Card games

A deck of cards, a table, good company = many hours of fun

Humans have been enjoying card games for almost a thousand years, and they’re still a small refuge from screen overload, social media addiction and that constant slavery to the notifications demanding our attention every other second.

Like the indomitable Gaulish village resisting the Roman Empire, card games hold their ground, thank goodness, reminding us of the value of the simple and the shared.

All it takes is a deck, a table, an unhurried moment and somebody saying: “shall we play a hand?”. From there anything can happen: a lunch that stretches into the afternoon, a rainy day that no longer feels grey, an improvised game on holiday, or that little family rivalry that ends in laughter even though somebody swears they’ll never play again.

For all of that, come what may, we’ll keep playing cards.

group of friends playing cards

Card games explained step by step

From this page you can access a clear and accurate explanation of how to play several classic and popular card games, with both the Spanish deck and the standard (French) deck, plus a few more modern games with their own dedicated decks.

These are short, clear and very visual explanations that will work as a quick reference. We also include variants, similar games and trivia for anyone who wants to dig a bit deeper.

“Official rules” for popular card games

We know that popular games don’t have official rules, and we know for a fact (because we do it too) that many families have their own variants, their house rules, and inevitably their little debates about what “this is how we’ve always played it!” really means, not to mention that grandma pulling off a “legal cheat” nobody saw coming. And that’s a good thing!

grandma playing cards with a mischievous look

That said, the rules we’ll explain on LOODENS are as close to official rules of classic and popular card games as you’ll get, because we’ve done a thorough study of the matter, consulting and cross-checking dozens of books from various authors, all of them scholars and enthusiasts of card games. For each game we’ll list the references and bibliography used.

In the same spirit, we’ve also tried to stay faithful to the traditional jargon of card games, using terms like trick, stock, trump, dealer or ruff. For each game we’ll explain what these terms mean, although a basic glossary of card-game vocabulary is available further down, in case you’re curious. You don’t need to memorise it before playing, but it’ll help you get familiar with the language of the cards.

Right here, you’ve got a list with a brief description and basic info of the card games we currently have explained on LOODENS:

Below you’ll find supplementary, general information about card games, for those of us who like to learn and know more than the rest 😉

Types of card games

Card games can be grouped into “families” based on their game mechanics. The more complex games often combine several of these mechanics.

Here’s a thorough list of the types of games that exist:

1. Trick-taking games

This is the reigning category in Europe. It’s played in rounds (tricks) where each player throws down a card and whoever puts the strongest one on the table takes them all. They usually involve the figure of the “trump”, a suit that beats the others.

  • Spanish deck: Tute, Brisca or Guiñote.
  • Standard (French) deck: Bridge, Whist or Belote.

2. Matching / melding games

Here the goal isn’t to win tricks but to form groups of cards of the same value (sets of three or four) or runs of the same suit in your hand. When you manage to combine all your cards, you can “lay down” or close out the game.

  • Spanish deck: Chinchón or Remigio.
  • Standard (French) deck: Canasta, Rummy or Pinochle.
  • Modern games: Virus.

3. Adding-up / point-counting games

In these games, the numeric value of the cards is what matters most. You have to hit an exact number or get as close to it as you can without going over, or capture cards from the table that add up to a given value.

  • Spanish deck: Siete y Media (Spanish 7½) or Escoba.
  • Standard (French) deck: Blackjack or Trente et Quarante.

4. Betting and bluffing games

These are psychological games. The winner isn’t always the one with the best cards, but the one who knows best how to bet or fool the others. They’re built around the “bet” (the challenge) and the “bluff” (making others believe you’ve got something you don’t).

  • Spanish deck: Mentiroso (Spanish Liar) or Mus.
  • Standard (French) deck: Poker or Ambigu.
  • Modern games: Cheating Moth.

5. Speed and reflex games

Here mental skill takes a back seat to physical coordination. These tend to be very dynamic games where you have to react to a specific card or be the first to get rid of your hand.

