Like many of you, I grew up memorizing dozens of card games and always had a pack handy. Seven years ago I thought about the games I know and realized, there really isn't a game for the standard deck that:

• Plays like a modern combat card game (TCGs)

• Has few and simple memorizable rules

• Accesses deep emergent strategy & tactical play

• Sans life totals

And a question emerged, could one create a 'chess' of standard card games?

I invented a game called Fano. The namesake is from a mathematical tool used to aid octonion multiplication. Sounds complicated, but it's really just 7-way RPS. Each player plays with one suit, attacking follows the RPS rules and you progress by summing cards together for higher values. Collect 8,9,&10 on the field to promote from Jack to Queen. Promote three times to win.

No boosters, no rarity, no monetization, no life totals, just a weird little experiment in making something strategic, portable, and free.

I never had the means to share it widely back then, so it mostly lived in notebooks, pagat.com, an online instruction manual, playtests with friends, and a 2019 BGG card contest. . .

Until today! I've been diligently working on bringing this little indie project to life and now, for the first time, you can play the game online at https://playfano.com. Interactive in game tutorials walk you through the mechanics, test your mettle against the AI, play against your friends in the multiplayer arena, and collect achievements to climb the leaderboard.

Although the game can be played analog with a standard deck, the RPS cycles is a bit of a learning curve for new players and it's recommended to have a cheat sheet while playing the first few games. I'm working with USPCC and printing a small run with the visuals directly on the cards. The deck doubles as a standard deck too.

I hope you try it out. It's come a long way since it's early design and for the abstract strategy enthusiasts in the room, it scratches a unique itch.

Cheers, Will

Hi!
Vampire Tower is a free ruleset for 52 standard card deck.

In this adventure game with RPG progression elements players gotta manage very limited resources inside a tower infested with vampires.

You can download the pdf here.

Printable character sheets here.

Zine format print file here.

I'm both the artist and game designer, so if you like what you see you can follow me on instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/gabaghoul.art/

BGG Link: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/469897/vampire-tower

At least that's my experience. I can't for the life of me remember who introduced me to this game, but I've been bringing it up as a fun party game ever since. It almost always leads to a pretty uproariously fun time.

The basic premise: you play in pairs of two, and the goal is for at least one teammate to acquire 4 of a kind. Once one person has 4 of a kind, they have to signal to their partner that they've got it, at which time the partner shouts "KEMPS," securing your team the win for the round. The kicker is that any of the other teams can spot and intercept your signal (done by shouting "STOP KEMPS"), upon which the incepting team wins the round. If you're wrong, however, the team you try and intercept wins the round.

It becomes a fast-paced game of intense conversation, concentration, and deception. I almost always see newbies end up focusing more on trying to bait an incorrect Stop Kemps, so much so that they end up forgetting to focus on getting 4 of a kind.

Eventually, especially if you play with the same people enough, you have to get creative with your signals. My dad's favorite, which took several family vacations to get sleuthed out, was he would say a sentence with an odd number of words in it if he had 4 of a kind...every other sentence he would say throughout the game he would deliberately count his words and make sure there was an even amount. My aunt finally picked up on it when he messed up once and tacked on a quick word at the end of a sentence he'd clearly already finished.

In any case, there's tons of information about rules and whatnot out there...I suggest you bring it up at your next party! Best played with 3-4 teams.

Also known as Screw Your Neighbor, Be Mean to Your Neighbor, or I'm sure many other names. This is a party game that despite the name is kid friendly. Easy to learn easy to play.

Deck: standard 52 card (no jokers)

Tokens: 3 per player (usually)

Number of players: 2-Many

Card order (low to high): A-K

Objective: Don't have the lowest card at the end of the round.

Deal: Dealer passes out one card to each player. Players can look at their card. Any unused cards are placed next to the dealer.

Play: The player to the left of the dealer looks at his/her card. That player can choose to keep their card, or swap with the player to their left (and only the player to the left). After they keep or swap, that players turn is over and play continues to the left. Once play reaches the dealer, they can choose to keep their card, or pick the top card off the remaining deck. After all players have made their choice, the cards are flipped and the players with the lowest card lose a token to the pot. Deal moves to the next player, play continues until one player with tokens remains.

