5 Easy Card Games To Learn And Play

CHEAT

This is a game for 2 players up to 10 players using just one deck of cards, minus the jokers. The object of the game is to get rid of all cards in your hand by playing them to a discard pile.

How do you do this?

• Cards are discarded by players in ranked order, beginning with the ACE, then the 2 card, the 3 card, all the way through to the KING.
• Once you have hit a KING card you start again from the ACE card.
• All cards from the deck are dealt to the players.
• The player to the LEFT of the dealer begins.
• All cards are played face-down.
• Player announces how many ACES they are discarding. E.g.- 2 ACES
  
• Any player can call CHEAT if they believe this announcement is untrue.
• The cards are checked.
• If the discarding player DID place 2 ACES down, all cards in the discard pile go to the player who accused him.
• If the discarding player did NOT place two ACES down, then that player is a CHEAT and must pick up the entire discard pile.
  ·         Play continues in a clockwise direction until one player has discarded all their cards and survived all challenges.

Variations

• You can play with more than one deck of cards for a longer game.
• You can play either upwards or downwards for the next rank in cards.
  o   For example, if someone plays two 8’s, you can either play 9’s or 7’s.
• Include the Jokers in the deck. Trying to lie your way to get rid of those can be fun.

SEVENS

This is a game for 3 to 8 players and uses one standard 52-card deck without the Jokers.

How to play?

• Deal all cards to the players in a clockwise direction until the entire deck is dealt.
• Starting with the player to the dealer's LEFT, you place a 7 Card of any suit on the table, face up.
• Taking it in turns, in a clockwise direction, each player must place a card of the same suit either one rank up or one rank down.
  
  OR
  
• A player may place a 7 card from a different suit on the table, to begin another line of cards.
• Each player, in turn, MUST add a card if possible.
• If a player does not have a card in their hand to add to the pile, they must PASS, by knocking on the table.
• The winner is the first player to have no cards left in their hand.

Photo by Andrik Langfield on Unsplash

SPEED

This is an exciting game for 2 players which uses one standard deck of 52 cards, minus the jokers. It is a little tricky to set up, but once you get into the game, it becomes hilarious. There is no taking it in turns, it is both players going for it at the same time.

Dealing the cards

• Deal 15 cards to each player, face down.
• Deal 11 cards to the left, then 11 cards to the right, forming 2 piles.

How to play

• Each player then picks up five cards from their pile in front of them. During the game, you must always have 5 cards in your hand, which you pick up from in front of you.
• To begin, each player takes a card from the pile to their right and plays it into the middle.
• As fast as you can, you must put a card either one rank UP or one rank DOWN onto either pile.
• You keep doing this with the 5 cards in your hand until you have no cards to play.
• If neither player can play onto the two piles in front, each player then deals another card to the middle from the deck to their right.
• The winner is the player who has no more cards in front of them or in their hand.
• That player then gets a point for each card their opponent still has.
• The winner is the first player to reach however many points you decide. 10 points? 100 points? Perhaps an epic 1000 point game!

KNOCK OUT

This is a game for 2 to 7 players and uses one standard 52-card deck with the jokers removed.

How to play

• A dealer deals 7 cards per player in a clockwise fashion.
• The next card on the deck is turned over and is considered the TRUMP card.
  o   This is the suit each player must play a card for during the round.
• From the dealer’s left, the player must play a card of the TRUMP SUIT to qualify for a win or TRICK.
• You go around in the group, clockwise. Each player must play a TRUMP card, or if they don’t have a trump suit, any card in their hand.
  o   If you play a card that is not a part of the TRUMP, you cannot win that TRICK, even if it is a high-ranked card.
• The winner of that TRICK is the person who played the highest TRUMP card.
• That player then announces the next suit for TRUMPS and plays the card.
  o   Example. You have just won a trick with the 10 of SPADES. You have a Jack of DIAMONDS, so you announce DIAMONDS as the next TRUMP, and play your Jack of Diamonds.
  o   Another player puts down the QUEEN of Diamonds, which beats your JACK. They then win the TRICK and announce HEARTS as the new TRUMP and plays a 7 of Hearts.
• This continues until all hands are played.
• The winner is the player who has collected the most TRICKS.
• The player with the fewest TRICKS is eliminated.
  o   If there is more than one player at the bottom, the deck is shuffled and cut, with the lowest card being the eliminated player.

This is a quick game, a fun game that is easy to learn and quick to play.

Photo by Romina BM on Unsplash

500

There are many names for this card game, but ‘500’ has been around for a while. Differences in the name can be the number, since the score of 500 indicates a win. You can play all the way to a score of 5000 if you’re going to be in lockdown for a long time.

• The aim of the game is to accrue a score of 500. This is done by counting the cards placed down in front of you at the end of the game or subtracting the cards in front of you when you lose.
• This is done by laying down ‘sets’ or ‘runs’
  o   You must lay down a SET or RUN of four cards to begin.
  o   Subsequent sets may be in 3 cards.
  §  Sets are ‘of-a-kind’ e.g. 3 JACK cards; runs are straights e.g. 3,4,5,6 of HEARTS.
  o   When it is your turn, you may add to any of your sets to increase the number of cards laid down in front of you.
  §  Example- if you have 3 Aces in front of you, and you pick up a 4th Ace, you can add it to your SET
  o   Additionally, you can add cards in front of you, which can be included in another player’s set or run. These points count for you.
  §  Example, if you’re on the board, and another player has a SET of 3 Aces, you may place an Ace down, and add it to their Set. You would get 20 points for this at the end of the hand.

At the end of the hand, if you have any cards left in your hand, they count AGAINST you.

The scores for the cards are as follows:

• Number Cards- score as per the number
• Face Cards = 10 points per card
• Ace= 20 points per Ace

How to play

• Each player is dealt seven cards.
• The remaining cards are laid down face down as a deck, with the top card turned over as the DISCARD pile.
• The rhythm of the game is every player must PICK UP a card, (or cards), and they must ALWAYS put a card down.
  o   If you pick up a card from the deck, you must also put a card on the discard pile.
  o   If you pick up a card from the DISCARD pile, you MUST use that discarded card for a RUN or SET, and then put a card back into the discard pile.
  o   ** this means if you have 2 cards, and the perfect card appears on the discard pile, you cannot pick it up and use it, as you will not have a card to discard after your play.
  o   When you place a card on the DISCARD pile, do so in a way that you can see all the cards before it. Like what you would see if playing a game of Solitaire.

PICKING UP

• You may pick up a card from the face-down deck. You do not have to play a SET or RUN, you may just hold the card, and then discard one card to the pile
• If you see a card in the discard pile, you may pick it up.
  §  BUT! You must pick up all the cards in front of it into your hand as well.
  §  Example, a player discarded an ACE three turns ago. You want the ACE, so you pick it up, PLUS the cards played since then. You then put a Run down- JACK QUEEN KING ACE, and then discard one card.
• The winner of the hand is the player who manages to PLAY all the cards in their hand.
• That player is the only one who can EARN points in that hand.
  o   You add up the points in PLAY in front of the winner.
  o   All other players must SUBTRACT from their score, any cards in PLAY before them.
  o   Any cards left in the player’s hand do not count for scoring.

The great thing about ‘500’ is that it can go on for a long time. When you’re isolated for a while, with an epic game lasting weeks, it will become the stuff of legend.

The Reject Shop has JUMBO playing cards available for just $3 in-store now, as well as 2-pack of regular-sized playing cards. We also have board games and other fun things to do indoors. Check out our range and drop in to grab some essential indoor entertainment for less.