  • Spanish deck: Burro (the swapping / stop variant).
  • Standard (French) deck: Pig or Slapjack.
  • Modern games: Dobble / Spot It.

6. Memory games

Even though memory comes in handy in almost every card game when it’s time to remember which cards have come out, there are specific modalities designed to exercise it, based on position or on the discards.

  • Spanish deck: La Mona (Old Maid; where you have to remember which pairs have been laid down to avoid being left with the unmatched card) or Remigio (in its “tracking the others’ discards” aspect).
  • Standard (French) deck: Piquet (where remembering the cards your opponent has discarded is critical) or the classic Memory (Pelmanism).

7. Pure chance games

In these games, player skill is non-existent or secondary. Everything depends on luck when dealing or drawing the cards. They’re typical of casino settings, where you bet against the “house”.

  • Spanish deck: Los Montones (Heaps) or the Drawing Cards game.
  • Standard (French) deck: Baccarat or Monte.
  • Modern games: Exploding Kittens has a significant chance component.

8. Solitaire games

Games designed for a single person. The goal is usually to sort the full deck following very strict placement and suit rules, working almost like a puzzle.

  • Spanish deck: Solitario de la suerte or La Constancia.
  • Standard (French) deck: The Harp or the Pyramid.

9. Shedding / elimination games

The main goal is to be the first to empty your hand. It’s not about melding complex combinations, but about getting rid of cards following a set order or hierarchy.

  • Spanish deck: Burro (the shedding-by-tricks variant) or Cinquillo (Los Cuatro Seises).
  • Standard (French) deck: Crapette (a hybrid between solitaire and competitive play) or NLK (Hungarian origin).
  • Modern games: Cheating Moth, Uno or Exploding Kittens.

10. Logic and deduction games

In these games, victory depends on the player’s ability to analyse the available information (discards, declarations or signals) and deduce which cards the others hold or which strategy they’re following.

  • Spanish deck: Mus is the perfect example, since a good player has to deduce the opponent’s hand by reading signals and bets. Also Remigio, where paying attention to which cards the others draw or throw away gives vital clues about their combinations.
  • Standard (French) deck: Bridge is the supreme example, defined as a “scientific game” that demands deep logical analysis during the bidding to understand the partner’s hand. Piquet also belongs here, since the “announcements” force you to deduce which cards remain in the stock.
  • Modern games: Codenames or Just One. Here cards don’t have numeric values but words that serve as the basis for a pure deduction and logical-connection exercise.

A note on the classification: As you can see, many games are hybrids. For instance, Mus is a betting game (by its mechanics), a deduction game (by its signals) and a deeply social game (by its dynamic in the cafés).

family playing cards

Basic card-game glossary

Many card games share their own vocabulary. Some of these terms you’ve known forever; others, almost certainly not.

Knowing them will help you understand the rules of card games better and faster. You don’t need to learn them right now, since we’ll also give the definitions inside each game where they’re used.

We’ve ordered the glossary pedagogically: the most basic concepts come first, and after them the terms that depend on those. That way you can read it top to bottom without (in theory) running into a concept that refers to another one not explained yet. As it should be!

Deck

The set of cards used to play. The most common Spanish deck has 40 cards: coins, cups, swords and clubs, with cards from the Ace to the seven and three court cards: jack, knight and king, although there are 48-card Spanish decks that also include 8s and 9s. The standard (French) deck — hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds — has cards from the Ace to the 10 plus J, Q and K, for a total of 52 cards.

Suit

Each of the families of cards in a deck. In the Spanish deck they are coins, cups, swords and clubs. In the standard (French) deck they are hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds. In many games the suit matters as much as the number of the card.

Coins, cups, swords and clubs

The four suits of the Spanish deck. Some rules give a special value to one particular suit, as happens with the coins in Escoba.

Court cards

The cards with characters on them: jack, knight and king in the Spanish deck; J, Q and K in the standard (French) deck. Their value changes depending on the game.

