16 Card Games to Play with Friends Anywhere, Anytime

Tired of playing cards by yourself? Itching to host a game night? For your next group gathering, grab a deck of cards and try your hand at these popular card games that are so universally loved they’re pretty much iconic.

To play Snap, deal out all the cards in a deck. It doesn’t matter if any players end up with a card more than others. Don’t look at the cards; just leave them face down in a pile in front of you. One by one, each person takes the top card from their pile and turns it face up, placing it next to the pile in front of them. Play continues until someone turns over a card that matches a card on one of the face-up piles. Once that happens, the first person to notice the match shouts “Snap!” and wins both piles, adding those cards to the bottom of their face-down stack. Keep playing until only one player is left with cards — that’s your winner!

I first learned this game when I was a child, as it was my grandfather’s favorite to play with us grandkids. But even as adults, Steal the Pile is a ton of fun! Deal four cards face down to each player, and then place four cards face up in the center of the table. If you have a card in your hand that matches one on the table, put both cards in a face-up pile in front of you. If you can’t match one, put a card from your hand face up on the table with the others. 

As each player takes their turn, they can not only match a card with one in the middle, but also with a pile in front of you — hence the name “Steal the Pile” — and then they take your pile and put it in front of them. When every player uses their four cards, deal everyone another four cards. Play continues in the same manner until all the cards are dealt. The person with the most cards at the end wins.

Euchre is a complex (but fun!) card game made popular in the 1800s across America and Australia. It’s best played with four people (on two teams) and is played with a smaller deck than the standard deck. Only the 9s up to the Aces are used, though some folks play 7 to Aces or even the Jokers. 

The game is played as follows: 

• The dealer passes five cards to each player, and keeps the remaining cards in a small bonus deck at their side, which the dealer can choose to use if they don’t like the cards they were dealt. 
• With the discard deck of non-playable cards (all the cards from 2 to 8) the dealer flips over a card on top of the deck to determine the “trump” (Trump is the suit that will have the highest value for that round of game play.) 
• Once trump is decided, gameplay begins! The dealer plays a card, and everyone else must play one card matching the suit of the first card, with the highest card winning that hand or “trick.” If you don’t have a card in the suit that was led, you can play a “trump” card, which always defeats the other suits (unless an even HIGHER trump card is played). 

There are complicated rules about trump suits: The jack of the trump suit is the highest card in each round, and a jack of the same color, but a different suit is the second-highest trump card you can play. (For example, if clubs is trump, the jack of clubs is highest trump, then jack of spades, then the ace of clubs on down)

There are five tricks in each round, and for your team to win a point, you need to win at least three tricks, and winning all five tricks earns you two points. While it’s a team game, you can also rotate players every few rounds, tallying points along the way. Whoever gets the most points in the end, wins. 

Crazy Eights is played with a standard 52-card deck. Deal each player five cards, then place the rest face down in the center of the table to be the stock pile. Turn the top card over and place it face up next to the stock pile. This is called the starter pile. One by one, each player places a card face up on top of the starter pile that matches the current top of the pile by either suit or number.

If a player can’t place anything down, they pull from the stock pile into their hand until they can. As you might have guessed from the name, eights are wild cards that you can play at any time, as long as the player specifies the suit they’d like the card to represent. The first player to run out of cards wins. If you’ve played UNO with friends before, this is just like that but with a regular deck of cards instead. 

In this one-card-pack game, your goal is to get the best hand out of everyone at the table. The lower cards are worth less, and the higher cards are worth more. In a couple of rounds, you’ll try to compile a hand of cards that contains things like doubles, triples, a full house, or flushes. Usually the best possible hand is a royal flush, which is all one suit and every card from 10 to ace. You place bets every round, and the person with the highest hand wins all the money.

For Canasta, you’ll use two decks of cards, jokers included. With more than three people, you’ll play with two teams. Everyone is dealt 11 cards at the start, and you want to outscore the opposing team. You’ll use the cards to make melds, or groups of cards with the same numerical value. Canasta can be a little confusing at the start, but don’t worry — you play until a team reaches 5,000 points, so there’s plenty of time to learn.

To play gin rummy you need one deck of cards, with the jokers removed. You want to beat the other players to 100 points by forming groups of three or more cards. The groups should either be the same rank or a run of the same suit.

This game is played with four people, using a single deck — perfect for a card game with friends. The goal is to get the lowest score. Whoever is dealt the two of clubs starts the game — each person gets 13 cards to start in Hearts. The first person to go can play any card they want, but as you go around the table, each person must play a card of the same suit. You can only play a heart card or the queen of spades if you don’t have a card of the suit on the table.

Ultimately, you want to get rid of the heart cards (worth one point each) and the queen of spades (worth 13 points). Once all the cards are played, count how many points you have. The lowest number wins.

