Popular Card Games Played with Standard Playing Cards

The list that follows represents a gathering of information concerning the major types of card games and their variations.   List items that are highlighted may be clicked on for additional information.

Corrections and additions are welcomed.

• All Fours
• Ambigu
• Bezique - a game for two players.  Uses two standard decks of playing cards, from which the 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's and 6's have been removed.
  • Rubicon Bezique - similar to Bezique, with the advantage that it is governed by a code of laws drawn up by the Portland Club, London.
  • Six-Pack Bezique (also known as Chinese Bezique) - A popular variation, which was favored by Sir Winston Churchill.
• Bouré.  French-Canadian game, sort of a cross between draw poker and pinochle.
• Bridge - a game for four players, in two teams.  Modern contract bridge was first devised in the 1920's at Harvard by Harold S. Vanderbilt.
• Canasta  - a type of rummy.
• Cribbage - a fun game played with cards, pegs, and a cribbage board.
• Euchre.  One of the largest families of card games, also known as Trumps.  Euchre was the pre-eminent card game among refined players up until the early part of the 20th Century, when its dominance was challenged by Whist and Bridge.   Euchre is a descendant of the old Spanish game Triomphe.  Euchre was introduced into the United States by the French in Louisiana.
• Five Hundred.
• Julepe.  Spanish game, cross between poker and pinochle.
• Patience - see Solitaire.
• Pinochle (also known as Pinocle) - Requires a pinochle deck. 
• Piquet - a game for two players that is, according to The Illustrated Book of Table Games, "generally considered the best card game for two ever devised."  Played with a short pack, similar to Bezique.  [see above.] 
• Poker - a game of skill.  In theory, most forms of poker may be played by any reasonable number of persons, but five to seven players is considered the ideal.
  • Draw Poker
  • Straight Draw Poker (Standard Poker)
  • Stud Poker
• Ruff.  A French modification of Triomphe, probably in turn an ancestor of Euchre.
• Rummy
  • Double Rum
  • Gin Rummy
  • Michigan Rummy
  • Queen City Rum
• Solitaire - This is a catch-all name for many hundreds of types of card games meant to be played by a single player
  • Canfield (known in England as Demon)
  • Fourteens Out
  • Golf
  • Grandfather's Clock
  • Klondike (known in England as Canfield)
  • Patriarchs
  • Persian
  • Spider
• Spades
• Triomphe.  A very old Spanish card game, first mentioned in writing in 1520. 

 
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Popular Card Games