Andrew Babcock, Author at Bar Games 101

5 Fun and Challenging Single Player Card Games

Andrew Babcock — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 20:05:00 +0000

Here are some alternative single player card games (aka solitaire variations) to play that will challenge your skills and your mind.

If you’re looking for some great 2-player card games, check out this post.

5 Single Player Card Games

1. Accordion

This solitaire variant is quite easy to play.

Using a single deck of cards, deal them out one at a time, left to right and continuing down into rows, space permitting.

The object of the game is to pile all the cards into one stack.

A card, or pile of cards, can be placed onto another card or pile if the top card matches by either that suit or value.

Also, cards and piles can only be matched to their immediate left, or three to the left.

Remember to continue your sequence through the rows, as well.

For example, a nine of clubs that is the very first card in the second row can be placed on the nine of hearts that is third from the right on the first row.

The rows are there to save you space on the table, the number of cards in each row does not matter.

There are two variations on how to play: one where the player deals out every card first and the other where the player starts to pile up cards as they deal.

With a little luck and skill, you should be able to sequence all of the cards together and fold them into a single pile, like a folding accordion, hence the name of the game.

2. Devil’s Grip

This solitaire variant is a unique single player card stacking game requiring two decks of cards with the aces removed from play (total of 96 cards).

Shuffle them together and deal out three rows of eight, face-up, and consolidate the rest for a stock pile which is set aside.

The aim of the game is to stack the cards according to suit and into piles of specific values:

the top row will be eight piles consisting of 2, 5, 8, and Jack,
the middle row will be piles of 3, 6, 9, and Queen,
and the bottom row will be piles of 4, 7, 10, and King.

These look arbitrary upon reading the rules, but they make sense visually on a grid: twos in the top row, threes in the middle, fours on the bottom row, then they’re topped by fives on the top, sixes in the middle, and so on.

A game of Devil’s Grip

For those you who like or need a visual aid, here’s a very helpful tutorial.

Once you’ve dealt the cards out into the rows it’ll look like a mess in front of you, but now you can start stacking by suit from anywhere.

When you place a card onto another pile, pull the top face down card from the stockpile into the empty space and continue.

Once you’ve exhausted all of the moves available to you from the set up, now you can start with the cards in the stockpile, pulling them three at a time, like in traditional solitaire.

Place these onto their appropriate pile, and again immediately replace any empty spaces you create with the top face-down card from the stockpile.

Repeat as necessary, cycling through the stockpile in threes until you’ve either run out of moves, or you’ve sorted all of the cards into their piles and won the game!

If you like to keep score on incomplete games, count the number of cards left in the stockpile once you’ve run out of moves, and the lower the number of cards left, the better.

3. Pyramid

Pyramid is a matching game played with a single deck of cards where the object of the game is to clear the pyramid of cards away by collecting pairs of cards that add up to a value of 13.

To set up your game, you will shuffle the deck and deal out 28 cards face-up into a pyramid pattern.

For ease, start at the top with a single card, then lay two cards down on the next row, staggering them slightly and covering up the bottom half of the single card at the top.

Repeat through seven rows to attain a pyramid structure, then set the rest of the deck aside as the stock pile.

If You Love Classic Games Like Cards and Dice, Check out These Posts:

To play, you may match two cards that total thirteen from the pyramid that are fully exposed (that means that there are no other cards covering them from lower rows), or a card from the stock to a card in the pyramid.

Face cards have specific values:

Kings alone count as 13 (these are free, they get set aside by themselves)
Queens are 12
Jacks are 11
Aces count as 1’s.

A Game of Pyramid Solitaire

For a brief example, in the picture above, the 8 & 5 in the bottom row can be placed aside, and the 9 & 4 in the bottom row can be placed aside, but the King on the right side of the second row cannot be placed until the 7 below it is matched with a 6.

You may go through the stock pile one card at a time to find more matches, and go through them again as many times as you want until you are either out of moves or clear away the pyramid!

Watch this video to learn more:

4. Monte Carlo Solitaire

This version of solitaire, sometimes called Weddings or Good Neighbors, is a quick matching game for all ages and levels of complexity.

To start play, shuffle up a full deck and deal out 25 face-up cards in a 5 x 5 grid, then hold the rest to the side in a stock pile.

The game is then played rather quickly, matching two cards of the same value (two 4’s, two Aces, etc.) that are adjacent to each other (this can be to the left, right, top, bottom, diagonal – all count) and discarding them.

Once you’ve matched and discarded as many pairs as you can, the rest of the grid is consolidated by moving all cards to the left and up.

This means that any cards that are on the left-most side of the grid go up to the next row by entering on the right-hand side.

Then fill in the rest of the 5 x 5 grid at the bottom right with the cards in the stock pile, and resume play.

After playing a few games, you may find that there are times when you hold back from matching a pair because you can see how the board will re-shape after a consolidation that creates a new advantage or reaches a card you could not match before hand.

That’s a fine strategy and encouraged once you understand the nuances of the game.

Monte Carlo Solitaire is quick and easy to play, but can also be a little more challenging than it appears at first glance – like in regular Solitaire, you may find yourself resetting the game far more often than winning it.

5. Bowling Solitaire

For the bowling enthusiasts out there, here’s a solo card game variant for when you can’t get to the lanes.

This game requires some scrap paper, a pen or pencil, and only the ace through ten of two suits from a deck of cards.

Hold all of the face cards and other two suits of the deck to the side and then shuffle your twenty cards together.

Now on your scrap paper create a bowling score card: draw a horizontal grid with ten boxes and include two smaller boxes in the top right corner of each frame.

The smaller boxes represents the number of pins knocked down in each frame, while the larger box will be the total score up to that frame.

To play, you will attempt to remove/knock down the pin cards using the face-up ball cards.

Pins can be knocked down in three ways:

(1) the pin card and the ball card have the same value;

(2) two or more pin cards equal the value of the ball card; and

(3) the last digit of pin cards equal the value of the ball card (for example, the ball card is a 6, and there are two pin cards equaling 16, such as two 8s).

Certain pins cannot be knocked down if other pins are still standing – namely the middle card of row three and the middle two cards of row four – unless other pins adjacent to them are either knocked down first or are knocked down at the same time.

Remove pins using the ball cards and place them to the side, then flip up the next ball card from the pile.

Continue to do this until you either remove all of the pins or cannot remove any more with the ball cards you have in front of you.

This counts as your first ball of the frame.

Playing Bowling Solitaire

Re-shuffle the ball cards and re-rack them into the three piles and flip the top card of each pile face-up. This is now your second ball of the frame and you may continue to remove pin cards as you did before.

To keep score, if the ball cards knock down five pins, score five points in the upper square on your sheet, then roll the second “ball” for that frame.

If the second ball knocks down two pins, score an additional two points, for a total of seven for that frame.

Should you score a strike and remove all of the pins with your first ball, mark your score sheet with an “X,” and if you remove all of the pins with the second ball mark your score sheet with an “/” to indicate a spare.

Strikes and spares are scored the same as in traditional lane bowling – when a strike is bowled, award 10 points (for knocking down all ten pins), plus then add the total of the next two rolls to that frame.

For a spare, the bowler gets 10, plus the total number of pins knocked down on the next roll only.

If in the event you cannot use your ball cards to remove the pin cards, score a zero on the score card, and move to the next ball or frame.

Once you’ve completed the first frame, re-shuffle your pin cards and re-set.

Play through ten frames, and keep in mind that you may throw three balls in the final frame should you score a strike or spare, again just as in normal lane bowling.

Add up your score at the end, there is a maximum score of 300 points per game.

Can you get bowl a perfect game all by yourself?

There you have it.

Some great single player card games to play while relaxing with a cocktail at the bar or hanging solo at home.

The post 5 Fun and Challenging Single Player Card Games appeared first on Bar Games 101.

20 Great Two Player Card Games

Andrew Babcock — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 20:48:00 +0000

If you’re getting tired of playing continuous games of pool or darts, why not try one of these two player card games to mix things up?

People have been playing cards for nearly a thousand years now, and it’s easy to see why.

A deck of cards is small and portable, the games challenge the mind, and the art printed on them is attractive to the eye.

You can play tons of fun card games with just a single deck.

But what if you just have two people?

Don’t worry, there are still plenty of great games to choose from. To get you started, below are ten of our favorite card games for two.

The Best 2 Player Card Games

Feel free to use the navigation below to jump to a specific card game on the list

1. Nertz

Nerts is a unique, energetic two player card game game where each player attempts to get rid of a 13-card “Nerts” pile.

This game combines a couple of skills, as you’ll be doing several things at once: stacking, sorting, and playing a mini-game of Solitaire, all at the same time.

How to Play Nerts (aka Nertz)?

To start, each player shuffles an entire 52-card deck, and it’s important that both have a unique print to the back facing of their cards.

Each player then deals 13 cards face-down to themselves, then four cards face-up side by side.

The stack of 13 is the “Nerts” pile and the objective is to get rid of all of these cards.

The 4 face-up cards are the work piles.

The remainder of the deck is then held face-down as the stock, and when play begins you may sort through the stock three cards at a time, like in Solitaire.

Leave an open space in between the players and their decks, this becomes the common play area.

To begin the game, each player turns over the top card of their “Nerts” pile face-up.

You remove these cards by placing them on top of either your work pile or by creating piles in the common area, starting with Aces.

