Card Games
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A card game is any game using playing cards, either traditional or game-specific.
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The deck or pack
A card game is played with a deck, or pack, of playing cards intended for that game. The deck consists of a fixed number of pieces of printed card known as cards. The cards in a deck are identical in size and shape. Each card has two sides, the face and the back. The backs of the cards in a deck are (usually) indistinguishable. The faces of the cards in a deck may all be unique, or may include duplicates, depending on the game. In either case, any card is readily identifiable by its face.
Although many games have special decks of cards, the 52 card pack is known as the standard deck, and is used in a wide variety of games. It consists of 52 cards, each card having a suit (one of spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs) and a rank (a number between 2 and 10, or one of jack, queen, king and ace). For any combination of one suit and one rank, there is exactly one card in the standard deck having that suit and rank. In addition to games that use the standard deck, there are also games that use some modification of the standard deck, for example excluding all cards of rank lower than some rank (e.g., a pinochle deck), or adding a special card, joker, to the standard deck. Many European regions have their own variants of the standard deck having different names and imagery for suits, or having a different set of ranks in the cards.
There are also some card games that require multiple standard decks. In this scenario, a "deck" refers to a set of 52 cards or a single deck, while a "pack" or "shoe" (Blackjack) refers to the collection of "decks" as a whole.
The deal
Dealing is done either clockwise or counterclockwise. If this is omitted from the rules, then it should be assumed to be:
- clockwise for games from North America, North and West Europe and Russia;
- counterclockwise for South and East Europe, Asia and Swiss games.
A player is chosen to deal. That person takes all of the cards in the pack and shuffles them. During the shuffle, the dealer holds the cards so that he or she and the other players cannot see any of their faces.
After the shuffle, the dealer offers the deck to another player to cut the deck. If the deal is clockwise, this is the player on their right; if counter-clockwise, it is the player on the left.
The dealer then deals the cards by holding the pack, face-down, in one hand, and removing cards from the top of it with the other hand to distribute to the players. The cards are dealt face-down on the table in front of each player. The rules of the game will specify the details of the deal. In many games, some cards will remain undealt, these are left face down in the middle of the table, forming the talon, skat, or stock. The set of cards dealt to a player is known as their hand.
When the deal is complete, all players pick up their cards and hold them in such a way that the faces can be seen by the holder of the cards but not the other players. In most games it is also useful to sort one's hand, rearranging the cards in a way appropriate to the game. For example in a trick taking game it is easier to have all the cards of the same suit together, whereas in a rummy game one might sort them by rank or by potential combinations.
Types of card games
Trick-taking games
Rummy-style games
- Canasta
- Cribbage
- Desmoche
- Gin rummy
- Go Fish
- Happy Families
- Robbers' rummy
- Rummy
- Spoons
- Steal the old man's pack
Casino or gambling card games
Solitaire (or Patience) games
Shedding games
The object of a shedding game is to dispose of all of one's cards.
Accumulating games
The object of an accumulation game is to gain all the cards.
External links
- Card Games - Pagat.com contains detailed rules for hundreds of card games
- Poker variations
- The House of Cards - comprehensive directory of traditional and commercial card games
