Discussion What Are Your Favorite Playing Card Games?

[xghost777]

What are your favorite games to play with standard playing cards Fami?

My favorite is “Egyptian Rat Screw” which has a terrible name, but is also fast paced, skill based, expands well with small groups, has a way for defeated players and late arrivals to join in, and has flexibility for fun house rules or variations to spice it up.

Incidentally, I’m kind of curious as googling the history of it was unhelpful here, it’s been around for at least 25+ years in America, but is this game popular globally? Does it have a different name in your country if it does exist? I’ll describe the rules in a spoiler tag.

Spoiler

The game starts with shuffling the deck and then dealing out all of the cards equally to all of the players one at a time who are all sitting in a circle facing each other. Players can never look at their own cards.

You then take turns quickly placing cards from the top of your deck face up one by one in a central pile. The moment a royal card is played, the next player in line only has so many chances to place down another royal card.

Jacks = 1 chance
Queens = 2 chances
Kings = 3 chances
Aces = 4 chances

If a royal card is played, the responsibility to a play a new royal card is then passed to the next player. If the player does not play another royal card before running out of chances, the player who played the last royal card claims the pile of cards for themselves.

The big gimmick of the game however is that you are allowed to slap the pile of cards if special circumstances agreed upon before the game starts occur like doubles or sandwiches (ie a 7, a 5, and a 7) and claim the current pile immediately. Even players who are out of the game or joined late can collect cards and start working towards winning. Incorrect slaps cost you the card on the top of your deck. There’s fun flexibility here then to make your own house rules like if a 4 follows a Jack you are allowed to slap.

The ultimate goal is to collect all of the cards or be the last person left with cards to play.

 

[meatbag]

Never heard of Egyptian Rat Screw before, but it sounds like a meatier version of the game Slapjack which is hectic fun. I'd definitely want to try playing it at my next friend gathering.

What are your favorite games to play with standard playing cards Fami?

Well my go-to card game is called pusoy dos, which I believe is known in other parts of the world as Filipino poker. You basically divide a deck between 3-4 players, and the goal is to get rid of all your cards. You can put down single cards or in certain combinations (pairs, straights, flushes and so on).

A game starts with one player randomly being chosen to put a combination of cards down first. The next player has to put down the same combination with a higher rank. For example, if someone plays a pair of fives, the next player can put down a pair of sevens, but they can't play a pair of threes.

If a player can't play anything, they have to pass. If everyone else passes, the player who last put down a valid combination can play a new combination.

It's a fun mind game and I've won some money from playing with friends haha.

 

[Lord Azrael]

I've played Egyptian Ratscrew before. It's pretty fun

My favorite is probably Euchre. Needs four players though. Also played Durak a long time ago and enjoyed it

Another one I really love but am not sure is even a real card game is Seven Hand Poker. Played it all the time back in the day on MSN Messenger lol

Seven-Handed Poker

Battle over 7 coins with poker hands. The opponent decides where to place your cards!

boardgamegeek.com

 

[shoptroll]

Cribbage all the way if we’re talking about games that use a standard 52 card deck

 

[SammyJ9]

For two players: Cribbage is fun, and has some cool variants to make it faster or more complex as well.

For four players, solos: Hearts is fantastic and has some incredible strategy to it when it comes to how you pass your cards, reading who is going for a moonshot and the table shifting gears to try to stop them, and so on.

Four players, partners: Spades all the way. Classic Spades is pretty mid, but if you play it with the good rule variants like sandbags to stop underbidding and bidding nil/blind nil, it really makes it fun and strategic. It helps to learn how your partners and other players play the game, so it gets even better if you play with a group consistently.

 

[SammyJ9]

What are your favorite games to play with standard playing cards Fami?

My favorite is “Egyptian Rat Screw” which has a terrible name, but is also fast paced, skill based, expands well with small groups, has a way for defeated players and late arrivals to join in, and has flexibility for fun house rules or variations to spice it up.

Incidentally, I’m kind of curious as googling the history of it was unhelpful here, it’s been around for at least 25+ years in America, but is this game popular globally? Does it have a different name in your country if it does exist? I’ll describe the rules in a spoiler tag.

Spoiler

The game starts with shuffling the deck and then dealing out all of the cards equally to all of the players one at a time who are all sitting in a circle facing each other. Players can never look at their own cards.

You then take turns quickly placing cards from the top of your deck face up one by one in a central pile. The moment a royal card is played, the next player in line only has so many chances to place down another royal card.

