Card Game suggestions

[Onacara]

My family finds ourselves doing a lot of "visiting" with family/friends/etc... but also has us out of the house with various things on the kids schedule. Now we have brought along games from time to time "just in case" but many times we just don't get around to them or there is no space for them etc.

What I want to get is a bunch of card games that we can take along with us so I need some suggestions.

We already own Sabotuer, Guillotine and Battle for Hill 218 which we like and fit the bill.

I also have Mille Bournes back from when I was a kid that I think they will enjoy.

I have seen a bunch of games at the Big Box stores too but quite honestly know nothing about them....Rook, SET, 5 Crowns... as well as some on Amazon like KNIGHTS, LOOT....

Help!!!

[ranoobu]

Do you have a preference for number of players?

These are the card games that I find very fun

2 Players only:

Catan: The Card Game- very fun game and it's not very similar to its bigger brother. It's got some similarities (roll dice for resources, trading), but that's about it. Goal is to get to a certain number of points by building structures. Lots of interaction between players with some "screwage". The box is small for portability.

More info: http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/278/the-settlers-of-catan-card-game

Battle Line: A very fun card game with a bit of tension. Goal is to set up your cards so that you have the most points at the end of the game. Sorry, I can't give you more detailed info, but it's a been a while since I had a chance to play it or any game for that matter. Very fun though.

More info: http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/760/battle-line

More than 2 players

Incan Gold: This game is a press your luck type of game that kids really enjoy. We played this with my fiance's nieces and they got a kick out of it. One kid was 7 and the other was 10. Basically, you are an explorer in a temple and you are exploring for treasure. The deeper you go, the more treasure you can get, but if you encounter the same danger card, you lose all the treasure you have accumulated! It's a very fast set up and plays just as fast. I believe it accommodates up to 8 players, but at that point you could even just play teams. This is a good game to test kid's division skills since you have to share the treasures you obtain depending on how many continue through the temple.

Designed for 3 players, but there is a 2 player variant where each of you act as 2 players instead.

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37759/incan-gold

Fairytale: I just got a chance to play this game and it was fun. It's basically a "which cards should i keep and use" type of game. Goal is to get the highest number of points at the end of the game. You pick a card and pass the rest and continue doing this until there are no cards left. So you really have to think about what you want to keep.

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13823/fairy-tale

Edit: can't believe I almost forgot this one:

Tichu: One of my favorite card games. It's highly addictiing, but requires 4 players. You can actually make this game with a deck of cards and 4 jokers. Just write on the Jokers for them to represent the 4 special cards in this game.

It's a co-op game where you play against the other team (2 to a team) basically. In the beginning on each round, you need to give up 3 cards: 1 to your team mate and 1 to each of your opponents.

Great great card game.

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/215/tichu

[lefton4ya]

I got this card deck from somewhere, but don't know where. It has 52 cards in with four sets of cards numbered 2-10 and 4 letters on them, with each set having a different symbol on it, two red, two black ;)

Seriously, there are about 1000 different games you can play with standard playing cards - my favorites are trick taking games like Spades, Hearts, Eucre and "Shedding-type" card games like A**hole, Phase 10, Rummy. There are also many card games (Rook, Skip-Bo, Uno, Phase 10, Rummikub, etc) that you can modify 2 decks of playing cards to play instead of buying a specific set - I always keep a set or two handy. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Card_games and browse games for rules or pick yourself up a copy of Hoyle's book of games. Cheapest and easiest way to keep 100s of games with you at all times.

[nyys]

Battle Line: A very fun card game with a bit of tension. Goal is to set up your cards so that you have the most points at the end of the game. Sorry, I can't give you more detailed info, but it's a been a while since I had a chance to play it or any game for that matter. Very fun though.

More info: http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/760/battle-line


I have this one, very much worth a look.

[CheddarLimbo]

I just picked up Unspeakable Words. It's a Lovecraft themed word-creating game.