More cards can be added by either player to common area piles, but they may only stack in numerical order (Ace low) and by matching suit (Ace of Spades, then two of spades, three of spades, and so on).

There are no turns, play is simultaneous and frantic.

The first to eliminate their “Nerts” pile calls out “Nerts!”, which stops play and players tally their score.

Here is where you need different prints to your decks, so you can separate whose card is whose.

Players gain a point for each card they played to the common area piles, but subtract two points for each card remaining in their “Nerts” pile.

Reset and deal again, and further hands are played until someone reaches an agreed target score, typically 100 points.

Things get chaotic as you play. Usually, players are reaching across one another, or waiting for certain cards to get played in the center, or running through their stockpiles frantically to find one particular card they passed a moment beforehand, and so on.

This excitement is what makes it one of the most entertaining two player card games.

The scoring system both rewards players for consistently placing cards to the common area, and also for getting through the “Nerts” pile quickly, but the 4 work piles do come in handy as well.

Like any good card game, there is a lot of skill and strategy involved in Nerts.

For more information, here’s our guide on how to play Nerts.

Just remember to place your drinks in a safe zone to avoid spills

2. Gin Rummy

Next on our list of the best 2 player card games is Gin Rummy.

The game of a thousand variations, most people know how to play some version of the classic Gin, Rummy, or Gin Rummy.

The name of the game itself suggests it should be played in a bar.

Gin is played one hand at a time, and then Rummy is played over several hands to a certain score.

The object of this card game is to fill your hand with combinations of three or more cards in either the same value (three kings) or in runs of the same suit (3, 4, 5, and 6 of clubs).

How to Play Gin Rummy?

First, choose a dealer. They deal out 7 cards to each player, then place the rest of the deck in the center, and flip the top card face-up into a new pile next to the rest of the deck.

The opposite player has the first turn. They can either choose to take the revealed card into their hand or take a face-down card from the pile. Then, they discard a card from their hand into the face-up pile.

Players continue to alternate picking up and discarding cards until their hand is full of matched cards.

When their hand is full, place the final discarded card face-down on top of the revealed discards and reveal their hand.

In Gin, the winning player then becomes the new dealer and can re-deal a new game.

In Rummy, tally up the values in each hand for only the matched combinations.

Face cards are worth 10 points each, and the other cards are worth their indicated values (a five of diamonds is worth 5 points, an eight of hearts is worth 8 points, etc.).

Continue playing hands until your cumulative score reaches an agreed-upon total (100, 500, or 1,000 even!).

You can practice these gin rummy strategies to get a leg up on your opponent.

Variations on the game differ from region to region:

You can play Gin with 10 card hands.
Some declare a null game when the face-down card pile has been depleted and then re-deal.
You can play with no maximum on the hand size and a scoring system that involves placing combined cards down on the table in front of you throughout the game to lock points in.

Whichever version you play, Gin Rummy is a classic card game for two that’s easy to play at a table or up at the bar.

Other Rummy games you might enjoy:

More Gin Rummy resources:

The Gin Rummy Association (rummy tournaments and official rules)
Book: How to Win at Gin Rummy (For Fun and Profit)

3. Egyptian Rat Screw

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Funny names aside, Egyptian Rat Screw is a fast-paced card-slapping two player game that can be played very quickly.

The object of the game is to collect all of the cards in the deck.

How to Play Egyptian Rat Screw?

Start with a 52-card deck and deal out the whole deck evenly to each player face-down.

Players do not look at their cards.

The player to the left of the dealer pulls the top card off their pile and places it face-up in the middle.

If the card is a number card, the next player puts down a card, too.

Continue until someone places down a face card or ace.

When a face card or ace is played, the next player in the sequence must play another face card or ace.

If they do, play continues.

If they don’t, the original player to lay down a face card or ace adds all of the played cards to their pile.

To add to this, there are several card-slapping rules to Egyptian Rat Screw.

Doubles are slappable (two 9’s in a row)
Sandwiches are slappable (when two cards of the same value are laid down with another in between them. Example: 4, Queen, 4), and
Tens are slappable – not the 10’s of each suit, but when two cards played consecutively add up to ten (i.e. 3 & 7, 2 & 8, or Ace and 9).

The first person to slap the pile of cards gets the pile.

If someone slaps a pile incorrectly, they must add two cards to the pile.

If you’re playing Egyptian Rat Screw with more than 2 players, eliminated players can still wait around and slap in to get cards.

Continue playing until there is just one winner with all of the cards in the deck.

You can even propose a House rule that the winner has to buy the player with the reddest hand at the end of the game a drink.

In fact, in most two player card games, the loser should always buy a drink.

Another card game you might like: How to Play Spades: A Classic Trick-Taking Card Game

4. Golf

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One of the simplest two player card games, I learned this game as “Mini-Golf.”

But as the title implies, Golf is a game of trying to get the lowest score.

This 2 player card game is neat in its simplicity, and actually follows the idea of the sport very well.

How to Play Golf Card Game with Two Players?

Each player is dealt 6 cards face-down, which they arrange into 2 rows of 3 cards each.

The remaining cards are placed face-down and the top card is flipped face-up to start a discard pile.

To start the game, each player flips two of their cards face-up and the remaining cards stay face-down (no peeking).

Starting to the dealer’s left, each player takes turns drawing a card from either the discard pile or from the face-down stockpile.

The card picked is then either swapped out for one of the six cards in front of you or placed in the discard pile.

When swapping out one of the 4 face-down cards in front of you, place it face-up in the discards.

The object of the game is to have the lowest value of cards, and you achieve this by swapping out high-value cards or by matching cards of equal value.

Matches are paired by columns, so there can only be a maximum of 3 matches out of the 6 cards in front of you.

Continue play until all of the player’s cards in front of them are face-up, and then add up scores.

An ace is 1 point, cards 3 through 10 are worth their face value, and then jacks & queens are 10 points (remember points are bad).

Each 2 card is worth negative 2 points, kings are worth zero points, and matching cards of any value are worth zero points (all of those are good).

A game is 9 holes (deals), and then tally the scores at the end of 9 holes to find the lowest scorer, who wins!

6 Card Golf is easy to learn, yet can be challenging – a game perfect for drinks & relaxation.

5. Idiot

Be careful who you challenge in a game of Idiot, it just might be you!

Idiot is a relatively simple, two player card game that has a unique style.

In this game, each player is trying to get rid of all of their cards.

How to Play Idiot?

Shuffle a 52-card deck, then deal each player 3 cards face-down, followed by 3 cards face-up on top of the face-down cards.

And finally 3 cards to each player’s hand.

Each player may switch out cards from their hand with the face-up cards in front of them (you will want to place high-value cards, 2’s, or 10’s here, the reasoning to follow, keep reading).

Put all the remaining cards face-down as a draw pile.

Start with the player opposite the dealer, who places down the lowest card in their hand, and then draws a new card, as you must hold three cards in your hand until the draw pile runs out.

The next player must then meet or beat that card’s value (aces are high), places it down, and then draws a card.

When a player cannot meet or beat a card played previously, they take the whole pile into their hand.

Multiples of any card value may be played at the same time (you may place two 4’s in one turn), and if you play a card and then draw the same value card (if you place down the jack of clubs and then draw the jack of hearts), you may also play that instantly and then draw cards back up to three in your hand.

Continue the game until you run through the draw pile. This is where things get interesting.

First, though, some special notes: all of the 2’s in the deck are considered wild (they may be played as any value) and the 10’s in the deck clear out the pile in play.

When you play a 10, take the whole pile and place it aside. All of those cards are considered removed from the game.

The same happens is someone plays all four cards of the same value (if you play all four 7’s at once, clear out the pile from play).

Now that the draw pile is gone, players run through the cards in their hands. They then play from the three piles in front of them. This is why you wanted 2’s, 10’s, and high cards in front of you to begin the game.

Play through the face-up cards, and then play blindly from the face-down cards.

First to play their last card successfully wins the game!

Some play that the last person holding cards becomes the village idiot, and has to purchase the next round.

6. Slapjack

Simple and easy to play, Slapjack is the classic two player card game good for all ages (and can be played comfortably with 2-5 players).

The goal of the game is to win all of the cards in the deck by slapping down on the jacks in the deck as they are played.

How to Play Slapjack?

Begin by dealing all of the cards out evenly. Players do not look at their cards, and square them up into a pile in front of them.

Starting from the dealer’s left, players lift one card from their piles at a time and place them in the center of the table.

When any player lays down a jack, the first player to slap it takes the jack and all of the cards beneath it. These cards are shuffled into their pile, and play resumes.

Now, if a player slaps a card that is not a jack, they must give up one card, face-down, to whoever played the non-jack they slapped.

If more than one player slaps a jack, the hand that is touching the most of the card wins the pile.

If a player runs out of cards, they may stay at the table until the next jack is revealed, but if they fail to slap in to collect that jack and its pile of cards underneath, they are fully out of the game.

Play continues until one player has all of the cards.

Straightforward & classic, Slapjack is a fantastic game to be enjoyed with spirits and friends.

7. Speed

Part reflex game, part organization, Speed is a quick and challenging game for two players.

The goal of the game is to run through your pile of cards before your opponent.

Speed, also known as Spit or Slam, takes a minute to set up, but then game-play is lightning fast.

You might be done in as much time as it took to set up!

