Card Games
Go Fish
Number of players: 2+
Cards: Standard deck of 52 cards or a Go Fish deck.
How to play: Choose a “dealer” to hand out cards. If there are two or three players, each player is dealt seven cards. If there are more people taking part, each player is dealt five cards. The remaining cards are placed face down in a pile. This is the “fish pond.”
Each player sorts their cards into groups of the same number or suit (for example, a group of threes or a group of kings), making sure not to show anyone. The “requester” (the person to the left of the dealer) starts the game by asking another player for cards that will match their hand. For example, if the requester has two kings, they will ask the other player for kings. If the other player has these cards, they must hand them over. The requester continues asking the same player for more cards until the player does not have the cards they want. If the player does not have the right cards, they say “Go fish.” The requester then takes one card from the fish pond. The player who said “Go fish” becomes the new requester.
Anyone who collects all four cards of a set (for example, all four eights or all four queens) places them face down in front of them. The winner is the first person to have no single cards left, only complete sets. If two people run out of cards together, the player with the most sets wins the game.
Crazy Eights
Number of players: 2–4
Cards: Standard deck of 52 cards
How to play: In a two player game, each player is dealt seven cards. In a game with three or four players, each player is dealt five cards. The rest of the deck goes face down in a pile, with the top card turned up beside it. This is the discard pile.
The player to the left of the dealer discards a card from their hand that matches either the number or suit of the top card in the discard pile. For example, if the card is a five of hearts, they could play any heart or any five. If they do not have a matching card, they continue picking up cards from the deck until they get one that is playable.
Eights are wild and can be put down on any suit. For example, an eight could be played to match a heart. The next player must match their card to the number or suit that the eight was meant to cover. Play continues with players matching the card at the top of the discard pile. The first player to use up all their cards wins. If the deck runs out before the game is over, the discard pile can be shuffled and reused.
War
Number of players: 2
Cards: Standard deck of 52 cards
How to play: All cards are dealt to the two players and kept face down. Neither player looks at their cards. Both players turn over the top card of their piles and put them face up in the center of the table, beside the other player’s card. Whoever has turned over the highest ranking card takes both cards and adds them to the bottom of their pile. This continues until two cards of the same value (for example, two sevens) are put down together. The game is now in a state of “war.”
To continue, both players take two new cards and put one face down on top of the card they have already placed in the middle and one face up. Whoever puts down the higher ranking face up card wins all six. The game is won by the player who collects all of the cards.
Concentration / Memory
Number of players: 2+
Cards: Standard deck of 52 cards or a matching memory deck
How to play: Older children can use the whole deck of 52 cards, but younger children may want to use fewer cards. Make sure the deck you use is made up of pairs.
Shuffle and spread cards face down on a table between the players. Cards can be laid in a random pattern or in a grid. The object of the game is to find matching pairs. Players take turns turning over two cards and letting all the players see them and study them. If they are not a matching pair, try to remember what and where they are, then turn them back over. The next player turns over two cards.
If they are a matching pair, that player removes them from the table and keeps them, and then has another turn. When all cards have been removed from the table, each player counts up the number of cards they have collected. The player with the most cards wins.
Snap
Number of players: 2+
Cards: Standard deck of 52 cards. Two decks can be used for more than three players.
How to play: Choose a card dealer. This player deals all the cards around the group until there are no cards left. Some players may have more cards than others, but this is okay. Players do not look at their cards but keep them face down in individual stacks.
To begin, the player to the left of the dealer turns their top card over and places it face up next to their own pile. The next player does the same. (Note: If a player runs out of face down cards, they can shuffle their face up pile and use them.) This continues until a player notices that two cards on top of the face up piles are the same, such as two jacks or two sixes. The first player to notice and shout “snap!” receives all cards in both of the matched piles and adds them to the bottom of their face down pile. The game continues with a new player turning a card over.
If two players shout “snap!” at the same time, they form a snap pool with the two matched piles of cards placed together in the center. Play continues until someone turns up a card that matches the top card in the snap pool. Whoever shouts “snap pool!” first takes the whole pool and adds it to the bottom of their face down pile.
If a player mistakenly shouts “snap!” they have two options:
- Give every player one card from their face down pile, or
- Their entire face down pile becomes a new snap pool.
If a player has no more face up or face down cards, they are out of the game. The winner of the game is the player with all of the cards.
Slapjack
Number of players: 2–5
Cards: Standard deck of 52 cards or slapjack specific cards
How to play: Choose a “dealer” to deal the cards face down to each player. Players cannot look at their cards, but instead put them into piles. Some players may have more cards than others, which is okay.
The player to the left of the dealer begins by turning the card on the top of their pile face up in the center of the table. The game continues with each player adding a card to the face up pile. When a jack is turned, players try to be the first to slap their hand over the face up pile. Whoever slaps their hand on the face up pile first gets the entire stack of cards and adds it to the bottom of their pile. The player to their left starts a new face up pile and play continues.
If a player has no more cards, they have one more chance to stay in the game by slapping the next jack that appears. If they miss this opportunity, they are out of the game. The last person in the game is the winner.