8 of the best card games to play with friends - and how to play them

As lockdown eases, many people are opting to holiday close to home this summer, with staycations and camping trips popular options.

But how do you keep entertained - especially when the British weather is so unreliable?

All you need is a standard 52 card deck.

Here is a roundup of some of the best card games you can play, no matter how many players you have in your party.

Gin Rummy

For 2-4 players

Gin Rummy is a version of another card game called Rummy - the aim of the game is to rack up more than 100 points using the cards in your hand before your opponents.

The value of each card is related to the number on the card - ones and twos are low and jacks, queens and kings are high. In Gin Rummy, aces are low in the game, worth one point.

An example of a set would be a 10 of diamonds, 10 of spades and 10 of clubs.

An example of a run would be if you had the Jack of diamonds, Queen of diamonds and King of diamonds.

Spread the desk of cards out on the table and each player can take a card - the player who drew the highest card chooses where to sit and deals out ten cards to each player, leaving the remaining cards in the centre of the table.

The remaining cards create the stockpile. The top card of this pile is placed face up next to it and this is now the discard pile. In following games, the player who won the previous hand becomes the dealer.

A player who was not the dealer starts the game, with the option to pick up the upturned card - if they want the card, they’ll have to discard one of their cards. If the card is of no use to the player, then you can pass without discarding one of your cards. The option then moves on to the next player, who can decide if they want the card or not.

Then the first player can now take the top card off the stockpile, discarding one of their cards in turn. The game continues like this, with each player being able to take the top card off the stockpile or the discard pile, then discarding a card - when discarding a card, it cannot be the same card that they just picked up from the discard pile. At the end of each round, each player should still have ten cards.

The game should be ended if only two cards in the stockpile remain - if a player takes the third to last card in the stockpile, then the hand is cancelled and no points are awarded to any players and the cards must be re-dealt.

A player can Knock if all their cards form melds (so either sets or runs) - if you’ve reached this point and have no rogue cards, then you’ve reached “Gin”. Reaching gin awards you 25 extra bonus points.

A player can Knock before this point however if they suspect their opponent might reach Gin before them. However, for players to Knock, all their unmatched cards (which are called deadwood) must amount to ten points or less.

When a player folds (exposing all their cards), the opponent does the same, which presents their opponents to get rid of their deadwood cards onto your cards. For example, if a player has made a meld of three Kings and the player in play has the fourth King, they may place it on the 3 King meld to complete the set. Likewise, if a meld is made of the 2, 3, and 4 of clubs and the player in play has the Ace of clubs, they may place it before the 2 to build upon the run.

After the non-knocking player gets rid of all the deadwood cards that they can, points are given to the knocking player based on the difference between the card values of the remaining deadwood in the game. If the non-Knocking player has less deadwood than the knocking player, it is known as an undercut and the non-knocking player receives the points along with a 10 point bonus.

How to keep score: The game ends when enough rounds have been played to allow one player to get 100 or more points.

The player who makes Gin, scores 20 points plus the value of the opponent’s unmatched cards. If the player who Knocks wins the game, they score the difference in the value of their unmatched cards with those of their opponent, while if the opponent wins, they score 10 points plus the difference in the value of the unmatched cards between both players. If there is no difference, the 10 point bonus remains.

Once the game has finished, the players note down the following bonuses: 100 points for winning a game, 20 points for each partial game won and 100 points for winning all the rounds of a game without the opponent having won any.

Spit

For 2 players

Perfect for two players, spit is a fast paced game where players aim to get rid of all their cards first. There’s no turn taking in this game - it’s purely a matter of speed.

Begin by dealing the entire pack out evenly between two players - do not look at the cards yet.

From there, each player will arrange five piles of cards in front of them arranged as such, from left to right - one card, two cards, three cards, four cards, five cards. The top card of each pile is facing up, with the cards underneath facing down.

The remaining cards are then kept by each player and are placed in the centre of the table with some space in between them.

Each player then takes the top card from their pile and places it in the centre of the table, which is when the game begins.

Using the cards in front of you, you can place a card that is one up or down in the sequence from the cards in the centre. You can play on either piles, not just the one you turned over.

When playing, if you have duplicates of the same card in your piles, you can double them up so that you can turn over the card from underneath to give you more options to play from, while maintaining your five piles. Only when you play or move the top card from a pile can you then turn over the next card.

Once one player has played all of their cards, they need to place their hand on the smaller pile and shout: “Spit!”

The winner then takes the smaller pile and the loser the larger pile and the process is repeated until one of the players runs out of cards.

If both players get stuck and neither can play any cards from their piles, then they will both turn over a card from their piles in the centre of the table to start a new round.

Egyptian Ratscrews

For 2+ players

Egyptian Ratscrews is a version of the game Snap, but more extreme. Unlike other card games, the aim of the game is to be the one to collect all the cards before your opponents.

Begin by dealing out all the contents of a pack of cards amongst all the players - the players cannot look at their cards.

Then, taking it in turns, each player turns over their top card and places it in the centre of the group for everyone to see.

The following times are when players are allowed to snap:

• Double: when two of the same cards are placed on each other
• Sandwich: when two of the same cards are only separated by one other different card (e.g 5, 9, 5)
• Tens: when two cards played consecutively add up to ten - for this rule, an Ace counts as one
• Joker: if either of the Jokers are played, the pile can be snapped - variations of the game also have players snap on the number seven card instead if Jokers are not in playFour in a row: when four cards are played in ascending or descending order in a row (e.g 4, 5, 6, 7)
• Marriage: when a Queen is played next to a King, either before or after

When a player correctly snaps the pile, they get to add it to their hand. If a player snaps the pile, but there are no snappable cards, then they must forfeit two of their cards to the pile.

The game continues until one player holds all the cards.

Cheat

For 3+ players

Best played with a larger group of players, the aim of Cheat is to get rid of all your cards first.

Begin by dealing out the entire contents of the pack of cards between all the players. The players are allowed to look at their cards, but no-one else should be able to see them.

From there, group your cards into any pairs or sets you might have of the same cards.

Next players take it in turn to place their cards in the middle of the table, face down so that no one can see them, and then tell the group what cards they’ve placed down - for example, two fives.

The person next to them would be able to place down cards one above or one below the person before them - so either fours or sixes.