, as follows: 50 points, plus the value of all the cards still held by the other players (Aces, Kings, Queens and Jacks score 10).
8. The cards are collected, shuffled and a new round is dealt and played and scored.
9. The winner is the 1st player to reach 250 points (if there are 2 or 3 players in total) or 500 points (if there 4 or more players).

Variations:

• You can keep things simpler by not scoring points and saying that the 1st player to win 5 rounds is the winner.

27. Casino

For 2 to 4 players

Aim of the game: To be the first player to score 21 points by 'capturing' cards.

How to play:

1. The dealer deals 4 cards, 2 at a time, face down, to each player. Then they deal 4 cards, face up, in a line at the centre of the playing table.
2. The players now try to use the cards in their hand to 'capture' the face up cards. There are 4 ways to do this:
   * Pairing: If a card in a player's hand matches the number/rank of a face-up card, they can capture it
   * Combining: If a combination of face-up cards adds up to the number/rank of a card in a player’s hand, they can capture them both. So, if there is a 6 and a 2 face up, a player with an 8 could capture them. Aces count as 1s but Kings, Queens and Jacks cannot be captured in combinations. You can capture 2 combinations at once: so if you have an 8, you could capture a 6 and a 2, and a 5 and a 1, if all those cards are face up.
   * Building: A player can build a potential combination by adding 1 card from their hand to a face up card and then capturing the combination on their next turn. So, if there is a 2 in the middle and the player has a 6 and an 8 in their hand, they can place the 6 on the 2 and say, "Building 8." But it's a risky move because if any other player has an 8 in their hand, they can steal the capture before play gets back around to the player who made the build. Other players can also build on builds – so a player with a 9 in their hand could put an Ace on the 8-build and say, "Building 9." Kings, Queens and Jacks cannot be captured in build combinations.
   * Calling: If there is already a build on the table, a player can create another build (or a pair) of the same value. So, if there is an 8-build on the table, a player could add a 3 to a face-up 5 to make another 8-build. If they can do this, they then pool all the cards together, call out "Eights", and wait to capture them all on their next turn. As with a standard build, the cards can be captured by another player with an 8 before play gets back around to the player who made the shared build. However, a shared build cannot be built on further by another player.
3. Play starts with the youngest player. If they can capture cards, they pick them up and place them in a pile in front of them. If they can build, they do so. If they cannot capture or build, they must add 1 card from their hand to the face-up cards in the middle of the table.
4. Play moves clockwise to the next player. If at any point there are no face-up cards in the middle, the player whose turn it is must put 1 card from their hand face up into the middle.
5. Once every player has no cards left in their hand, the dealer deals out 4 more cards to each player – but doesn't put any more in the centre of the table. Towards the end of the game, if there aren't enough cards for each player, they are dealt out anyway and some players won't get a card.
6. Play continues until the whole deck has been dealt out and players have made all the plays they can. If any face-up cards are left in the middle of the table, they are taken by the last player to have captured a card.
7. Scores are now tallied (see How to tally the scores, below) and then a new round is played. The winner is the 1st player to reach 21 points.

How to tally the scores:

• 1 point = 2 of Spades ("little Casino"
• 2 points = 10 of Diamonds ("big Casino")
• 1 point = 7 of more Spades cards
• 3 points = 27 or more cards
• 1 point = capturing all the face-up cards at any point in a single move

Variations:

• You can keep things simpler by only playing 1 round and making the winner the player who scores the most points.

28. Kalooki (for kids)

For 2 to 5 players, with 2 packs of cards

Aim of the game: To be the only player left with less than 150 penalty points

How to play:

1. The dealer shuffles the 2 decks of cards, including 2 Jokers – a total of 106 cards – and deals 13 cards to each player.
2. The remaining cards are placed face down as a stack in the centre of the playing table.
3. Each player looks at their cards and arranges them in their hand, so they can easily see if they have, or nearly have, any 'sets' (3 or more of the same number/rank, so 3 Kings, for example, or 5 9s) or 'sequences' (3 or more of the same suit that run up or down by number/rank, so the 5, 6, and 7 of Diamonds, for example, or the 5, 4, 3 and 2 of Hearts). In a sequence, Aces can be high or low but cannot be both high and low in 1 sequence: so Ace, 2, 3 and Queen, King, Ace are both fine but King, Ace, 2 is not. A Joker can be used to represent any card but can only be used once within any set or sequence.
4. The youngest player starts play by taking the top card from the stack. They must then discard 1 card from their hand, placing it face up next to the stack, starting the discard pile.
5. Between taking from the stack and discarding, they can lay down in front of them, face up, any sets or sequences they hold BUT they can only do this if the sets/sequences they intend to lay down add up (counting the numbers and ranks, with the ranks scoring 10, Aces scoring 11 and the Jokers scoring 15) to 40 or more. This is called 'coming down'.
6. Play moves clockwise to the next player, with that player (and subsequent players) now able to choose to take their new card from the stack or from the discard pile BUT if a player takes a card from the discard pile, they must lay it down straightway into a set or sequence (provided they are coming down or have already come down). You are not allowed to keep a card from the discard pile in your hand.
7. Once sets and sequences are set out on the table, players who have come down are free to add to their own or other players' sets or sequences (so adding another King to a set of 3 Kings, for example, or adding the 8 of Diamonds to a sequence of 5, 6 and 7 of Diamonds). This is called 'adding a goer'. You are not allowed to add a goer using a card you've just picked up from the discard pile.
8. Players can also re-use Jokers that are exposed on the table in sets and sequences. So, if there is a sequence of 5 of Clubs, 6 of Clubs, Joker, 8 of Clubs and you have the 7 of Clubs in your hand, you can place the 7 of Clubs into the sequence and take the Joker. To do this, you must already have come down, you must hold the card the Joker is representing in the set or sequence and you must then use the Joker immediately in a new set or sequence. You are not allowed to keep in your hand a Joker you have taken from a set or sequence on the table.
9. The round ends when 1 player has disposed of all 13 of their cards and discarded. The remaining players then tally up the penalty score of all the cards left in their hand (see How to tally the penalty scores, below). If any player has more than 150 points (in total, including their score from previous rounds), they are eliminated.
10. New rounds are played, until there is only 1 player left with 150 points or less. This player is the winner.

How to tally the penalty scores:

• Non-rank cards score according to their face-value number, so the 7 of Clubs = 7.
• Rank cards (King, Queen, Jack) = 10
• Aces = 11
• Jokers = 15

Read more:

• 30 brilliant games for kids of all ages to play in the car on road trips
• Best board games for children and families
• 26 indoor games to play with your preschooler