How to Play Speed?

Start by dealing out two piles of five, with two single cards face-down between the two piles, and then dealing out the rest of the cards evenly to the two players (20 cards each).

Each player takes the top five cards from the twenty dealt to them and may look at these, then leaves the remaining 15 as a reserve pile.

When ready, the two players agree to count down from three, then turn over the two cards left in the middle at the same time, and play begins.

Speed is played hectic & simultaneous, there are no turns. From their 5-card hands, players place down cards that are either one value above or below the card in the center.

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Hoyle's Modern Encyclopedia of Card Games: Rules of All the Basic Games and Popular Variations

For example, if the two cards in the center are a Queen and a Five, then a Jack or King may be placed over the Queen and a Four or Six over the Five.

Players do this frantically while also keeping five cards in their hand from the reserve pile in front of them.

If at any time both players have run out of moves, but still have cards in their hands, play stops momentarily and each player flips one card from the pile of five in the center, much like how the game began, and then play starts again.

Continue until one player has sped through all of their cards!

If you’re looking for a fun and strategic card game designed for just two players, we just learned about this new game called “The Challenge”. You can learn all about the rules and game instructions right here.

8. Beggar My Neighbor

The game of Beggar My Neighbor has been around since 19^th Century Britain and is a unique variation on the classic card game, War.

How to Play Beggar My Neighbor?

Start the game by dealing out the complete deck evenly to each player.

As in War, players take turns revealing the top cards of their deck but place the cards in play on top of each other until someone reveals a face card or ace.

These cards are the penalty cards, and once played an opponent must pay the penalty for the cards: four cards for an ace, three for a king, two for a queen, or one for a jack.

Once their opponent has paid the penalty, whoever who played the penalty card collects the entire pile of cards from play and adds them to the bottom of their deck.

However, if a player paying a penalty reveals another penalty card, their payment ends and the opposite player must pay the penalty.

This changing of the penalty can continue indefinitely until one player cannot play a penalty card. Whoever laid the last penalty card to go unanswered wins the pile.

Continue to play until one player acquires all of the cards in the deck.

More players can be added to this game, play just continues in a clockwise fashion.

9. James Bond

Bond, James Bond. This is a fun game of speed & memory for 2 or 3 players that’s easy to set up and enjoy.

The goal of the game is to collect four of a kind in each of the piles laid before you (6 piles each for two players, 4 piles each for three players).

How to Play James Bond Card Game with 2 People?

Begin by dealing six piles of four cards face-down to each player, then lay the remaining four cards face-down between the two players.

When ready, flip the four cards in the center over, and play begins. James Bond is played at a fast pace with no turns (very much like Speed).

Players may only look at one pile of four at a time, and may only exchange one card at a time with those in the center.

Using their memory of which pile contains which cards, play consists of continually exchanging cards from the middle to your piles until you collect four of a kind into that pile.

Once you collect four of a kind, you may then flip the entire pile face-up. Continue to play until you have 6 piles of four of a kind, and then shout “James Bond!” to win!

This sounds simple enough, yet your opponent may be collecting the cards you place in the center, or placing cards they need in the center as you collect them just as quickly.

It’s all great fun, and an added plus is that this game is especially good when played with a martini – shaken, not stirred, of course.

10. Crazy Eights

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One game everyone should learn how to play is Crazy Eights – it’s a classic game appropriate for all ages at any playable location.

How to Play Crazy Eights?

Start by dealing each player 5 cards face-down, then place the remainder in the middle of the table to form a stockpile.

The dealer then turns up the top card of the stockpile (shuffle any eights back in if they are turned up, then turn up a new card).

Players may look at their cards now. The goal of the game is to be the first player to get rid of all of their cards.

Play goes in clockwise order. Each player must place a card that either match the card turned up by its value or its suit.

For example, if a ten of spades is turned up, you may play any ten or any spade. The next player follows suit and so on.

In the event a player cannot play any card from their hand, they must pick cards from the stockpile until they find one they can play.

If the stockpile is depleted, the player must pass their turn.

As the title suggests, all of the eight cards in the deck are wild!

When someone plays an eight, it fills in for any card that may have been played and the player must specify which suit of eight they are playing (for purposes of the player playing after them).

Once someone has run through their hand and won the game, they collect points from their opponent depending on what is leftover in their hand.

Each eight card is worth 50 points, each King, Queen, Jack or Ten is worth 10 points, and all other cards are worth their face value (Aces are low and equal to 1 point).

Play to 100 points, or 500, or 83!

Crazy Eights is easy, and enjoyable with any crowd.

11. Old Maid

We’ve seen a lot of modern games on this list so far, but if you’re looking for a two-player card game with a traditional feel, look no further than Old Maid.

Harkening back all the way to the Victorian era, this enjoyable shedding-type card classic is said to have its roots in ancient gambling games where the winner would often be forced to shell out for the next round, making it a more subdued alternative to rowdy drinking games like King’s Cup.

The object of the game is simple:

Make pairs from the deck of cards until one player is left with the Old Maid. That player loses the game.

How to Play Old Maid?

To make things easy, you can buy specially designed Old Maid card sets. This if often a great choice if you want to keep things simple so that you can introduce your kids to the game.

Alternatively, you can simply use any standard 52 card deck, in which case your first task is to set things up so that you can have one unmatchable card in the deck.

The most common way of doing this is to remove a queen so that you’re left with one queen in the deck which can’t be matched.

With that done, you’re ready to play:

First, choose a dealer.

The dealer shuffles the deck and divides all the cards equally.

Each player looks through their cards without revealing them to the other person and removes any pairs.

Next, the player who didn’t deal goes first. They take one card from their opponent without seeing what it is, and bring into their own hand. If that card creates a pair, they lay that pair face-up on the table and it is removed from the game.

This continues until one player is left with the Old Maid. That player loses the game.

Top Tip:

It’s important to remember that three-of-a-kind doesn’t count in this game. If you have three cards of the same value, you’d make a pair and keep the third card.
Looking for more traditional games to enjoy? Give Backgammon a try.

12. Garbage

In our guide to the unexpected benefits of playing board games, we mentioned that one of the great advantages of playing games is that it can help children develop their math skills.

Don’t have a board game to hand? The Garbage card game will do the job just as well.

Sometimes known as Trash, this straight-forward game sees two players race to line up their cards in a set sequence from 1-100.

What we love about this game is that it’s so simple pre-schoolers can get to grips with it, yet it still offers enough of a challenge to keep older players engaged.

How to Play Garbage?

As with most games, this one starts with a standard 52 card deck.

One player is designated as the dealer. They shuffle the cards and deal 10 cards to each player.

Each player places their cards facedown on the table in two rows of five, with the remaining cards forming a neat pile to the side.

The cards in each row are designated a number, so you’ll start with the top-left card as 1 moving down to the bottom right card as 10.

The game begins with one player drawing a card from the top of the pile and places it, face-up in the appropriate position among their two rows of cards depending on its numerical value.

They then take that face-down card, look at its number, then repeat the process.

For example, a player originally draws a 2 of Clubs from the pile, so they place that card face-up in the second position in their row of cards, then pick up the face-down card that originally sat in that position, revealing that card to be an 8 of diamonds. They put that card down in the 8th position, pick up the 8th face-down card which turns out to be a 4, places that card in the 4th position, and so on.

In this game, Aces are 1 and kings are a wildcard,s which means they can be used to represent any number.

Queens and Jokers are the ‘Garbage’ which gives the game its name. This means that if you draw a Queen or Joker, you simply discard it and end your turn.

Your turn is also over if you get a card that you don’t need. For example, if you turn over a 3 of hearts but you already have a 3 of diamonds, you don’t need that new card and your turn is done. That 3 of hearts is then added to the garbage along with any Queens or Jokers.

When the next player takes their turn, they can either draw from the remaining deck or sift through the garbage to find a card they need.

The first player to complete a sequence of 1-10 wins the game.

13. Go Fish

Seriously, how have we made it this far into a guide about the best two-player card games without mentioning Go Fish?

OK, so it may not be the most mentally taxing of games, but if you’re looking for something to play with the kids and find they’re not so keen on Garbage, teaching them how to play Go Fish is bound to keep them thoroughly entertained.

How to Play Go Fish?

If you really want to make the game appealing to your young ones, a purpose-made card set like this playfully-designed Go Fish set may do just the trick.

Otherwise, any old pack of cards will do just fine.

To begin, each player is dealt seven cards, with the remaining cards scattered across the middle of the table between them. These cards then become known as the “pool”, or to keep with the fishy theme, the “lake” or “pond.”

Both players then go through their hands and match up as many cards as they can. For example, a player with multiple threes would put them together.

At this stage, it also makes a lot of sense to organize your cards in numerical order to keep track of where you’re at.

The aim of the game is to make as many four-of-a-kind matches as you can (so four threes, four kings, etc.).

To do that, the first player will look at their cards and ask the player for a specific numbered card that will help them create a match.

For example, if player 1 has two fours, they might ask “Do you have any fours?” If the other player does, then they have to hand them over. Player 1 gets to ask again and again until player 2 doesn’t have the number requested.

At that point, the player says “Go Fish!” Player 1 then draws a card from the pond/pool/lake and Player 2 starts their turn.

This continues until all the cards have been grouped into sets of four. The player who has the most groups of four wins the game.

14. War

War! What is it good for?