[Agent Minivann]

I can help with Rook. Essentially it is 4 "suits" (really they are colors) of 1-14 and a Rook card. You start out by bidding on how many points you will take, 5s, 10s, 14s, and the Rook are the point cards. The player with the winning bid gets to call trump. Then it is just trick taking. The first card dictates what color everyone plays, high card of that color takes it unless a trump is played, with the Rook being the highest card in the game. After all the cards are played, you tally the points to see if you covered your bid, and then add or subtract points. You can be pretty flexible as far as number of players, teams/no teams, points you play to, etc. We've played with secret partners as well. It's the official game of my wife's family. I prefer not to play with them, but it can be a fun game.

[flameslayer93]

Depending on the age of the different players, Monopoly Deal may be worth a look. The rules are pretty simple and picking up 2 decks could keep things interesting for kids. It's difficult to come up with 3 Monopolies when the other players are picking you apart with their cards. The best thing is, you can do the same thing to them.

If you play 2 players I suggest playing with 1 deck and the Hand Limit being 9, your starting hand 7 and the required Monopolies would be 5. Spices the game up if you add a few more Sly Deal/Just Say No cards:twisted:.

[Jim]

<cracks knuckles> Here are some card games that are more than standard everyday card games, but are not full-on gamer games over many people's heads. I'm leaving out the big ones that everybody should know about already (like Dominion) and board games that use cards.

No Thanks (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12942/no-thanks) - A deck of cards numbered 3-35 with 9 cards randomly removed. Each player starts with 11 chips, which they keep hidden. Turn over the top card; if you want it, take it and flip the next card. If you don't want the card, put one of your chips on it. At the end of the deck, the player with the fewest points (from adding the values of your cards together) wins. If you have any series of numbers (like 21, 22, & 23) you only count the first value of each series.

6 Nimmt (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/432/category-5) (also known as Category 5 and Slide 5) - Probably easier to read the BGG description. :D

Guillotine (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/116/guillotine) - If the players can get past the theme of collecting the heads of French Revolution era nobles, this is a fun game.

Fzzzt! (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/42111/fzzzt) - Neat little auction game with a deck-building mechanic involving robots. And it has to be good because there is an exclamation point in the title!

Get Bit! (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/30539/get-bit) - This game comes with a plastic robot "action figure" (Lego-like) robot for each player. Robots are swimming and being chased by a shark. Players put one of their cards down and when revealed, the order of the line of swimmers is rearranged. The swimmer at the back of the line then gets an arm or leg bitten off by the shark (which is represented by actually pulling the piece off the action figure).

Halli Galli (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2944/halli-galli) - This game comes with a bell. Players take turns placing the top card from their deck face up in front of them. The cards have 1-5 pieces of fruit on them. At any time exactly 5 of the same fruit are showing on all the cards, the first player to ring the bell gets the cards. The player who ends up with all the cards wins.

Scavenger Hunt (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/18563/scavenger-hunt) - Animals hunting each other in the Savannah. Carcasses galore! (and sometimes the buiseness end of a hippo.)

We Didn't Playtest This At All (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/31016/we-didnt-playtest-this-at-all) - Extremely mindless and light, but silly fun 5 minute or less card game.

Gloom (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12692/gloom) - Clear cards representing each player's family. The object is to depress and kill off your family first.

Palastgeflüster (Dark Whisperings) (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/32412/palastgefluster) - Interesting German game that is probably best explained by the BGG write-up.

[A_Train]

I'm quite interested in the card game Kung Fu Fighting (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13172/kung-fu-fighting).

BGG has a video review (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/video/2915) of the game that was just posted today, as if it were for you.

[nyys]

Pokemon! :twisted:

If I 'have' to be into it, so do you!*











*Actually I'm finding that there is quite a bit of strategy in the game, though 90% of it is in the deck build (and of course there is a game store on my way home from work that specializes in Magic, Yugio, and Pokemon only).

[TheSparkleInYourWater]

A few I've played recently.

For Sale- You've heard of this, I'm sure. I liked it very much, best with more than 3 players.

Straw: The Game that Broke The Camel's Back- A camel card is placed in the middle of the play area and players take turns placing cards with various weight values onto his "back". The player who makes the limit go over 50 scores 0 points for the round, unless they used the straw card to do it. It's ok, I've only played once.

Bull In A China Shop- I played this one time as well, very nice. I like the "bull bills". You're collecting china and scoring it at set intervals. On your turn you can buy china or take a bull card, bull cards will break your china when you take them but they're the only way to get more money to buy more china. Scoring happens 4 times in a game and you choose how to score each time. You get four choices, but each one can only be chosen once per game. For 3-5 players.