Jacks = 1 chance
Queens = 2 chances
Kings = 3 chances
Aces = 4 chances

If a royal card is played, the responsibility to a play a new royal card is then passed to the next player. If the player does not play another royal card before running out of chances, the player who played the last royal card claims the pile of cards for themselves.

The big gimmick of the game however is that you are allowed to slap the pile of cards if special circumstances agreed upon before the game starts occur like doubles or sandwiches (ie a 7, a 5, and a 7) and claim the current pile immediately. Even players who are out of the game or joined late can collect cards and start working towards winning. Incorrect slaps cost you the card on the top of your deck. There’s fun flexibility here then to make your own house rules like if a 4 follows a Jack you are allowed to slap.

The ultimate goal is to collect all of the cards or be the last person left with cards to play.

ERS is a good one that I played all the time in high school and on camping trips and such. The other big high school staple was not exactly a SFW or pleasant name: Pimps and Hoes is what we called it back then, and what I’ve always heard it called even years later. Although there’s a nearly identical game with just a few variations to it that’s in Persona 5 Royal in the Thieves’ Den that’s called Tycoon, which fits.

 

[xghost777]

ERS is a good one that I played all the time in high school and on camping trips and such. The other big high school staple was not exactly a SFW or pleasant name: Pimps and Hoes is what we called it back then, and what I’ve always heard it called even years later. Although there’s a nearly identical game with just a few variations to it that’s in Persona 5 Royal in the Thieves’ Den that’s called Tycoon, which fits.

Card game names can be awful sometimes yeesh.

Yeah I don’t think Tycoon was in the original Persona 5. When I get to play Royal someday, I have it on Switch, I’ll keep my eye out for Tycoon

 

[SammyJ9]

Never heard of Egyptian Rat Screw before, but it sounds like a meatier version of the game Slapjack which is hectic fun. I'd definitely want to try playing it at my next friend gathering.


Well my go-to card game is called pusoy dos, which I believe is known in other parts of the world as Filipino poker. You basically divide a deck between 3-4 players, and the goal is to get rid of all your cards. You can put down single cards or in certain combinations (pairs, straights, flushes and so on).

A game starts with one player randomly being chosen to put a combination of cards down first. The next player has to put down the same combination with a higher rank. For example, if someone plays a pair of fives, the next player can put down a pair of sevens, but they can't play a pair of threes.

If a player can't play anything, they have to pass. If everyone else passes, the player who last put down a valid combination can play a new combination.

It's a fun mind game and I've won some money from playing with friends haha.

I just realized that this is almost the same game I described in my last post (P’s and H’s, Tycoon). The only difference is that there are some added variations: Playing a single on top of the same single skips the next player, and likewise playing a pair of the same rank on top of a single skips two people, etc. Also, 2’s are wild and auto-clear the board.

The main gimmick, though, is the ranking system: At the end of a round, whoever went out first (played out all their cards first) is the “High P”, the second place player is the “Low P”, the third place player is the “High H”, and the last place player is the “Low H”. After the next hand of cards is dealt out, the Low H must pass their two highest rank cards to the High P, and they in return can give back any two cards they want. The same exchange happens between the Low P and the High H except with only one card.

Obviously this gives the player in first place a big advantage, so the game becomes a sort-of battle to either dethrone the High P and claim the spot, or once you’re in that spot, hang onto it as long as you can.

 

[xghost777]

I’ve been enjoying all of the posts here so far btw. I’m hoping to play the card games I haven’t played before with friends in the future

 

[Twenalexyy]

Loved stumbling upon this thread discussing favorite playing card games on Famiboards! Count me in as a fan of classic games like Poker and Rummy, where strategy and luck dance hand in hand. But hey, let's not forget the solitary joys of spider solitaire, right? There's something oddly satisfying about untangling those eight-legged puzzles!

In my humble opinion, Spider Solitaire is like a challenging puzzle that tests your patience and sharpens your problem-solving skills. It's the perfect companion for a cozy evening or a quick mental break during a hectic day. Plus, it's a game that never gets old - you can always come back to it for a fresh challenge.

 

[Bulletbill10]

I went through a period where I really like Nertz. It's basically competitive speed solitaire. Every player needs their own deck, and you play standard (I think it's Klondike?) solitaire with three card draw. The big thing is that you can play on each other's scoring piles, so you need to be mindful of each players situation so you can get your cards in before they block you.

Works pretty well for up to four, maybe six. Technically as many as you want but it becomes harder to be against everyone if the table gets too big.