The 10 Best Card Games With A Standard Deck

What are the best card games with a standard deck?

Card games have remained popular for centuries, but not all of them can be played with a standard deck of 52.

When you’re trying to find a fun game to play, this can be a huge limiting factor if you don’t know what to look for.

Fortunately, we’ve found the best card games you can play right now using only your standard deck!

The 10 Best Card Games With A Standard Deck

To create this list, we took a crack at many different card games to see which were the most fun.

We then narrowed down the list further by considering how easy each game is to learn, its popularity, and how entertaining it remained after multiple rounds.

So, grab your 52-card set and enjoy our list of the 10 best card games with a standard deck:

10. Snap

Up first, we have Snap, a simple game that is popular with both children and adults.

This game uses a standard deck, and the main objective is to win all of the cards in the game.

At the start of the game, all of the cars are dealt equally among players and set face down on the table.

On their turn, a player will flip the top card on their stack and place it in a new face-up pile in the center.

If two face-up cards for a pair, any player can say “Snap”, which will earn them all of the cards in the stack.

However, if two people shout at the same time, the cards are consolidated into the “Snap Pot.”

If the top card in the new pot ends up matching with any of a player’s top cards, anyone can shout “Snap” to receive all of the cards.

Whoever is able to win all of the cards wins the game, and then you can shuffle the cards and start again!

Or you can go play one of the best co-op PS5 games to try and salvage your friendship after beating your friends.

9. Crazy Eights

Crazy Eights is a bit similar to UNO, and it’s incredibly easy to learn once you go through the basics.

The objective of this game is to get rid of all of your cards while having the lowest score when someone reaches 100 points.

Each player starts off with 5 cards, and the remaining are placed in a stockpile at the center with the top card face-up.

All 8s are wild in this game, so if you play one, you have to state what the suit will be for the next player’s turn.

If a player can’t place down a card, they will have to draw cards from the stockpile until they can or have drawn 5 cards.

After a player gets rid of their cards, the round ends, and points are tallied up.

When a player hits 100 points, the game is over, and whoever has the lowest number of points wins!

We love that this game turns earning points on its head to make it so you absolutely don’t want to earn them.

It’s a great mechanic that makes an already fun game even more entertaining!

8. Spite & Malice

Spite and Malice aren’t just what you feel after dying to the hardest bosses in Elden Ring, it’s also an incredibly fun card game!

This game requires two sets of standard playing cards, and each player or team gets their own full deck.  

At the start of a game, players use 13 cards to create a draw pile, with 12 face down and the top facing up.

Next to these cards, players will deal another 4 cards placed side by side that will act as foundations to build on.

As the game progresses, both players or teams will work simultaneously to try and be the first to get rid of their draw piles.

Once someone does, the round ends and the scores are tallied up, with whoever has earned the most points being the winner!

This game is incredibly fun, and while it does require two standard decks, it is definitely worth playing if you get the chance!

7. Euchre

This game is incredibly popular in Michigan, and if you live there, you’ve probably played it at least once!

Euchre uses a deck of 24 standard playing cards with everything but the 9s, 10s, Jacks, Queens, Kings, and Aces removed.

During the game, players will be split into two teams of two, either the attackers or the defenders.

The objective of the game is to earn 10 points by taking tricks for your team.

When the game starts off, five cards are passed out to each player, and the top card from the remaining is flipped over.

This card will become the trump suit, which all players will have to keep in mind while playing.

The game itself is all about trick-taking, and once the dealer places a card, everyone else must try to match its suit.

Whoever puts down the highest-ranking card, factoring in the trump card, will take the trick.

If attackers manage to take 3 to 4 tricks, they’ll get one point, while the defenders will receive 2 points for the same.

Similarly, attackers will receive two points for 5 tricks, while defenders will earn 4 points.

Euchre is incredibly fun, and it’s the perfect classic card game to play if you have a group of four to entertain!

6. Cribbage

Cribbage is a classic game that only requires a deck of playing cards and an optional cribbage board.

If you’re playing with a board, it’s a bit like the best racing games where you have to earn enough points to reach the finish line.

However, if you don’t have a board, don’t worry because you can just play until someone earns 121 points!

At the start of the game, players get 6 cards each, and each will have to choose two to place in the “crib.”

Once that’s done, players have to play a series of cards while keeping track of how much they’re all worth.

The goal is to get the highest score without going over 31, and additional points are awarded based on card combinations.

Whoever has the highest score and hasn’t busted gets additional points from the cards in the crib.

This pattern continues until someone reaches 121 points and is able to cross the finish line.

We know this might sound confusing, but once you’ve played a few rounds, it will start to become extremely easy!

5. Hearts

Hearts is a game all about earning the least amount of points possible, and it requires four players to play correctly.

At the start of the game, everyone receives 13 cards, and whoever has the 2 of Clubs gets to kick things off.