A thoroughly entertaining game of cards, that’s what.

Suitable for kids and grown-ups alike, this long-time favorite puts you and your opponent against each other in a battle to collect the most cards.

It’s fast-paced, it’s exciting, and best of all, it’s incredibly easy.

How to Play The War Card Game?

Start by shuffling the deck and dividing it equally so that each player has 26 cards.

Without looking at the cards, each player then turns over the top card from their hand.

The player who has the highest card wins that round.

They collect both cards and add them to the bottom of their pile.

This continues over and over until both players play a card of the same value, for example, two kings or two fives. At this point, war breaks out.

Each player takes three random cards from their pile and places them face down in the center of the table, along with a fourth card which they place face up. Again, the player with the highest card takes all the cards and adds them to the bottom of the pile.

This continues until one player has collected all 52 cards and wins the game.

Need a more detailed explanation? Check out our complete guide to playing the War card game.

15. Kings in the Corner

If you’re a fan of Solitaire but prefer a little company when you’re playing card games, Kings in the Corner is worth a look.

Like other games in this guide, the goal is simply to get rid of all your cards before your opponent can do the game.

To do this, you’ll need to devise a sound strategy as you lay out those cards in a solitaire-like sequence.

How to Play Kings in the Corner?

As usual, designate a dealer and shuffle those cards.

At the end of the round, players score 10 points for each King left in their hand and one point for each additional card they have left.

A new round then begins and this continues until one player reaches 25 points. At that point, they’re out and the player with the lowest score wins the whole game.

The dealer then divvies up 10 cards per player, using the remaining cards to create a “balance.”

This balance is set out as follows:

The majority of cards go face down, creating a stockpile in the middle of this table

This stockpile is surrounded by one face-up card per side.

The dealer then starts the game by taking a card from the stockpile. They then check to see if and where that card (or any from their original seven) can be placed onto the face-up cards in the middle of the table.

Cards can be placed on top of cards of a higher value and the opposite color.

For example, a red four can be placed on top of a black five and a black six can be placed on top of a red seven.

If a player has a king, they lay that king in one of the corners of the card balance. This king then comes into play and can be built on in the same way. So, if you play a red king, a black queen would be the next card to play on it.

An entire pile of cards can be moved onto any other eligible pile. For example, if you have one pile containing a two and an ace, and another pile currently ending in a three, you can pick up that ace and two and add it to the three. That space is then filled with another card from the player’s hand.

Each player can play as many cards from their hand as they want to or can before announcing that they are done.

At that point, play moves onto the next player.

This continues back and forth until one player has used up all their cards. They win that round.

16. Double Solitaire

Still can’t get enough of Solitaire? Find playing Kings in the Corner isn’t enough?

Then as well as checking our guide to the five types of Solitaire you can learn in five minutes, go grab yourself a friend and learn this fun doubles version of the game.

How to Play Doubles Solitaire?

For this game, you’ll need two standard 52 card decks, with both players receiving one deck each.

Each player takes seven cards from their respective deck and uses these as the foundation for creating seven piles known as the tableau, with each pile having one more card than the last one. In other words, your piles will include:

Pile 1 – 1 card

Pile 2 – 2 cards

Pile 3 – 3 cards…

..and so on up to seven cards in pile 7.

The top card in each pile goes face up, with the rest face down.

The remaining cards form each player’s stock.

The rules then follow those of standard Solitaire, with the aim of the game being to start and build up your foundations.

Foundations start with an Ace, with cards being added to them in order of sequence.

You should have one foundation for each suit.

Both players can play at the same time or take turns, with the winner being the first player to build up all of their foundations with no cards remaining in either their stockpile or their tableau.

17. Blackjack

We often think of Blackjack as a group game, but it can easily be played with just two players.

A member of the Twenty-One family of card games which also includes the likes of Pontoon, Blackjack is said to be the most widely-played casino game in the world.

Don’t fancy heading all the way to Vegas to try this one out? Here’s how to play Blackjack at home.

How to Play Blackjack?

Blackjack is one of those few multi-player card games in which players usually don’t compete against each other, instead pitting their wits against the dealer.

In the two-player version, you’ll need to modify this a little with one player taking on the dealer role while also playing along.

The dealer gives both players two cards, one face up and one face down.

Players can take a look at their face-down card without showing it to the other player and add the value of that card to the value of their face card.

In Blackjack, kings, queens, and jacks all have a value of 10 while aces can be either 1 or 11.

The overall goal is to get as close to 21 as possible without exceeding it.

So, once a player has totaled up the value of their cards, they can decide whether to hit – take another card- or stay, keep the same number of cards, and their score.

When both players are happy with the value of their cards, they turn them over. The player who gets closest to 21 without going over wins the round.

The game can continue either in a best-of-three format or as a gambling game with players betting money, candy, or simple tokens on the outcome of each round.

18. Five-Card Draw Poker

Sticking with the casino theme, if you’re up for a gamer of poker but don’t have enough people around, Five-Card Draw is a great two-player variation you can break out.

Sometimes known as Cantrell Draw, the game is often considered to be the easiest version of poker to learn, making it a great choice for novice players.

How to Play Five-Card Draw Poker?

A great choice to add to your night of playing two-player drinking games, Five-Card Draw sees both players putting a small amount of money, tokens, or even candy into a pot. This will be awarded to the winner of the round.

Each player is then dealt five cards.

The goal is to get the strongest hand and win the round. In normal poker, if you’re not happy with your round, you can simply fold and sit out that round, but let’s be honest, that kind of ruins all the fun in a two-player game.

Instead, go straight to the drawing round.

Here, each player will take turns discarding one or more of their cards and replacing them with another one from the dealer. Each player should have no more than five cards to their hand.

Once all players are happy with their cards, they bet again before revealing their cards.

At that point, the player who has the strongest hand wins the round.

The following is a list of strong hands, ranked in descending order from best to worst.

Royal Flush (10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace from the same suit)
Straight flush (5 cards in a row of the same suit)
4 of a Kind (4 cards of the same value such as 4 kings or 4 fives)
Full House (a pair + a three of a kind)
Flush (5 cards of the same suit but not in a row)
Straight (5 cards in a row of different suits)
Three of a kind ( cards of the same rank, such as 3 kings or 3 fives)
Two pairs
One pair
Highest card (when neither player has any of the above, the highest card wins).

19. Scrimish

Like Nerts and others on this list, Scrimish is a fun two-player card game that uses a set of special playing cards designed exclusively for this game.

An intense fast-paced game of strategy and recall, the goal is to figure out where your opponent’s Crown Card is and carry out a successful attack on that card.

How to Play Scrimish?

Cards are divided equally between players. Each player then lays out five piles of cards face-down on the table in front of them.

As they’re doing this, players should hide their crown card on the bottom of one of the piles, taking great care that the other player doesn’t see it.

Players then take turns to select the top card from one of their piles and place it in front of one of their opponent’s piles. This is known as an attack.

The player who is defending then turns over the card being attacked. Whoever’s card has the highest value wins that battle.

The winning card is returned, face-down to the top of the pile it came from while the losing card is discarded.

If both cards in a battle have the same value then they are both discarded.

This continues until one player finds and attacks their opponent’s Crown Card which wins them the game.

20. Uno

While Uno is often thought of as a group game, this all-time family favorite is perfect for duos too.

Renowned for its simplicity and, of course, it’s tremendously fun gameplay, the objective is to get rid of all your cards in the most effective manner possible.

Get rid of all your cards first, and you win the game.

How to Play Uno?

Both players receive seven cards which are dealt face-down.

All remaining cards form the draw pile.

The top card from the draw pile is then removed and placed face-up. This starts the discard pile.

Play then begins with players looking to add their cards to the discard pile.

If the on the discard pile is an action card, then the player carries out that action.

If not, you play a card that matches that top discarded pile. You can match a card either by its action, number, or color, or you can play a wild card that changes the color currently being used.

If you can’t play any cards from your hand, you have to draw a new card from the draw pile.

This continues until one of the two players only has one card left, at which point they shout out “Uno!”

That player then plays that card and wins the game.
For a more detailed explanation, check out our How to Play Uno in 5 Simple Steps guide.

———————

Why We Love Two Player Card Games

There you have it: ten great ways to play a game of cards with just two people. And there are countless other ways to play cards with just one other person, whether as fast, simple, and friendly games or long, complex, and strategic games.

You can play these games with basic win-lose-or-draw outcomes, or complicated scoring calculations.

A card game for two is a great way to spend quality time with an old friend or break the ice and get to know someone new.

The hard part is sitting down with someone and saying, “OK, what two player card games do you know how to play?”

Hopefully, this article gives you a place to start.

The post 20 Great Two Player Card Games appeared first on Bar Games 101.

10 Best Strategy Board Games You Need to Know

Andrew Babcock — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 08:47:00 +0000

We all love a good strategy board game.

They’re fun, challenging, and perfect for either longer game nights or, depending on the game, short and intense bouts with your most competitive friends.

These games are fun to play at home, of course, but they’re also some of the more popular choices at board game bars and cafes.

There so many options out there when it comes strategy games.

However, there are also definitely a few classics that any board games enthusiast should know how to play.

If you need a refresher, here are ten of the best strategy board games to play with friends and family that entertain and also challenge the mind.

