Best card game

James Austin is a writer who reports on games and hobbies, and repeats a constant cycle of learning board games and teaching people.

As a result of a new test, "for the queen" has been added to "Other Good Card Games".

In terms of versatility and cost performance, games aren't very good at 52 decks than the conventional 52 decks. It can access thousands of games for a few dollars, and due to its depth and complexity, it has become a standard for parlor and kitchen tables for generations.

However, modern designer card games are specialists, while traditional decks are all about the shop (did you understand)? These games break the familiar format, let players take a step from a traditional suit, and bring a new game mechanism, options, and play style on the card table.

We investigated and played 39 games of various genres, including trick takings, deck construction, and bluffs.

Investigation content

• How did you choose and test
• Best bluff card game skull
• Best deck construction game Dominion
• The best trick taking game Cat in the Box
• The best ladder climbing game scout
• Best set collection game Hanabi
• Best layout game: Sprol Police
• Best negotiation game Bonanzer
• Other excellent card games
• Competition
• Information source

How did you choose and test

Part of the tested game. Photo Connie Park

In order to focus on test standards, we focused on designers games, not the conventional 52 deck games (however, emphasizes the types of games with some examples in each section).

In this guide, we decided not to include games, such as Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering, which would inspire additional purchases as part of the experience.

In order to find something that would be a candidate, I read a list of popular review sites such as "Shut Up & Amp; Sit Down", "Wargamer", and "Dicebreaker". We also examined lists of popular games and bes t-selling games that meet our conditions on Amazon and BoardGamegeek.

We talked to Pagat. com's editor John McLoud and BoardGamegeek's media creator Candis Harris, and heard their views on what a good card game was. Finally, I talked to Rich, Kameda of Tannen's Magic Shop in Manhattan, and deepened my understanding of the physical characteristics of the card itself.

Best bluff card game skull

Photo Connie Park

Top pick

Skull

Poker that is not boring

This game replicates all the bluffing of poker, but with simpler rules. It's quick and easy to teach, and you'll want to play it over and over again.

How to buy

How to play

Skull is incredibly simple. Each player has only four cards in their hand: three roses and one skull.

At the start of each round, you choose one card to put face down. In the next round, you can choose to put another card on top of the last card to make a stack, or compete to see how many cards you can turn over before you find the skull (you start with your own stack at first, then with the other player's stack).

If you succeed after winning the bid and don't find the skull, you get one point and are halfway to winning the game. If you fail and turn over the skull, you lose one of your four cards (your opponent will choose it randomly, or you choose it yourself, depending on where you found the skull). If a player succeeds twice, or if there is only one player left with cards, the game ends and that player wins. Why it's great

Poker never gave me the thrill it gives others, but Skull really delivers on that promise. When you first play, you're focused on making a winning bid to earn one of the two points needed to win. But you'll soon see how much fun it can be to set traps for your friends, like bidding early to convince them you don't have a skull on top of your stack, then waiting patiently for them to flip it over.

Skull can be played with anything from playing cards to spare bar coasters, but it's worth buying a box for the lovely design that comes in the box. Photo Connie Park

Flaws but not fatal

It's possible to play this game without bluffing, but it will take away much of the fun of playing. If your friend group isn't interested in deception as a mechanic, this game probably isn't for you.

Best deck-building game Dominion

Best deck construction game Dominion

Photo Connie Park

Top pick

The game that laid the foundations of deck-building

A slow-burn game with a low barrier to entry and lots of decisions.

PURCHASE OPTIONS

How to buy

How to play

Why it's great

Poker never gave me the thrill it gives others, but Skull really delivers on that promise. When you first play, you're focused on making a winning bid to earn one of the two points needed to win. But you'll soon see how much fun it can be to set traps for your friends, like bidding early to convince them you don't have a skull on top of your stack, then waiting patiently for them to flip it over.

The most important thing is to balance buying victory point cards that take up space in your hand with choosing cards with more immediately useful powers. Point cards are limited, and if another player gets them first, they may not be available later. This makes for an intriguing and tricky puzzle.