With that card placed down, all other players have to follow the suit while also trying to outrank the cards put down by others.

If someone is unable to follow the suit, they can play any card, though the leading suit will always trump it.

Once a round is over, players will have to tally how many tricks they’ve taken, as well as how many Hearts they have.

Each Heart is worth a single point, while the Queen of Spades is worth 15, but remember, you don’t want more points!

However, if you manage to win all of the hearts plus the Queen of Spades, you will receive no points that round, and everyone else will get an extra 26.

The game ends when someone reaches 100 points, but the winner will be whoever has the lowest score.

While this game can be one of the most complicated trick-taking games to play, it’s fairly straightforward once you get the basics!

4. 21

Often called Blackjack, this game is a casino classic, and it’s also incredibly fun to play with friends!

In this game, all cards 2-10 are worth their face value, face cards are worth 10, and Aces can be worth either 1 or 11.

At the start of the game, the dealer passes out a single card to everyone, including themselves.

This is followed by another face-up card for all other players, while the dealer receives a face-down card.

Now, players have to try and see if they can get closer to 21 than the dealer without going over.

If you think you can get closer, you can choose to “hit”, which will give you an additional card.

Alternatively, you can “double down,” which doubles the initial bet (if you’re betting), and the dealer gives an additional card, after which you must stand.

21 is an incredibly addicting game, which, if you’ve played New Vegas, one of the best Fallout games, you’ll know full well.

It’s as much about chance as it is strategy, and you’ll never want to stop playing once you get on a winning streak!

3. Solitare

Solitaire is a game that most people have at least tried to play once, seeing as it’s pre-installed on almost every computer.

This game is great because all you need is yourself and a deck of playing cards to get started!

The most well-known version of this game is called Klondike, which is what we’ll be talking about here.

However, there are many variations of this game that can also be incredibly fun to play!

To play solitaire, you will start with four piles; the tableau, the foundations, the stock, and the trash.

The goal is to move all cards to the foundations in ascending order, starting with Aces and moving down to Kings.

When starting the game, you should move any aces from the table to the foundations, then start looking for 2s.

If you have nothing more to move, you can draw 3 cards from the stock and proceed from there.

Solitaire is one of those games that looks complicated but is really simple once you start playing.

It’s also extremely addicting, and you can easily lose hours rearranging cards trying to win!

2. 500 Rummy

One of the best games like Rummy, 500 is very similar to the classic card game, but it has a few key differences.

This game can be played with 2 to 6 players, and it revolves around trying to get rid of all of your cards as fast as possible.

To do this, players have to make melds which are either a sequence of 3 matching cards or a run of 3 or more cards.

At the start of every turn, players must draw a card from either the stockpile or the discard pile and return one when their turn is finished.

It is also possible to build onto melds you’ve created. For example, a meld of 3 Kings can have a fourth added if you manage to find it.

A round ends when someone manages to get rid of all of their cards, after which everyone tallies up the cards in their hands.

Whoever is able to reach 500 points first is the winner, meaning there could be quite a few rounds to this game!

500 Rummy is a great card game to play with a standard deck when you have a lot of time to kill.

Plus, it’s really easy to get the hang of, and after a few rounds, you’ll practically be a pro!

1. Poker

Poker takes our number one spot as the best game you can play with a standard deck of cards!

While many people make the mistake of thinking this game is really difficult, truthfully, the hardest part is learning which hands are best!

At the start of a round, each player is dealt five cards, and then the betting process begins.

At this point, players, having seen their hands, can choose to do a variety of things.

They can fold if they have a bad hand, call to make their bet the same as the player before, or raise to increase their bet.

If no bets have been placed yet, a player can also choose to check, meaning they forgo placing a bet.

It’s at this point the real gameplay begins, as even if you have a terrible hand, you can choose to raise as a bluff.

This is a potentially high-risk, high-reward move, as the goal is to make others fold by thinking you have a great hand.

In its most basic form, after these bets have been placed, players remaining have to show their hands and see who has the best.

The player with the best hand takes the pot, and then the cards can be reshuffled for the next round.

Once you’ve mastered these basics, you can start experimenting with other variations, like Texas Hold’em or Seven Card Stud Poker!

Summary

We hope you’ve enjoyed our list of the 10 best card games to play with a standard deck and found some you might not have tried yet!

There are so many games you can play with a single deck of playing cards, and you really can’t go wrong with any of these!

However, we highly recommend taking the time to try out Poker, as it’s by far one of the most popular in the world!

Here’s a quick recap of the 10 best card games with a standard deck:

1. Poker
2. 500 Rummy
3. Solitare
4. 21
5. Hearts
6. Cribbage
7. Euchre
8. Spite & Malice
9. Crazy Eights
10. Snap

What’s your favorite standard card game? Leave a comment below.