1. Settlers of Catan

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The Settlers of Catan

Settlers of Catan is a well-known board game that is never the same experience twice.

It’s a resource building game where you and your opponents amass natural resources (brick, grain, sheep, stone, and wood) to build settlements, cities, armies, and roads.

Settlers plays best with 3-4 people and takes 1-2 hours to finish a game.

You might knock this strategy board game for having too many pieces for a bar, but this game hits a definite sweet spot for appealing to competitive players while also being easy to learn and play.

Learn more from the creators of Catan.

2. Sequence

Jax Giant (aka Jumbo) SEQUENCE Game - Box Edition with Cushioned Mat, Cards and Chips, Package Colors May Vary , Blue

Sequence is a combo of both board game and playing card game designed for 2 players (variants of the game allow up to six) that takes about 30 minutes.

The board lays out two decks of playing cards and the object is to get two lines of five playing cards in a row to win.

It’s a Connect-4 type of concept, but on a much more intricate scale.

Sequence is great because it is very easy to play, and a win can come either from luck or smart choices.

If you want a beer sipping night while having great conversation with a partner, this is one of the best strategy board games to play.

3. Risk

Risk Board Game, Strategy Games for 2-5 Players, Strategy Board Games for Teens, Adults, and Family, War Games, Ages 10 and Up

Risk is classic strategic board gaming, it’s been around since 1959 and has many variations.

On a board representing the world, 2-6 players take turns building armies and conquering continents.

You can play Risk in 1-2 hours (or much longer).

Risk gets close to that zone of too many pieces for a bar game, yet it’s ubiquitous enough to be enjoyed by anyone.

If you saw a table playing Risk at your local bar, wouldn’t you want to play it, too? Risk has that kind of allure.

Further Reading About Risk:

4. Blokus

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Mattel Games Blokus XL Board Games for Family Night, Brain Games for 2 to 4 Players, Oversized Board and Pieces (Amazon Exclusive)

Blokus is a very colorful board game of tile placing, reminiscent of Tetris.

Yet, none of your pieces may be placed directly adjacent to each other, they may only touch corners.

Blokus is designed to be played with 4 people in about 20-30 minutes, but 2-3 players make for an interesting game, too.

The concept of Blokus is very easy to grasp, yet it finds complexity in its geometric design, which makes it great for friends & family, and it won’t take all of your concentration to play.

It’s also perfectly sized for a table of four.

Further Reading: How to Play Blokus: The Ultimate Polyomino Game

You may also like: How to Play Jenga

5. Gobblet

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Gobblet! Abstract Strategy Board Game - Award Winning Kids or Adults Original All Wooden Board Game by Blue Orange Games - 2 Players for Ages 7 to 99 (Packaging May Vary)

Gobblet is a 2-player game of nesting wooden pieces that’s something between Memory and Tic-Tac-Toe on a four by four grid.

The goal is to place four of your pieces in a row, yet during all of the stacking and un-stacking during a game one might lose track of who’s piece is under another and accidentally win the game for their opponent.

Gobblet is quick, you can easily play a game in 10-20 minutes, but the fun is in the planning or mis-remembering of where your stacked pieces intertwine with your opponent.

The actual game board and pieces are hand-crafted wood, which makes the game very appealing in a tactile and visual sense.

Gobblet makes for a great strategy board game at a small table or up at the bar.

You might also like: 9 Great Single Player Board Games

6. Mahjong

Yellow Mountain Imports American Mahjong Set, Mojave (Ivory) with Brown Soft Case, All-in-One Racks with Pushers, Wright Patterson Scoring Coins, Dice, & Wind Indicator

Mahjong isn’t really a board game (it lacks a board), but it is a strategic tile game similar to rummy that is easy to learn.

Four players take turns drawing and discarding tiles until they can accumulate four suits and a pair.

While the Chinese character tiles might intimidate someone unfamiliar to the game, think of them like playing card suits and it gets much easier.

Mahjong is the perfect “easy time” strategy board game: turns are relatively quick, conversation is easy to have during play, and all it takes is the patience to wait for that triple or quadruple to call “pung!”

Here, learn how to play in two and a half minutes.

7. Othello

Mattel Games Othello

Othello (aka Reversi) is a great strategic board game for 2 players that can be played in 15-30 minutes.

It is a tile-placing game and the goal is to have the most of your color tiles on the board once all of the game space has been used up.

Each time you place a tile that traps your opponent between two of yours, flip all of your opponent’s tiles to your color.

The appeal of a game like Othello is that it’s easy to play and yet could take a lifetime to master.

Othello is a great game to play and idle away some time with a drink, or take on challenger after challenger at your bar.

8. Puerto Rico

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Puerto Rico Game

Puerto Rico is a similar game to Settlers of Catan in that it’s a resource accumulation game, but differs in that each player assumes control of a port city trying to grow crops to ship out for doubloons.

2-5 players can play over 90-120 minutes, and each player gets a game board to place in front of them to represent their port with buildings to construct, crops to grow, and resources to trade.

Puerto Rico does take a little more effort to learn, but it has a ton of choices one can make to bring in victory.

What’s nice is that doubloons are fairly easy to come by, and by the end of the game they really start to rack up and create excitement.

Since everyone gets a small game board, it can be played fairly spread apart over several surfaces.

9. Backgammon

Yellow Mountain Imports Wooden Inlaid Backgammon Set, Dorne - with Wooden Playing Pieces and Accessories, 13-inch Board

Backgammon is a 2 player game played on a distinctive board of triangles, and players take turns throwing dice to determine how they can move their 15 pieces off the board (that’s a simplification of how to play backgammon, there are many different choices to make about how one moves their men).

Backgammon is actually the oldest board game on this list, its invention is credited to the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia.

Most sets are made to be self-contained, so all you need is enough space to set down the board, which is nice.

Plus many game boards are hand-crafted wood and decorative, which makes them attractive to play.

10. Scrabble

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Scrabble Deluxe Edition with Rotating Wooden Game Board

Whether you’ve got the simple board or a rotating travel edition with grooves to place your tiles, Scrabble is a great board game for 2-4 players that can take 30-90 minutes to complete.

The object of the game is to take seven randomly-chosen letters and create words on the board for points.

People play Scrabble for fun, or they play in cut-throat competitions.

It’s easy to play, and another game that’s easy to enjoy with friends and a few drinks.

So, there are 10 strategy board games to play at your local bar! If you want more board games to play over a couple drinks, check out these retro options.

The post 10 Best Strategy Board Games You Need to Know appeared first on Bar Games 101.

How to Play Spades: A Classic Trick-Taking Card Game

Andrew Babcock — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 15:41:41 +0000

Here’s an overview of how to play spades for beginners.

Spades is a test of determination, teamwork, and trust, or maybe just a fun game of cards depending on how you see it.

BASICS

Spades is played by two teams of two with partners seated across from each other at the table or playing surface.

This trick-taking game always considers the Spades suit as trump, and follows the same rule as games like Hearts or Euchre in that players must always follow the suit played (i.e. if a Club card is lead and you have a Club in hand you must play it).

Aces are considered high cards in Spades with the Ace of Spades being the highest value card in the game.

The game is played over several rounds where the dealer is rotated after each round.

The entire deck is dealt out at the beginning of each round so that each player receives 13 cards.

During play, each “trick” is a contest of who can put down the highest value card out of the four players, but suit must be followed.

Spades gets interesting in that each team must attempt to bid how many of the 13 tricks in each round they will win, and the scoring of the game is based on how accurate a team is with their bid.

It sounds complicated, but Spades is easy to learn and incredibly fun to play once you fully understand the stakes.

BIDDING & SCORING

The first part of Spades to learn about is placing bids.

After cards are dealt, players arrange them in their hands and then starting from the player on the dealer’s left bids on how many tricks over the game they can take.

The rest of the players bid in clockwise order, and keep in mind that there are a total of 13 tricks available in one round.

Each trick that is bid is worth ten points, and Spades is typically played to 500 points, although the ending point can be negotiated before the game begins.

On average, each player should take 3 tricks per round, but those expectations will change depending on the deal.

Players who find their hands loaded with face-cards, or any high value cards, and many Spades should increase their bid, and players with low value cards and few Spades should lower their bids.

If one team bids a combined 6 tricks and gets them, they win 60 points.

If they fail to win 6 tricks, then they lose 60 points. So you see it is important to be accurate with the minimum amount of tricks you bid.

If a team takes more tricks than they bid, say they bid 5 tricks and end up winning 7 tricks, each trick over their bid is one point and called a “bag.”

Bags are ok in small doses, but once a team accumulates 10 bags they lose 100 points.

Again, it’s important to be accurate with your bids, but going over is less penalizing than falling short.

There may even come rounds when a player looks at their hand and proclaims they cannot take any tricks this round, this is considered a “Nil” bid, and carries with it the bonus of winning 100 points for the team that pulls it off.

However, there is also a 100 point penalty if the Nil bidder takes any trick.

This makes for some hectic and often dramatic moments, as the partner of the Nil bidder must make sure they give their teammate coverage to complete the Nil round.

PLAY

Now play the game! The player on the dealer’s left makes the opening play from any card they want, except a Spade. Players then follow suit, if possible.

If a player cannot follow suit, they may play a Spade or play an off-suited card to thin their hand. The trick is won by the player who plays the highest card in the suit led, or by the highest Spade played.