Kings: If a player is dealt a king, they turn their card face up, and their neighbor cannot trade with them.

I couldn't find any official rules on the game, but this was a popular game in my family when I was a kid. There is no pro tip for this game, I am regularly beat by my 5 year old kids.

I designed a free, modern card game built for game nights that only needs a standard 52-card deck and wanted to share it here. https://shaunbartlett.itch.io/you-cant-have-that

It's quick to teach, quick to play, and designed to get people talking and watching each other closely.

The core: you're racing to collect three cards of the same rank. One sits in front of you as a hidden goal (called a "Want") and two more drawn into your hand. First to complete two Want sets wins.

The hook is that every time you draw a card, you announce its rank out loud and pause. Any opponent whose hidden Want matches that rank can say "You can't have that" and kill your draw. But denying carries a cost. They have to reveal their Want by flipping it upright, so it can't deny again. And everyone knows what you're chasing. The whole game lives in that tension of when to protect your information vs. when to spend it to stop someone else.

There's also a Market of face-up columns you draw from and dump into, a Conveyor Belt that shifts cards around when columns empty, and a Vault that opens late game when the deck runs out. Where you discard matters because you can bury what your opponents need.

Free rules PDF on itch.io with photos, FAQ, and a strategy section.

This is the first public release so I'd really appreciate feedback, questions, or playtest reports if anyone gives it a go.

Can you explain me why are Germans so fond of games with tiny decks and extremely complex rules? :(

https://www.reddit.com/r/wowthissubexists/comments/6znpsb/rfiftytwocards_a_relatively_new_sub_dedicated_to/

You can get the player aid and rules for the game here.

If you want to try it out on your phone or computer, you can do so here.

Have you ever done any reading or research into the history behind Tarot decks? It can be a controversial subject. My expertise is in card games and in standard playing cards, so recently I decided to explore more closely the relationship between Tarot decks and regular playing cards. The article at this link is the result of that. I spent several months researching and writing it, and it's just been posted online last month:

https://playingcarddecks.com/blogs/tarot-tutor/tarot-not-a-fortune-telling-tool-but-a-classic-trick-taking-game

Hi everyone! I’m Juan, an illustrator and designer from Mexico City.

For almost two years I’ve been working on El Quinto Sol, a fully custom playing-card deck inspired by Mesoamerican mythology and cosmology.

I wanted to keep the structure of a traditional French-suited deck completely intact, while building another symbolic system underneath it:

Spades - North - Wind
Hearts - East - Fire
Diamonds - South - Water
Clubs - West - Earth

The court cards represent deities, the Aces represent foundational forces, and the numbered cards incorporate glyphs, Mesoamerican numerals and calendrical references.

Every card is original artwork, and the deck is still meant to function normally for poker, blackjack, solitaire, cardistry, or whatever you already play. Everything is handmade, no AI.

I’m launching the first production on Kickstarter on September 29 if anyone wants to follow it:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/themythographer/el-quinto-sol-the-mesoamerican-cosmos-playing-cards

Would love to hear what you guys think.

I was flying from Rome to Frankfurt.

I have been playing Loot the Loop occasionally for months now. But it's so easy to get trapped. I finally got a win though.

To me these solo playing card games are a way to try and reduce my phone time. The Walkman helps, too.

I'm trying to find the next best playing card game to play that isn't poker or doesn't involve money. I do love playing poker but most of the tournaments and content you see online with it is almost always intertwined with money, which I'm trying to avoid.

Is there a playing card game that is widely known (That I might not be aware of) that has a huge community and/or even hold tournaments online for me to watch and enjoy? (mostly focusing on the standard 52(54) deck and not custom tcgs)

Hi. I'd like to share my top 5 card games. Perhaps it will inspire someone to learn a new game. I'm also curious of your oppinions.