Gloom- I've played this a few times, you play cards with different events over your family members and can play death cards on them. The less points they're worth when they die the better. Cards can be played over anyone's family, so lots of interaction. I don't like the theme, I would have rather it been the opposite where you're trying to make good things happen and the cards have been colorful and happy instead of gloomy. I still like it though, not my favorite, but I'd gladly play. It has a few expansions too, but I've just used the base game.

Felix The Cat in The Sack- A bidding game with an enjoyable theme (for me anyway). Each player has an identical hand of cards with cats worth various amounts (with one removed randomly at the game start) and each round place one of them face down in the "sack" Players bid on the sack, whenever a player drops out of the bidding another card is revealed. Sacks of cats can end up being worth negative as there is a negative cat and dog cards that will chase away cats.

[Jim]

Gloom- I've played this a few times, you play cards with different events over your family members and can play death cards on them. The less points they're worth when they die the better. Cards can be played over anyone's family, so lots of interaction. I don't like the theme, I would have rather it been the opposite where you're trying to make good things happen and the cards have been colorful and happy instead of gloomy. I still like it though, not my favorite, but I'd gladly play. It has a few expansions too, but I've just used the base game.
An interview with the designer that I read stated that he created this game to help his wife. She never liked doing bad things to her opponents in games, because she likes being nice. In Gloom when you do things to hinder your opponents you are actually doing nice things to them and making them happier. :D

[winonavampire]

Hey Ona,

I have a couple suggestions.

The first one is "Storming the Castle (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/35524/the-princess-bride-storming-the-castle)." It is a game based off of Princess Bride. Basically, you are moving through randomly drawn locations and each location needs a particular item (card) to get through. Sword to get through the Fireswamp, rope to climb the Cliffs of Despair etc. There are also cards for messing with your opponents (eels to trap them in the water, iocane powder to cause them to lose a turn and so on). I'm not sure if your family ever got into Princess Bride, but if they enjoy the movie, it is a pretty fun family game.

Another one is "Groo: The Game (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/194/groo-the-game)". The is a game where you are trying to build a mid evil town. You roll some custom dice that have resources. Each resource rolled lets you spend that on building pieces of your town (cards) or your army (cards). The first one to build a town worth X points wins. Of course, Groo, the ever so helpful Ogre is there to make sure everyone has a blast.

Let me know if you try them and what you think!

[flameslayer93]

Pokemon! :twisted:

If I 'have' to be into it, so do you!*











*Actually I'm finding that there is quite a bit of strategy in the game, though 90% of it is in the deck build (and of course there is a game store on my way home from work that specializes in Magic, Yugio, and Pokemon only).

I think this deck will show you that there is 99% strategy of the game in the deck building.;)

http://www.heroscapers.com/community/showpost.php?p=1135598&postcount=5

Ona, I'd suggest Pokemon if you've got youngsters, but if you don't it is pretty funny to just walk into work/school and pull out a deck of Pokemon cards as a joke:lol:.

@nyss: My deck was designed specifically to build up and keep the enemy from winning through various means(ex. it can be hard to deck out thanks to Delcatty). If you've got a deck there's a Pokemon card thread somewhere...

[Onacara]

My boys play Pokemon and YuGiOh...but ...

1-I would never play either game.
2-My daughter won't play them either.

[CheddarLimbo]

How about Infernal Contraption? That's a pretty good "screw your neighbor" kind of game with Goblins building wacky guns to shoot at each other.

[Onacara]

How about Infernal Contraption? That's a pretty good "screw your neighbor" kind of game with Goblins building wacky guns to shoot at each other.

We own that one too and have played it a couple of times. It does start to take up a bit of room though and you definitely need a table to play it on.

[xraine69]

It's not cards, but have you ever played Farkle (http://www.farklerules.com/the-rules-of-farkle/)? It is a simple, yet fun dice game.

[tubafication]

Wings of War. It's a fantastic game. It's a decent wallet full for a card game. But It's extremely fun to play, but maybe that's just because I love aviation.