The included organizer makes it easy to set up a Dominion game, but it does mean the box is larger than other card games. Photo by Connie Park

Faults, but not a bargain

It's possible to play this game without bluffing, but it will take away much of the fun of playing. If your friend group isn't interested in deception as a mechanic, this game probably isn't for you.

Best Trick-Taking Game: Cat in the Box

The best trick taking game Cat in the Box

Photo Connie Park

Top pick

An unexpected twist on a classic genre

This game has plenty of opportunities to make players clever, and its mix of inventive card play and risky bidding makes for surprisingly fun rounds.

Purchase Options

How to buy

How to play

Play proceeds over a number of rounds, called tricks, and in each round, players play one card of a particular value and suit. The person who plays the highest card of that suit wins the trick. If you don't have a card of that suit, you can play any other card, including a trump card. A trump card is a special card that will win even if it's not that suit.

A play on the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment, Cat in the Box is themed by the lack of suits on the cards. Instead, players declare the suit the moment they play a card. You also leave tokens of your color on the game board that tracks which cards you've played, and remove that suit and card combo from the round.

You score points for winning tricks, and if you correctly bid how many tricks you can win, you score extra points for the longest lasting set of tokens you keep on the board.

Why it's great

Poker never gave me the thrill it gives others, but Skull really delivers on that promise. When you first play, you're focused on making a winning bid to earn one of the two points needed to win. But you'll soon see how much fun it can be to set traps for your friends, like bidding early to convince them you don't have a skull on top of your stack, then waiting patiently for them to flip it over.

Balancing all these options is what makes the game work, and helps improve the format where trick-taking really shines by giving players more opportunities to feel clever.

Cat in the Box's playful art and design are fun, and the organizer does a good job of holding all those little tokens, but it's frustratingly cramped. Photo by Connie Park

Flaws but Not a Breakthrough

It's possible to play this game without bluffing, but it will take away much of the fun of playing. If your friend group isn't interested in deception as a mechanic, this game probably isn't for you.

Also, "Cat in the Box" is not a very good two-player game. If you're looking for a better trick-taking duel, check out "Forest Fox," featured in our guide to two-player games.

Number of players: 2-5 (recommended at least 3)

• Rules PDF version
• Digital version: n/a
• Best ladder climbing game: Scout

The best ladder climbing game scout

Photo Connie Park

Top pick

Big fun in a small package

Even by card game standards, this game is surprisingly small and portable. But the gameplay of assembling the longest run or largest set of cards is surprisingly expansive.

Purchase options

How to buy

How to play

If you can, you score the previous player's cards and the turn passes to the next player. If you can't (or don't want to) do that, you can "scout" by taking a card from the currently active run or set and placing it face-up in that player's hand.

The round ends when any player runs out of cards or when all players have scouted without playing a card on their turn. Any cards remaining in hand are at a disadvantage. Scores are tallied and the game continues until there have been as many rounds as there are players in the game.

Why it's great

Poker never gave me the thrill it gives others, but Skull really delivers on that promise. When you first play, you're focused on making a winning bid to earn one of the two points needed to win. But you'll soon see how much fun it can be to set traps for your friends, like bidding early to convince them you don't have a skull on top of your stack, then waiting patiently for them to flip it over.

This is because you have to choose a shor t-term strategy that depends on whether the appropriate card comes at the right time, which is insufficient to take. This tension is irresistible.

There are drawbacks but not fatal

It's possible to play this game without bluffing, but it will take away much of the fun of playing. If your friend group isn't interested in deception as a mechanic, this game probably isn't for you.

Number of players: 2-5 people (but 3 or more people are better)

• Rules: Unknown
• Digital version: Android, iOS, Switch, Steam
• Best set collection game Hanabi

Best set collection game Hanabi

Photo Connie Park

Top pick

Communication card game on the theme of combustion

It is the main game of this game to hit what the cards that everyone has. All cards are fac e-t o-face.

Optional purchase

How to buy

How to play

In the turn, do you put out one card without looking at your hand, or use a timer token with only a few sheets to tell you specific (for example, this is a yellow card "or" This is ". Two cards are 4. "

If you do not put the card in the order, one of the thre e-light tokens (also called the lightning token in some editions) must be turned over. If you turn all three, everyone will lose.

