Card games to play with friends: rules and where to start
Which card game fits your number of players, how many cards you need and what to learn first. Short rules here, details through the links.
If there are two of you, start with gin rummy or Durak. For three, try Thousand. For four, Hearts, Spades or Euchre are the classics, and Durak works too. If you are not sure where to begin, pick Hearts for a group of four or Durak for any group from two to six: both take about five minutes to explain and neither needs more than a normal deck.
Here is how each game works, what a newcomer should expect, and which of them you can play in a browser on our site.
Which game to pick
| Game | Players | Deck | Difficulty for a beginner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gin rummy | 2 | 52 cards | low |
| Durak | 2-6 | 36 cards | low |
| Thousand | 3 | 24 cards | medium |
| Hearts | 4 | 52 cards | medium |
| Spades | 4, two partnerships | 52 cards | medium |
| Euchre | 4, two partnerships | 24 cards | medium |
House rules differ a lot, especially in Spades and Euchre, so agree on details before the first deal.
Hearts: the trick-taking game where you do not want to win tricks
Four players, 52 cards, thirteen each. Before play, everyone passes three cards to a neighbour (left, right, across, then no pass, and the cycle repeats). There is no trump. The player with the two of clubs leads, and you must follow suit if you can. The aim is the opposite of most trick games: every heart costs a point and the queen of spades costs thirteen, 26 in total per hand. The game ends when someone reaches 100, and the lowest score wins. If one player takes every heart and the queen of spades, they "shoot the moon": they score zero and everyone else gets 26. It is a good first game because decisions are simple and the risks are easy to see.
Spades and Euchre: card games for partners
In Spades you play in two partnerships, bid how many tricks you will take, and spades are always trump. In Euchre you use a 24-card deck, partners again, and the trump suit is chosen during the deal. Both reward good communication between partners without talking, which is half the fun and the whole problem for a first game. Details of scoring vary between groups, so check which version your friends know.
Gin rummy: the best game for two
Two players, ten cards each. You draw and discard, trying to arrange your hand into sets (three or four of a kind) and runs (three or more in sequence of one suit). When the cards left outside your sets are worth ten points or less, you can knock and end the round. It is quiet, quick and easy to explain, so it is the best fit when there are only two of you and no board.
Durak: the Russian game for any group
Durak is the most popular card game in Russia and nearby countries. It is played with 36 cards, six to a hand, and the last card under the stock sets the trump suit. One player attacks by laying a card, the defender must beat it with a higher card of the same suit or any trump, and other players can throw in cards of ranks already on the table. If the defender cannot or will not beat, they pick up the cards; if everything is beaten, the cards are discarded. When the stock is empty and a player runs out of cards, they are out. The last one holding cards is the "durak" ("fool"). In the transferable variant a defender can pass the attack on by adding a card of the same rank.
In Durak: The Journey the classic throw-in version is free, with a hint button that explains why a move is good. The transferable variant is part of a paid rules pack (99 rubles), and we say so plainly. Rules of both are written up in our Durak rules guide.
Thousand: a three-player game with a talon
Thousand is played by three with a 24-card deck, nine to ace, and the order of cards is unusual: nine is lowest, then jack, queen, king, ten and ace, and the ten beats the king. Card values are ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, jack 2 and nine 0, so the whole deck holds 120 points.
Each deal starts with bidding: players state how many points they will take, starting at 100 and raising by 5. The winner takes the three-card talon, gives one card to each opponent and states the final bid. A king and queen of the same suit make a marriage, declared on your own turn, which also sets the trump: hearts are worth 100, diamonds 80, clubs 60, spades 40. The goal is to reach 1000 points before the others do.
Not many people know the game, so our Thousand has the rules on a separate screen inside the game and tips at the bottom of the table during a match.
In which order to learn them
- Hearts or Durak. Understand tricks and trump (Durak) or tricks and avoiding points (Hearts).
- Gin rummy. When it is only the two of you.
- Thousand. Bidding and a talon, the next step up.
- Spades or Euchre. Once you have partners who like to think together.
No deck at hand
If a group has gathered and the cards have not, open our card games collection. Durak and Thousand run in a browser on a phone or a computer, with nothing to install. For other ideas for two or more players, see what to play online.