The player who wins the trick plays the first card of the next trick. Also, Spades cannot be led unless one has been played previously or unless the player to lead has nothing but Spades in hand.

Score appropriately at the end of the round and rotate dealers if no one has won.

Related:

TIPS

Going Nil is risky, but rewarding.

Things to look for in a Nil hand might be the lack of face cards, or being overbalanced in one suit – that’s not Spades.

If you’re overloaded in Hearts, and even if you have the Ace of Hearts, you can still go Nil since your team mate could cover for you with a Spade, or you’ll have the ability to throw away your Ace when someone leads the suit you do not have.

Your placement at the table relative to the dealer can affect your bids, too.

Say your partner bids first and says 4, then your opponent bids 4, that gives you lots of information on what they think they have in their hands.

If you were also going to bid 4, you might step that back to 3, or maybe you’ll intentionally underbid to try and take tricks away from your opponent and set them back when they don’t make their bid.

The bidding phase is where most of the strategy takes place, so be thoughtful and deliberate about your bids.

There is a House rule to Spades that many play with called “blind nil.”

This is a desperate strategy, but it means that you bid a Nil without ever looking at your cards.

This can be done, and it’s something that only someone late in the bid order should ever try to achieve, as they should at least hear their team mate’s bid first.

Should they pull off such an achievement of taking no tricks from never looking at their cards prior to the bid, then the team is awarded 200 points.

Now get out there and play some games of Spades!

If you want, get in a few practice hands and try a free browser version here

The post How to Play Spades: A Classic Trick-Taking Card Game appeared first on Bar Games 101.

How to Play Hearts: A Quick Overview

Andrew Babcock — Thu, 10 Oct 2019 16:56:06 +0000

Hearts is a popular and easy to learn card game for, ideally, four players.

All you need to play is a place to comfortably sit four people, a deck of cards, and a method of keeping score.

Start the game by shuffling and dealing the deck out evenly so that each player receives 13 cards.

How to Play Hearts: Basic Rules

Each “round” of the game is played over 13 “hands” and each player plays one card per hand.

The most fundamental rule to understand about Hearts is that each player must follow suit (i.e. if a spade was the first card played, you must play a spade from your cards if you have one).

If you cannot follow suit because you do not have any cards of the suit that’s been played, then you are free to play any other card.

Hands are taken by the highest value card of the original suit played, with Aces being the highest over Kings, Queens, Jacks, 10’s, 9’s, 8’s and so on, then whomever has taken that hand plays the first card of the next hand.

The Two of Clubs is always the first card to be played in any round, and then play continues clockwise from that player.

There can be no Hearts played on the first hand, nor the Queen of Spades.

After cards have been dealt and before the Two of Clubs is played, each player selects and passes three cards to an opponent.

Players pass to the left on the first round of play, pass to the right on the second round of play, and then across the table on the third round of play.

Players do not pass any cards on the fourth round and play with the cards they’ve been dealt.

Start the passing cycle over again on the fifth round onwards.

Here’s a quick video summary on how to play hearts.

Scoring

The premise of Hearts is much the same as golf (one of our favorite two player card games); you want to be the player with the lowest score.

At the end of each round, players total up how many points they’ve received.

Each Heart is worth one point, and the Queen of Spades is worth thirteen points. There will be a total of 26 points in each round.

“Shooting the Moon”

If and when a player takes all of the points available in a round – they’ve taken the Queen of Spades and each Heart in play – the scoring changes.

The player who has taken all of the points receives none and each other player takes 26 points. This is referred to as “shooting the moon” or to “shoot the moon.”

5 Tips for Playing Hearts

Once you learn the basic rules of how to play hearts, you’ll want to develop some simple strategies to help you win, and make the game even more enjoyable.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when playing hearts:

1. Remove Problem Cards

When passing cards before play begins, attempt to remove any problem cards.

These may be high value cards from any suit, but pay particular attention to the Spades suit, as you do not want to be surprised with 13 points when you are forced to play your King of Spades and have your opponent lay the Queen of Spades immediately afterwards.

Also bear in mind that your opponents are trying to do the same thing, so try not to leave yourself vulnerable with lone high value cards.

2. Remove an Entire Suit

Alternatively, when passing cards, you can attempt to remove an entire suit to give yourself the freedom from following suit.

For example, if you remove all of the Diamond suited cards before play begins, you will be free to play problematic Aces & Kings or even Hearts onto your unsuspecting opponents when they play Diamonds.

3. Play Conservatively, When Appropriate

To play conservatively when you have control over which suit will be played, lay down low value cards that have a low chance of drawing you any points – a Two, Three, or Four of each suit should not get you many points in a hand.

4. Play Aggressively

To play aggressively and retain control over which suit will be played, lead with higher value cards that should not get you many points.

On the average, each player will have 3 cards of each suit, so in the first couple hands of Clubs or Diamonds, you can lead with Aces or Kings and be reasonably sure of not gaining any points while maintaining control of which suit is played.

Again, this is just a tip, each hand & round is completely at random.

5. Smoke Out the Queens

To create pressure on the Queen of Spades, as it is the most problematic card each round, coerce your opponents’ next move by gaining the lead and playing “safe” Spades, which is anything from the Jack on down.

If you find yourself with four or five Spades without the Queen of Spades at the beginning of the game, you can often put your opponents into a difficult spot and force them to gain points.

This is known as “smoking out the Queen.”

Lastly, remember to have fun!

Hearts is great with family and friends, and once you’ve played a few rounds it becomes easy to play with conversation, drinks, or even at parties.

The post How to Play Hearts: A Quick Overview appeared first on Bar Games 101.

10 Best Pinball Machines to Seek out Today

Andrew Babcock — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 19:43:49 +0000

This article looks at some of the best pinball machines in recent history, including some iconic models you can still seek out today.

Pinball is all about the unbridled joy of flashing lights and trilling noise as orbs slam into objects and along rails in front of you.

Playing a game is equal parts enjoying the spectacle of the pinball design and also the challenge of controlling the madness.

While this author claims no great depth into pinball knowledge beyond casual, yet enthusiastic participation, we here at Bar Games 101 do know a good time when we see one.

Without further ado, here are 10 of the best pinball machines to seek out and play for the experience of classic fun.

The Best Pinball Machines, from Classic to Modern Titles

1. The Addams Family (1992)

The Addams Family pinball cabinet is ubiquitous across every top list on the internet, and for good reason.

The cabinet on these games is beautiful and cartoony at the same time, and captures each of the lovable characters from the hit 1991 movie.

What’s also great about this game is that nearly angle, corner, and direction you can send a pinball flying at features something from the Addams Family that will score you points and set off goals & scoring multipliers.

This is the most prime example of what great game design and engineering execution can do in a pinball machine. Mamushka!

2. Super Spin (1977)

A true retro classic, the Gottlieb Super Spin one of the best pinball machines that is easy to play and easy to love.

The first thing about this game to notice is that it is noisy – every obstacle & wall has a ring, ping, clink, or buzz to it.

In fact, the game creates so much noise you can forget that there’s no music playing, just a solid staccato of pinball action.

Sure, you can’t score points into the millions and there are no multiple levels or ramps, but the brilliance of its simplicity cannot be beat.

Also, who doesn’t love future-retro space surfing?

3. The Pinball Circus (1994)

There are two Pinball Circus cabinets in existence, and one belongs to a private collector in Germany, so why is it on this list?

The Pinball Circus has a uniquely vertical design that is un-matched, for one, and it is on display & available to play at the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, NV!

The game features seven (YES, SEVEN) flippers and four tiers of play en route to the jackpot behind the clown’s mouth.

A booster chair is recommended for the vertically challenged wishing to play.

4. The Lord of the Rings (2003)

Verging on too much, the Lord of the Rings pinball is one of the best pinball machines beloved for many reasons.

The playfield is covered in features and miniatures from the series, the sound & music are epic in scope, and the actual gameplay on this machine is intensely varied.

It’s a challenging game, but more than rewarding for fans of the franchise and pinballers everywhere.

Also check out: The best skee-ball machines for your home gameroom

5. KISS (2015)

Pinball games based on musicians are great, and there are many out there. While classic arcade pinball is fun, taking a band and celebrating what makes them great is perfect for the pinball medium, and you can’t get much bigger than the already larger than life Kiss.

This particular version gets a nod for being an update on the old 1979 Kiss pinball cabinet, also a beloved classic, but now featuring actual Kiss music, ramps, figures, and, of course, Gene Simmons’s motorized head, which will shoot balls out from it.

Drop a few quarters and rock & roll all night.

Related: Air Hockey is another classic arcade game that we love to find in bars. Check out this guide if you need to brush up on how to play.

6. Medieval Madness (1997)

A widespread and popular pinball cabinet, Medieval Madness hits the sweet-spot of one of the ebst pinball machines with varied gameplay goals, great art and features, while also maintaining effortlessness in play.

The board lights help identify bumpers and game objectives very well, and there’s a real satisfaction in hitting the game’s castle doors, trolls, and dragon.

Another Favorite: The Star Trek Pro Pinball Machine

7. The Twilight Zone (1993)

Described as one of the most exciting games in pinball, The Twilight Zone was known as the height of innovation when it came out on the market in 1993.

Loud, bright, and challenging, this machine boasts 4 flippers, 2 ramps, several magnets in the board to assist in hitting target shots, and a ceramic “powerball” for multi-ball play that’s lighter and faster than standard pinball.