When the card to be pulled is gone, everyone will do a han d-scale again and add the highest value card in each turn and give the team's total score.

Great reason

Poker never gave me the thrill it gives others, but Skull really delivers on that promise. When you first play, you're focused on making a winning bid to earn one of the two points needed to win. But you'll soon see how much fun it can be to set traps for your friends, like bidding early to convince them you don't have a skull on top of your stack, then waiting patiently for them to flip it over.

You always want to convey more information that you have been forgiven, and there is almost no room to make mistakes. Even worse, other players will never do what you want, even if you give perfect hints.

But the fun of a game like HANABI (or another game we like, like The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine) is in the collective struggle with that frustration. The horror of watching your friends pick the worst card, biting your tongue to keep from mentioning the mistake.

That despair is balanced by the joy you feel when you give them a hint of the perfect phrase. Their eyes widen in recognition. They confidently play the one card you all need. Everyone wins.

Flaws are not dealbreakers

It's possible to play this game without bluffing, but it will take away much of the fun of playing. If your friend group isn't interested in deception as a mechanic, this game probably isn't for you.

This makes it difficult for color-blind (and other visually impaired) people to participate in this game.

Best Layout Game: Sprolopolis

Best layout game: Sprol Police

Photo Connie Park

Top pick

Urban sprawl in your pocket

A brain-busting cooperative game that takes just 15 minutes to play with a deck slimmer than your wallet.

How to buy

How to buy

How to play

On your turn, you place one card sideways on the shared space, pass the other two to the left, and then draw another card from the deck.

Play continues until all cards have been played, at which point you evaluate your performance based on the goals you revealed at the start of the game. If a team surpasses the total number on their goal cards, everyone wins.

Why it's great

Poker never gave me the thrill it gives others, but Skull really delivers on that promise. When you first play, you're focused on making a winning bid to earn one of the two points needed to win. But you'll soon see how much fun it can be to set traps for your friends, like bidding early to convince them you don't have a skull on top of your stack, then waiting patiently for them to flip it over.

This game is a fun game to challenge with your friends because of the annoyance, not the design. The point is friction, and the process of overcoming a linear jacke t-like restriction enhances the satisfaction when solving it miraculously and miraculously.

There are drawbacks but not fatal wounds

It's possible to play this game without bluffing, but it will take away much of the fun of playing. If your friend group isn't interested in deception as a mechanic, this game probably isn't for you.

Number of players: 1 to 4 people

• Rule PDF version
• Digital version: n/a
• Best negotiation game Bonanzer

Best negotiation game Bonanzer

On e-push game

Top pick

Extremely counted beans games

An active and cheerful game with the theme of bean transactions and planting.

Optional purchase

How to buy

How to play

When the turn comes around, the player has to plant the beans in the field in the field. After planting, the player turns two more beans from the deck and open the trade floor. Players can offer either the flip beans on any kind of trade or future trade promises. However, the beans traded in the round must be planted, so if each player has a small number of fields, it will be even more pressure.

Players can sell beans if they have enough beans in their fields, or if they have to plant new types of beans. The more unusual beans, the more points you can get.

Why wonderful

Poker never gave me the thrill it gives others, but Skull really delivers on that promise. When you first play, you're focused on making a winning bid to earn one of the two points needed to win. But you'll soon see how much fun it can be to set traps for your friends, like bidding early to convince them you don't have a skull on top of your stack, then waiting patiently for them to flip it over.

There are drawbacks but not fatal wounds

Because the goals and goals are random, this game sometimes feels too random. However, it takes about 15 minutes for a single game, and you can quickly move to the next game, so you immediately forget the frustration.

Number of players: 1 to 4 people

It's possible to play this game without bluffing, but it will take away much of the fun of playing. If your friend group isn't interested in deception as a mechanic, this game probably isn't for you.