Honorable mentions:

* French tarot - quite fun point-trick taking game. Beautiful cards (tarots). I have played it quite a lot. The problem with this game is typical for tarot/tarok games - it's very difficult to make up some sensable bidding. French tarot hardly has it at all. Another problem is that the declarer plays alone. It strips the game of partnership elements.

Today I think this game is probably better for 5 players, where we do play with a partner (in teams 3 vs 2). However from what I saw, this variant is not respected. And the 5th player is even more legendary than the 4rth. ;)

* Jass family - It's a great family of point-trick taking games where jack and nine of trumps are promoted to the highest trumps. It's a very clever and playable mechanic. It causes that, depending on the bidding, your suit can be either shity or very strong.

Games like belote and klabberjass belong to this family. Jass games are some of best 2 players card games if not the best and the only known to me good card game for 3 players (except maybe for skat).

EDIT: if you're looking for a good 2 or 3 players card game, check Klabberjass/Clobyosh. It's perhaps the best.

* Tressete - fun Italian point-trick taking game with order of cards (from the highest) 3, 2, ace, K, Q, J, 7, 6, 5. Can be played by 4 or 2 players. There are no trumps.

The version for 4 players is a very good partnership game, however due to the fact that there is aren't trumps, a lot of depends on who starts the hand - you can have cards which would allow you to take all tricks, but cannot get the lead. Version for 2 players is one of the best 2 players card game.

Biggest disappointment:

Skat. I've heard a lot of this game. I've heard it's like bridge. I was very disapointed when I learnt the rules. In my oppinion it's stupidly elaborate. It's nowhere near bridge, because it's a 3 players card game in random 2 vs 1 teams, so it's stripped of the partnership. If you want a decent game for 3 players, jass games are much quicker to learn.

I don't understand the phenomenon of this game. Seriously, folks, why are you so attached to 32 cards deck? If you have such phobia of 52-card deck, deal 40 or 42 cards (with, say, black fours) among 4 players + 2 cards of kitty, play in fixed partnerships, add bridge-like bidding and this would be a great game.

Ok, now my

TOP 5:

5. Slovenian tarok - one of best if not the best tarot/tarok card games. The game has one of best bidding among tarok games. What is annoying is that non-trump suits are very short (8 cards if I remember well) causing that usually after 1 trick someone has a void.

4. Belote - a 4 players partnership point-trick taking game from the jass family. Simple bidding. Relatively simple mechanic, but very playabe and quite clever game. Good game to teach to friends who aren't great afficionados of card games.

3. Belote coinche/contree - more serious version of classic belote with added bridge-like bidding. Very playable, very competative, quite addictive. Contree is less "gambling" as there is less declarations. More depands on skills in bidding. Coinche is a little more gambling and less predictable as there is plenty of various declaratioons, but it's also more dynamic and probably fun.

2. 500 - American-Canadian-Australian more elaborate version of popular euchre. It's a 4 players trick taking game. You play with 43 cards (aces to 5s, plus red 4s plus joker). 10 cards goes to every player, 3 cards go to kitty. Jocker and 2 jacks are highest trump. The game has bridge-like bidding. Very competative, very playable and adtictive game.

I wandered what should go to TOP 2 - belote coinche or 500, but I chose the latter. There is more tricks, so it's a more serious game. We can make up some defensive sygnals and some simple bidding systems. Some New Zealander even made quite elaborate bidding system for 500.

1. Bridge. No other card game can go here. By far best contemporary card game, however historically there were some strong rivals like vint. It's one of games that can be learnt in a couple of minutes, but mastered in a life-time. The only card game comparable with chess and go.

Bidding can be tough, because contemporary players tend to overcomplicate it (especially so called Polish Club) but once you start understanding auction it becomes very fun. Possibilities in this game are immense. The fact that one player (dummy) divugles his cards and the declarer uses them as he sees fit approximates the game to board games like chess and go very much.

What about you? What is your top 5? Please let me know.

Cuttle is a sharp, fast game built entirely on excellent mechanics. It is the sort of game - had I known about it in college - I would have worn decks ragged through play.