Never pass up a chance to step into the Twilight Zone.

8. Pinball Wizard (1994)

Yes, THE Pinball Wizard from The Who’s ”Tommy” album deserves its own machine and it’s a beautiful game to play.

A notable innovation in Pinball Wizard is its retractable blinders that cover the flipper area from player view to really escalate the challenge of the game – taking it to “wizard mode” as it were. Plus, the game plays to the Tommy Broadway show soundtrack.

That’s some mean pin ball!

9. Black Night (1980)

Black Knight is a notorious “love it or hate it” pinball game, but is also undoubtedly one of the most innovative games of its time.

As the first solid-state electronic pinball cabinet with a multi-playfield (a pair of flippers on the raised area and the bottom, too), Black Knight also boasts a unique “magna-save” feature that allowed a player to lock a ball in for later.

This game is a perfect representation of how 80’s pinball technology was trying to get towards the flashier, electrifying games of the 90’s.

10. Pin-Bot (1986)

Robots from space are a perfect theme for any 80’s pinball arcade machine, and Pin-Bot delivers wonderfully on that theme.

Featuring perfect robot voice activation during play, Pin-Bot would declare things like “NOW I SEE YOU” as it challenged players with its multi-level playfield and seemingly thousand of light-up LED’s.

Pin-Bot is more than a game, it is an experience.

Now that you know about some of the best pinball machines to seek out, the question is, where do you find them?

Luckily, there’s a great online resource called Pinballmap.com that will help you locate a machine in your area.

Image Credits:

All images sourced from The Internet Pinball Machine Database, unless otherwise noted in the caption.

The post 10 Best Pinball Machines to Seek out Today appeared first on Bar Games 101.

Three Player Games for a Fun Night In (or Out)

Andrew Babcock — Fri, 05 Apr 2019 15:42:45 +0000

You have a trio for game night, but you don’t know what should you play?

Three is a tricky number.

It’s a small and intimate group, but it’s hard to adapt some two-player games to include a third, and you don’t want to end up ganging up on one person in particular in an unbalanced game.

Below are 7 games designed to play perfectly for a power trio.

We include some classic bar games, like darts and pool, along with a few new board games and card games that will give you some new options to try out.

Darts (Cricket)

The darts game Cricket is an easy go-to game and nearly perfect for three players.

Cricket is scored by throwing at the numbers fifteen through twenty on the board and also the Bull’s-eye, with the objective being to “close” out that number by hitting the same spot three times and then score points with subsequent strikes before your opponents can do the same.

What’s quite appealing about Cricket for three players is the balance between turns of throwing darts and time off to take a drink or be social with the other player not throwing.

You’re not just waiting for the other player to be done so you can throw, like in a two-player game, and the wait isn’t so long that you lose track of whose turn it is to throw. Cricket is simple, balanced, and fun.

Recommended drink: an ice-cold PBR

You can find a more in depth look at dart games here!

Cutthroat Pool

If you’re out at the bar or over a friend’s house with a pool table, cutthroat pool is a great game for three players.

Basically, you each get assigned a group of balls (15; 6-10; and 11-15). You then try to sink your opponents’ balls before they get yours. The last one left on the table wins.

Check out this post for a complete guide on how to play cutthroat pool.

Smash Up

The “shufflebuilder” card game Smash Up has a basic premise: take two ideas and smash them together to create something new, and that new thing is going to be awesome.

In Smash Up, you take control of two factions, smash them up into one amazing team, and then compete against the other players to destroy bases and build power.

Your choices of factions to begin with are Aliens, Dinosaurs, Pirates, Ninjas, Wizards, Robots, Tricksters, and Zombies, and the combination of these factions make for very different and fun games (Alien-Dinosaurs? Ninja-Robots? Pirate-Zombies? All good choices).

Obviously the fun is in the Faction combos, but this is a quick game of action and hand management that will entertain and challenge beginners and card game veterans alike, plus there are more expansions offering many additional factions out there.

Recommended drink: Black & Tan

Suburbia

The board game Suburbia is about building and city-planning, perfect for any SimCity fans out there. Each player designs and builds their own perfect cityscape, with the player with the highest population at the end winning the game.

Suburbia is both straightforward and moderately complex, each turn players get to buy the hexagonal building tiles to form their city, but their placement determines your city’s income, reputation, and population.

The game has a ton of different options and building tiles, so no two games will ever be played alike.

Also, while the game is competitive in seeing who will be the winner at the end, it’s more of a spirited contest than aggressive challenge between the opponents.

With the right crowd, this game is complex and fun enough to entertain for a night, but other groups might find the math and book-keeping tedious on a turn by turn basis.

Recommended Drink: Manhattan

Pizza Theory

Pizza Theory is a cute novelty game designed specifically for three players.

The game board is a circular pizza and players compete to get the most of their color toppings on to the pie.

The catch is how to slice it, as each round the players place toppings and then secretly decide where they are “slicing” the pie with their thin wooden sticks, which determines scoring. Then you rotate the pie and go again.

The player who can place all of their toppings on the pie wins!

Pizza Theory isn’t complicated, a single game can take 10 minutes, but it is certainly a fun and delicious-looking game to play.

Recommended Drink: a classic Italian Chianti

Ticket to Ride

Ticket to Ride, now considered a classic, is a fantastic way to spend a game night with three players.

In a race to be the most successful train-baron of North America, the object of the game is to collect the most points by placing train cars on routes, completing destination cards to connect cities, and by having the longest continuous train on the board.

Ticket to Ride is easy to learn and simple in its execution, but the fun and tension builds in the game through racing against your competitors to complete your routes.

The board is big, too big to be competitive with just two players, but hits that competitive sweet-spot where you can stretch across the whole board and still get in each other’s way with three players.

Ticket to Ride, now fifteen years old, also proves its worth through ease in learning how to play combined with a depth of strategy that makes each game as exciting and complicated as the last.

Recommended Drink: Tom Collins

Walk the Plank

This silly game portrays the players as the worst pirates on a ship and their captain has decided he can only keep two of you.

The fun and zany part of this game, besides the fun art, is that players decide their actions secretly from a deck of action cards, the reveal the actions three at a time not knowing what the other pirates have done.

This creates fun scenarios where players are pushing and shoving each other along the plank, adding extensions to the plank, taking away pieces of the plank, or even tossing yourself overboard!

It’s a bunch of random fun that’s colorful and cheeky, which will be fun for everyone involved.

Recommended Drink: Captain & Coke

The post Three Player Games for a Fun Night In (or Out) appeared first on Bar Games 101.

9 Great Single Player Board Games (With Recommended Drinks)

Andrew Babcock — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 18:08:41 +0000

Board gamers of the world, do you ever feel like playing a game all by yourself?

Maybe you enjoy challenging yourself with puzzles and thought exercises, or maybe you relish a peaceful night all to yourself while doing a fun activity, or maybe you’ve got that one friend who just cannot arrive anywhere on time to save their life…

Whatever your reasons, playing a single player board game is a perfectly valid pursuit.

You could always get that deck of cards out and play some hands of solitaire, but for a more creative and immersive experience here are 9 great single player board games you can heck out.

And, of course, we include a recommended drink to enjoy with each game.

Friday

The game Friday is specifically designed for a single player.

You are put into the part of a Robinson Crusoe-type figure and the object of the game is to escape your desert island by fighting wild creatures, surmounting three rounds of jungle hazards, and then defeating the pirates barring your way to the freedom of the sea.

The game itself is played by building a hand of cards, which plays and feels similar to Solitaire, yet there are clearly defined goals and obstacles to overcome, which also allows for great re-playability as you can try to beat your previous score, or try different tactics.

Pros: quick to play and easy to learn, colorful, doesn’t take up lots of space, depth of strategy

Cons: ONLY single player, there is some math to keep track of and you might want a pencil & paper handy

Recommended drink while playing: Mai Tai

Love single player games? Check out these solo card games.

Mage Knight

When speaking of Mage Knight, people throw around the term “best fantasy board game ever” regardless of it being a single player board game or multi-player game.

The game puts you in control of a powerful hero called a Mage Knight (surprise!) and you get to explore and adventure across a fully immersive Atlantean Empire while founding cities, raising armies, collecting magic items, learning spells, and fighting monsters – all great tropes of any fantasy board game.

Mage Knight combines several different game mechanics as there are figurines to control, decks of cards to build, dice to roll, and characters to advance.

Yes, there is a lot to do, but that also means you’ll never ever play the same way twice.

Although initially designed and playable with single players in mind, there is an expansion to this game to make solo play easier, Lost Legion, which provides for a dummy opponent and new scenarios for you to face.

Honorable mention goes to the game Gloomhaven right here, but Gloomhaven doesn’t make the cut because it contains even more of everything compared to Mage Knight.

Also, Gloomhaven is a much better campaign experience playing several games over time, and Mage Knight can be satisfactorily played in a single session.

Pros: Huge variations in play, complete fantasy setting, rewarding character progression, comes with painted miniatures

Cons: Takes up a ton of space, lots of things to keep track of, takes a long time to play

Recommended drink while playing: glass of red wine (by the time you’re done, it might be the whole bottle!)

Onirim

We’ve all had that dream of being lost somewhere unfamiliar, right?

In the game Onirim you play as a Dreamwalker trying to escape their own labyrinth-like dream by finding eight door cards that will lead you to being awake and win the game.