Like Hearts, Spades is typically played with four people. You’ll break into two teams (sitting across from your teammate), and try to guess how many times you’ll pick up the pile in the middle of the table in one round. From there, the starting player puts any card of any suit other than spades into the middle of the table. Play goes around the table, with everyone playing a card of the same suit. If you can’t, put down another card of a different suit. You can only play a spade if you don’t have any of the other suits in your hand. The person who plays the highest card of the starting suit wins the cards in the center of the table. 

After 13 trips around the table, a round is completed. If you and your partner matched your guess, you’ll get extra points. Play continues for four rounds, and whoever has the highest score at the end wins.

Head to the kitchen first for Spoons. You’ll need a spoon for each player, minus one. Put the spoons in the middle of the table. Depending on how many people are playing, you can use one or two decks. Everyone starts with four cards. On each turn, the dealer picks up a card from the unused portion of the deck and then chooses a card to discard by placing it face-down on the table and sliding it to the person on their left.

The goal is to get four of a kind, with each person picking up the card and passing one to the player to their left. It’s a fast-paced game, so go as quickly as you can — even if the cards you’re passing are starting to pile up! Once you have four of a kind, grab a spoon from the center of the table. Then everyone else should try to grab a spoon, and the person who doesn’t get one earns an “S.” Continue playing until someone spells out the word SPOON with their losses.

This one’s for your inner child, and is one of the most iconic card games to play with friends! Go Fish is super simple. You deal six cards to every person playing and put the rest of the cards face down in the middle of the table. Immediately put down any four-of-a-kind matches you have. Then you’ll continue trying to make four-of-a-kind matches.

On your turn, you can ask any player to give you a card you need. For example, if you have three twos, ask someone if they have any twos. If they do, they must give them all to you. If not, they tell you to “go fish” and you take any card from the center pile. Play continues to the left. Keep going until all the cards are gone from the center. Whoever has the most four-of-a-kind matches wins.

To play BS, you’ll first deal out the entire deck to the players at the table. Then, start with twos. In the center of the table, place face down all the twos you have. If you don’t have any, bluff. Put down a couple of cards and say they’re twos. Go around the table until everyone has discarded their twos, then move to threes, fours, fives, and so on. At any point, if you feel like someone is lying, you can call BS. They must show the cards they just laid down. If the cards are what they claim they are, you have to take the stack. If the person was lying, they have to take the stack. Play until someone runs out of cards; that person is the winner.

The goal of Blackjack is simple — get cards that add up to 21, or as close as possible. You want to beat out the dealer, who is also trying to get 21. The closest to 21 without going over wins.

The goal in Speed, as you may have guessed, is to get rid of your cards as quickly as possible. Start by dealing 20 cards to each player (it’s typically a two-player game). Then make four piles in the middle: five cards on the left, one to the right of that, another one to the right of that, and a final five cards on the far right. All piles should be face down. At the start of the game, pick up five cards from your pile. Each person flips one of the middle cards at the same time, and gameplay begins. 

As fast as you can, put down your cards on top of the center cards — the card you place must be one number higher or one number lower than the card on top of the center pile. The suit does not matter. If you can’t do that, flip over one of the cards from the side pile and play off that card. Try to keep five cards in your hand at all times. The first person to run out of cards wins.

The goal of Yaniv is to have the lowest amount of points by the end of the game. Jokers are worth 0; aces are worth 1; cards 2 to 10 are worth their face value; and jacks, queens, and kings are worth 10. Start by dealing five cards face down to each player. Put the rest of the cards face down in a pile in the middle of the table, and turn the top card up and place it next to the stack. This is your discard pile. Players can then look at their cards, and then play moves clockwise. 

On your turn, you have two options. You can either discard one card, a pair, or a three-number sequence of the same suit, and then pick up a card from either the draw pile or the discard pile. Or you can call “yaniv” if the value of your cards is five points or fewer and you believe you have the lowest total of all the players. Play ends when someone calls “yaniv,” and everyone shows their cards and counts the totals. If you did indeed have the lowest number of points, you score zero. If you didn’t, you score 30 penalty points plus whatever is in your hand. 

Then, redeal the cards and start the game again. When players reach 200 points, they’re out of the game. Play continues in this way until there’s only one person remaining, who is the winner.

My Ship Sails is a card game based completely on luck. It’s best for four or more players. Start by dealing seven cards (jokers excluded) to each player. Once all the cards are dealt, everyone discards one card face-down. Next, everyone takes the discarded card to their right and discards another one of their own. Play continues like this, taking discarded cards from the right and discarding another of your own, until someone has seven cards of the same suit. They say “my ship sails,” place their cards face up on the table, and win the game.