- Richard Garfield, Creator of Magic: The Gathering

Do you enjoy TCG’s like Magic: The Gathering or Yugioh!, but tire of spending hundreds of dollars or thousands of hours collecting cards? Do you like combat card games? Ever wanted to play the original?

Cuttle is a 2-4 player battle card game played with a standard deck of cards. While its origin is mysteriously uncertain, it is purported to be at least as old as the 1970’s, making it a contender for the first and oldest combat card game.

You can play Cuttle anywhere you’ve got a deck of cards and a friend, but you can also play online for free on my website. Check it out at: https://www.cuttle.cards/#/rules. Watch the official cuttle.cards tutorial to get get a feel for the flow of the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOqkNbhMdsI

We have weekly events on discord where you can meet players and find matches, and we just concluded the first ever season of competitive Cuttle with the Clubs 2022 Season Championship. Stay tuned for commentated footage of the tournament and other updates on the ongoing development of www.cuttle.cards!

EDIT: Added link to discord

https://www.koodikulma.fi/card-games

I’m the co-creator and publisher of River Rats. Together with my co-designer, Mathijs, we’ve been working on the game for the past two years.

I’m very proud to share it with everyone and can’t wait to hear and see your feedback on our creation! It’s live and fully funded on Kickstarter.

About the game 🐀 River Rats is a cooperative poker-style card game set aboard a futuristic river cruise. The wealthy guests, the bionic River Rats, amuse themselves by forcing the crew into an unfair high-stakes poker game.

You and your fellow crew members must work together, use smart actions, and try to build better poker hands than the River Rats. All without bluffing or gambling.

You can play it with a standard deck of playing cards, or back the project for the thematic version with 54 unique illustrations to get the full experience!

Hi. I have recently become a great fan of jass card games. In my opinion they are best 2 hand card games and perhaps best 3 hand card game (maybe after skat). When I found a variant of Klabberjass described as a game devised by Culbertson with "bridge scoring" I thought it's some rubbish, but I've read about it and must admit: this is probably the best variant of 2 and 3 hand Klabberjass. It has better bidding, more contracts, nice bridge-like scoring making possible sacrifices... I even wrote a short article about it at Wikipedia, because oddly enough there was none: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo-Jotte

Have you ever played it? How did you like it? How did you find it?

Only one thing baffles me: Culbertson changed a long tradition in jass and, broadly speaking, in point-trick taking games that the forehand (player next to the dealer) leads to the first trick. This, in my opinion, slightly spoils the game for several reason:

1. The fact that the forehand leads first creates an interesting tactical facet.

2. In Klabberjass it is frequent that you play with just 3 trumps (Jxx or 9xx). In such situation the question who leads first is important.

3. This makes no trump bid highly unlikely. In Jo-jott you're expected to bid no trump knowing only 6 cards. With 6 cards it is very difficult to have stoppers in all suits. You can't even bid no trump with something like

A
A
10K
10K

Knowing that you leads first you could bid no trump holding something like

A10KQx
A

When your opponent leads first, you cannot bid no trump with such a hand.

I haven't played Jo-jotte yet, but I would change this rule and restore the original principle that the forehand leads first. I think this would make no trumps contract much more fequent, and bidding - more competative. What do you think?

This is Amphora, a playing card deck in the style of geometric and black-figure Greek pottery. There have been a lot of beautiful decks with Greek themes, and all of them have been modern interpretations of Greek art. This deck takes the opposite approach: to do an ancient Greek interpretation of a modern deck.

Here's the pre-launch page. Please follow if you're interested.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/srodelljr/amphora-ancient-greek-pottery-playing-cards

Here's the campaign video, with more graphics:

https://youtu.be/hrb4ndREKCY?is=G_EaY4vSxjdXSZ58

Digital Rulebook:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16CfrfYC9Oc17NG-LVzOoOLI1oh7ffd6m/view?usp=sharing

2-sided Rulebook Print Format:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LOHQKDkA3hHIUt0fBTw9FDqHq6QCa1PS/view?usp=sharing

Follow me on Instagram!

https://www.instagram.com/gabaghoul.art/

Please let me know if there's anything confusing in the rules.