Onirim is simple in design, most of the gameplay is card drawing and discarding with you looking to place down trios of the same color to earn a door card. There are nightmare cards you must face, which will steal the cards from your hand, and there are dead-end cards that stall your progress.

The cards themselves are colorful and bright, depicting the myriad dreamscapes of your mind, and a single session can be quick.

Pros: Unique, bright, colorful, and attractive, option to play with two players

Cons: Special rules are not on the cards and require you to go back to the rulebook, very abstract if that is not your thing

Recommended drink while playing: Irish Coffee

The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

Those familiar with your local boardgame seller will know Fantasy Flight Games, often just by looking at the box, and The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is one of their fantastic products.

This game puts you in control of some of your favorite legendary characters from Middle-Earth as you fight monsters and endure quests to stop the evil forces of Mordor.

Playing the game requires you to make tactical decisions and multi-task as you face different scenarios that might involve fighting a specific enemy, locating a lost artifact, or exploring a fantastic location.

Fantasy Flight publishes many similar style games, which are called Living Card Games. This means you can expand the story and collect more cards from expansion packs to get new scenarios, characters, monsters, etc., but that’s not required.

If you’re a fan of the Lord of the Rings and single player board games, this is a no-brainer.

If you’re not a fan of the franchise, this is still a great introduction with amazing artwork on the cards and a challenging resource-management kind of game experience.

Pros: Multi-player is co-operative, iconic setting with wide audience, top quality game design & amazing art

Cons: Living-Card-Game with many expansions (which add up quickly), random cards can be deadly to you in early turns

Recommended drink while playing: A pint of your favorite Lager

Terraforming Mars

The game Terraforming Mars is exactly what it says it is, you control a 25^th century corporation working to advance civilization and move humanity to the fourth rock from the sun.

Bid on and complete huge undertakings like building aquifers, introducing animal breeding programs, importing water from the moons of Jupiter, and so on.

The game ends when the planet’s temperature has been raised to 8 degrees Celcius, oxygen levels are pushed to 14%, and 9 oceans have been placed on the planet.

A cute part of this game is that each turn represents a generation, which puts a unique perspective on your progress, plus also Mars enthusiasts will note that the game board is an accurate map of Mars. Terraforming Mars ends up looking like a sci-fi Settlers of Catan, but its gameplay is very unique and well-researched.

Pros: Feels scientifically accurate (verging on educational), re-playable, concise in its design

Cons: comes with lots of little pieces, most of the cards are flimsy

Recommended drink while playing: Campari & soda

Forbidden Island

Forbidden Island is a co-operational race against time as you try to plunder a sinking island of its treasures before the waves claim the land and they are lost forever.

The game is played by laying the island’s location tiles out in a random order, and several tiles sink randomly each turn. Players will then travel around the island in pursuit of its treasures, and can also raise adjacent sunken tiles on their turn.

Each treasure can be gained from two different locations, but if both locations go under the waves, that treasure is lost.

For single players and multi-player play, the game provides for an adjustment to the difficulty level in case you find yourself sinking with the island game after game.

The art on the tiles is great, and this game is appropriate to all ages, and all levels of play.

Pros: Quick & easy to grasp (hard to master), beautiful card & tile art, good for 1-4 players

Cons: tiles sink randomly so it could always end up being a quick (losing) game

Recommended drink while playing: Dole Whip with Rum

Scythe

Scythe is the hot new game of building mech robots in a dystopian post-World War One world.

Much like Mage Knight, you will be doing many different things during Scythe like moving pieces around the board, taking territories, building up resources, and producing new mechanical engines to further your faction’s goals.

The game designers put a single player mode into the game, called Automata, which makes the game about taking territory, whereas the multi-player version of this game is about gaining economic power in the form of coins, or victory points.

This is a game funded by Kickstarter and blew right through all of its goals to become a massive hit, and comes with amazing and original art, tokens, figures, and cards which will attract your eye.

Pros: Looks amazing, can be played with 1-5 players, lots of replay value

Cons: Takes up a ton of space and has many, many small pieces, harder to learn to play than most games

Recommended drink while playing: Dark and Stormy with lime

Pandemic

The game Pandemic pits you as a CDC specialist against the spread of four virulent plagues sweeping the globe.

Your objective in the game is to build a research station, create a cure, then race across the board to treat the infected areas and eradicate the disease.

The game works well with multiple players in a cooperating force, but also allows for a single, well-organized individual to try and tackle the contagions as they spread.

The outbreak mechanic is really strong, and by the end of the game you’ll be pouring Purell over everything you own, but this is a fun and relatively fast-paced game.

Pros: Easy to learn, all rules and actions are stated very clearly on cards, fun for 1-4 players

Cons: Diseases can spiral out of control quickly through random cards

Recommended drink while playing: who cares what you’re drinking, just make sure the glass is clean!

Pandemic is also a good board games for couples (if that’s your thing.)

Zombicide

Want to play a game as if you were in the The Walking Dead?

Zombicide, as its name suggests, is about fighting the undead in post-apocalyptic world.

You control a character that can move around the board, search for supplies, fight a zombie with a chainsaw, and throw Molotov cocktails at zombies, whichever your pleasure.

You can play solo, or with up to 6 players.

The game does some nice things like adjust zombie behavior for actions that create noise like when you fire a gun or break down a door with an axe, but the main focus of the game is really on the action.

The player characters level up as the game progresses, but so too does the difficulty of the missions and by the end of the night you might be outnumbered twenty to one (at least).

If you want to play a game that’s all about rolling tons of dice and kicking zombie tail, this is the game for you.

Pros: Tons of zombie killing opportunities, comes with excellent figurines, many expansions

Cons: Can be a tough game to win depending on the scenario, can take up to 3+ hours to play, not much narrative

Recommended drink while playing: A Zombie! (call Lyft to get home, please)

Choose Your Own Adventure: House of Danger

If you’re a fan of the Choose Your Own Adventure genre, here comes a solo board game adventure that allows you to do the same.

Much like the book series, this game sets a narrative, then has you make the decisions when a choices need to be made, such as: open the mysterious book (or don’t), grab that weapon in case you need it later, or follow the mysterious stranger through the door glowing with light… and see where the story takes you!

There is a lot of reading, so don’t play in a dark place, but the game itself is calm and rewarding – even when you “lose” a challenge, there are few dire consequences.

Pros: Based on a book series and follows the idea of them to a “T”, fun narrative

Cons: Lots of cards with nothing but text, (strangely enough) the replay value of this game is limited, 2-player mode not that fun

Recommended drink while playing: A tasting flight of beers or wines

There you have it, solo players, these single player board games are so much fun that you will not need a group of players to organize in order to play them. But please play responsibly!

The post 9 Great Single Player Board Games (With Recommended Drinks) appeared first on Bar Games 101.

Andrew Babcock, Author at Bar Games 101

5 Fun and Challenging Single Player Card Games

5 Single Player Card Games

1. Accordion

2. Devil’s Grip

3. Pyramid

If You Love Classic Games Like Cards and Dice, Check out These Posts:

4. Monte Carlo Solitaire

5. Bowling Solitaire

Pins can be knocked down in three ways:

30+ Bar Game Guides All in One Book!

20 Great Two Player Card Games

The Best 2 Player Card Games

1. Nertz

How to Play Nerts (aka Nertz)?

Leave an open space in between the players and their decks, this becomes the common play area.

There are no turns, play is simultaneous and frantic.

2. Gin Rummy

Next on our list of the best 2 player card games is Gin Rummy.

Gin is played one hand at a time, and then Rummy is played over several hands to a certain score.

How to Play Gin Rummy?

Variations on the game differ from region to region:

3. Egyptian Rat Screw

How to Play Egyptian Rat Screw?

To add to this, there are several card-slapping rules to Egyptian Rat Screw.

4. Golf

How to Play Golf Card Game with Two Players?

5. Idiot

Be careful who you challenge in a game of Idiot, it just might be you!

How to Play Idiot?

Continue the game until you run through the draw pile. This is where things get interesting.

6. Slapjack

How to Play Slapjack?

7. Speed

How to Play Speed?

8. Beggar My Neighbor

How to Play Beggar My Neighbor?

9. James Bond

How to Play James Bond Card Game with 2 People?

10. Crazy Eights

How to Play Crazy Eights?

11. Old Maid

How to Play Old Maid?

12. Garbage

How to Play Garbage?

13. Go Fish

How to Play Go Fish?

14. War

How to Play The War Card Game?

15. Kings in the Corner

How to Play Kings in the Corner?

16. Double Solitaire

How to Play Doubles Solitaire?

17. Blackjack

How to Play Blackjack?

18. Five-Card Draw Poker

How to Play Five-Card Draw Poker?

19. Scrimish

How to Play Scrimish?

20. Uno

How to Play Uno?

30+ Bar Game Guides All in One Book!

Why We Love Two Player Card Games

10 Best Strategy Board Games You Need to Know

1. Settlers of Catan

2. Sequence

3. Risk

4. Blokus

5. Gobblet

6. Mahjong

7. Othello

8. Puerto Rico

9. Backgammon

10. Scrabble

How to Play Spades: A Classic Trick-Taking Card Game

BASICS

BIDDING & SCORING

PLAY

TIPS

How to Play Hearts: A Quick Overview