Digital version: None (although inexpensive print & play PDF is available)

Other excellent card games

Photo Amigo game

On e-push game

Amigo Bonanza

Extremely counted beans games

An active and cheerful game with the theme of bean transactions and planting.

Optional purchase

Way of playing

Bohnanza is a game that buys, plants, and sells beans. The player is distributed with hand (beans) that cannot be sorted (like a scout). Then, two or three (depending on the number of players) will be given a playmat with a "bean field".

When the turn comes around, the player has to plant the beans in the field in the field. After planting, the player turns two more beans from the deck and open the trade floor. Players can offer either the flip beans on any kind of trade or future trade promises. However, the beans traded in the round must be planted, so if each player has a small number of fields, it will be even more pressure.

Players can sell beans if they have enough beans in their fields, or if they have to plant new types of beans. The more unusual beans, the more points you can get.

Why wonderful

I am a pretty reader. Invest in the stock market. I also have 401 (k). However, this game is more suitable for learning the market principles (and its rationality) rather than any classes I have or read. This game is a fun game to challenge with your friends because of the annoyance, not the design. The point is friction, and the process of overcoming a linear jacke t-like restriction enhances the satisfaction when solving it miraculously and miraculously.

There are drawbacks but not fatal wounds

Because the goals and goals are random, this game sometimes feels too random. However, it takes about 15 minutes for a single game, and you can quickly move to the next game, so you immediately forget the frustration.

Number of players: 1 to 4 people

Rule PDF version

Digital version: None (although inexpensive print & play PDF is available)

Competition

Photo Amigo game

On e-push game

Amigo Bonanza

Extremely counted beans games

An active and cheerful game with the theme of bean transactions and planting.

Optional purchase

Way of playing

Bohnanza is a game that buys, plants, and sells beans. The player is distributed with hand (beans) that cannot be sorted (like a scout). Then, two or three (depending on the number of players) will be given a playmat with a "bean field".

When the turn comes around, the player has to plant the beans in the field in the field. After planting, the player turns two more beans from the deck and open the trade floor. Players can offer either the flip beans on any kind of trade or future trade promises. However, the beans traded in the round must be planted, so if each player has a small number of fields, it will be even more pressure.

Players can sell beans if they have enough beans in their fields, or if they have to plant new types of beans. The more unusual beans, the more points you can get.

Why wonderful

I am a pretty reader. Invest in the stock market. I also have 401 (k). However, this game is more suitable for learning the market principles (and its rationality) rather than any classes I have or read.

Always planting the first one in your hand, having a limited planting place, taking responsibility for two flipped cards, all of these are great pressure on trade. Like the real market, here is not a problem here in the actual value of beans (however, each card displays the rarity of beans). The important thing is whether other players will be willing to exchange them with the beans at that moment. There is always an incentive for buying and selling, and the motivation of the player changes every moment, so those who read the place and know how to put pressure on the trading partner in a timely manner is rewarded.

Bohnanza is also a game where everyone on the table can always be involved. By proposing transactions, doing lobbying to the transaction partner, giving a bribe, and promising better transactions in the future, this game is like a very realistic stock market, that is, beans and dreams. You can enjoy the feeling of a chaotic trading area that moves.

There are drawbacks but not exceptional

This is a very active and interactive game. Social people will like this game, but modest people may not be familiar immediately.

Other good card games

If you want a gorgeous production dec k-built battle game: Queen by Midnight "is recommended. This game features an asymmetrical character option, a complicated complex gameplay, and a cute dystower centerpiece that gives a sense of luxury and tables throughout the package. 。

According to the standard of card games, the price is high and the box is large. However, if you want a game that can be a beautiful or fun experience with a rewarding gameplay loop and deep strategy, this is an valuable investment.

If you want a beautiful card deck that you can enjoy cruel cooperative play: Get REGICIDE. It is a tough cooperative game that defeats the traditional 52 card deck face card.

Basically, you play with a normal 52 deck, but it comes with a useful information card and a sophisticated rule book, so you can play games easier than using an old bicycle deck around.

In addition, our tester felt that the retro arcad e-style isometric fantasy art style was very attractive. I want to use this deck for a traditional card game.