Disclaimer: If you do decide to pick up Wings of War, I am not responsible for any money spent buying miniatures to go along with the cards. :)

[Malechi]

Great for non-gamers ...
Loco - How to Play: Play a card and take a chip.
There you now know how to play!

[B:T:L Matt]

Hey Onacara, one suggestion I'd like to make is Chaos Marauders. It can be played with 2-4 players, and could easily be played on a small table. It's nice and compact, which if you are familiar with Fantasy Flight Silver Line games, then you know how small the box is.

The premise is that each player takes turns drawing cards from one deck, building 3 battle lines of orcs. You can only attack an opponent when you have a battle line completed. Once you have completed three battle lines, the game ends, and everyone adds up their victory points. The one with the highest amount wins.

This is a very generic and basic definition of the game, but there is some strategy involved in how big or small you want to build your battle lines. Also, there is some strategy involved in how you combo orc clans to increase the power of your battle lines.

Hope this helps...

[krysto2002]

Try Hand and Foot, it is a family card game that only requires multiple standard card decks. AND LOTS OF THEM!

Each player gets 30 cards... 15 in your 'hand' and 15 in you 'foot' which you don't look at. Each time, on your turn, you draw 2 cards, then play as many as you can making sets of 3 or more of the same number, then end your turn by discarding 1 card. 2s and Jokers are wild, 3s are worth negative points and cannot be played and the cards are scored as such:
A = 20
2 = 20 + wild
3 (red) = -500 3 (black) = -300 - CAN NOT BE PLAYED
4-6 = 5
7-K = 10
Joker = 50 + wild

The object is to collect at least 2 plies of 7 cards or more, 1 having NO wild cards and the other having at least 1 wild. You cannot have more than 1 wild card per 2 non-wild and can have no more than 2 wild cards per pile. A pile of 7 or more cards is called a 'book'. Books with no wild cards are worth 500 points, with wild are 300. When you play the last card in your hand, you may continue with your foot. If you discard the last card of your hand, you continue with your foot on your next turn. You MUST discard a card to end your turn.
Cards discarded go to a discard pile. Instead of drawing you may take no less than 6 cards from that pile IF AND ONLY IF the top card is not 3 or wild and you are immediately able to play the top card.
When a player has 1 wild 'black' book and 1 non-wild 'red' book, and has played all of his/her hand, they end the round and all cards are scored. Cards left in hands count negative (especially 3's!)
Each round, your first play must consist of at least:
R1 - 50 pts
R2 - 90 pts
R3 - 120 pts
R4 - 150 pts

Play with 1 deck per player and with 1 deck extra.

Example of a first play:
Draws 2 cards
Pile 1) 2x Kings + 1x 2 = 40 pts
Pile 2) 3x 5 = 15 pts
Total = 55 pts
Discards 1 card.

[legoboy]

Depending on the age of the different players, Monopoly Deal may be worth a look. The rules are pretty simple and picking up 2 decks could keep things interesting for kids. It's difficult to come up with 3 Monopolies when the other players are picking you apart with their cards. The best thing is, you can do the same thing to them.

I agree with this. We have two decks at home, and bought decks for both sets of grandparents and two uncles homes too. The game couldn't be easier to learn, yet provides some great competition.

[Matt Helm]

My family finds ourselves doing a lot of "visiting" with family/friends/etc... but also has us out of the house with various things on the kids schedule. Now we have brought along games from time to time "just in case" but many times we just don't get around to them or there is no space for them etc.

What I want to get is a bunch of card games that we can take along with us so I need some suggestions.

...

I have seen a bunch of games at the Big Box stores too but quite honestly know nothing about them....Rook, SET, 5 Crowns... as well as some on Amazon like KNIGHTS, LOOT....

Help!!!

FIVE CROWNS is one of my all time favorite games. Although I haven't played in a few years now (my kids were too young), it is an excellent an easily obtainable game. I'm jonesin' for a game right now in fact.

I also highly recommend THE GREAT DALMUTI... especially if you've played a little "A$$h*le" back in your college days.

SET is very interesting and a great concept, but I never really found anyone who took to it as much as I would have liked.

Sequence is always good and right now I have multiple circles of friends/family all getting into Bananagrams (I know it's not a card game).

[GeneralRolando]

I am saddened by the neglect of Dominion in this conversation. Probably the best card game ever!