Stock

Pile of cards, usually face-down, from which cards are dealt or drawn during a game.

Dealer

The player who deals the cards. In many rule sets they’re simply called “the dealer”. The turn to deal usually moves from one player to the next after each hand. In Spanish-deck games the deal usually moves to the player on the dealer’s right — that is, counter-clockwise. In standard-deck games it’s usually the other way round.

One day we’ll have to look into why that’s the case 🤔 Although the French deck is also called the English deck, and the English… well, the English do many things “backwards” compared to the rest of the world. They drive on the left, their roundabouts go clockwise… there must be a connection.

Cut

Splitting the deck into two parts after shuffling and before dealing. It’s a simple way to prevent the dealer from controlling the order of the cards. It’s also one of those small rituals that make a game feel like it’s really beginning. The dealer offers the deck to be cut by the player who was the dealer in the previous hand — in the Spanish tradition that’s the player on the left, and in standard-deck games it’s usually the one on the right.

The deal

The moment when the cards are distributed among the players. Each game has its own deal: three cards in Brisca, seven in Chinchón, all the cards in Old Maid, etc. Cards are usually dealt one at a time starting with the player opposite the one who cut the deck. If I’m the dealer and I let the player on my left cut the deck, I start dealing to the player on my right. Some games allow dealing three at a time.

Turn

The moment when it’s a player’s turn to play. In card games it’s worth respecting the turn order carefully, because many rules depend on who plays before and who plays after.

Points

The score counted during a game. Some cards are worth a certain number of points, as are some plays, and in many games the winner is whoever reaches a previously agreed total of points first.

Blank card

A card that has no point value in a specific game. In Brisca, for example, many numeral cards score no points, although they can still serve to win or lose a play.

Trick

The basic unit of contest. It’s the group of cards (one per player) placed on the table on each turn. At the end of that round, somebody wins the trick and picks up the cards.

Trick-taking games

Games where play progresses by tricks. Each player plays a card, the winner of that round is decided, and the winner takes the played cards. Sometimes it pays to win lots of tricks. Other times, only the ones holding valuable cards.

Hand

Can mean several things depending on context:

  • A hand can be the set of cards a player holds. I get really good cards and I think… I’ve got a great hand!
  • A hand can also be the set of plays that happen between one deal of cards and the final pickup after all cards have been played. In this sense a hand is made up of several tricks.
  • It’s also said that the player who starts has the hand (is the “leader”). Asking “who starts?” is the same as asking “who has the hand?”.

Trump

The suit that beats the other suits during a hand or game. If trumps are coins, a card of coins can beat cards of other suits, even when those cards are higher. It’s one of the key ideas in games like Brisca or Tute.

Trump card

A card belonging to the trump suit. In some games, a card turned face-up under the stock indicates which suit will be trump for the hand.

Follow suit

To play a card of the same suit as the card that led the trick. In some games following suit is mandatory if you can. In others, like Brisca, that obligation doesn’t always exist.

Void

The situation in which a player has no cards of a given suit. Being void can be an advantage, because it lets you play trump when the others expect you to follow the led suit.

Ruff (trumping)

To play a trump card because you don’t have any cards of the led suit. For example: if somebody leads with cups, you don’t have cups and you play a coin because coins are trump, you’re ruffing. Yes, it sounds odd and you might even think the term is unnecessary, but you’ll see that in some games using these concepts helps you understand the rules better and avoid misunderstandings with your opponents.

Beat / take

To play a card that overpowers another and becomes the winning card at that moment. In games with trump, a trump card can beat cards of other suits.

Overtrump

To play a higher trump than another trump already played in the same trick. It’s a way of overtaking somebody who’d already ruffed or tried to win the trick with trump.

Lead with trumps

To lead a trick by playing a trump card, forcing the other players to spend their trumps — if the rules force them to follow suit. It’s a very important play in some trick-taking games.

Talon (stock pile)

What’s left of the deck after the initial deal. In games like Brisca, the talon is left on the table so that players can draw cards after each trick.

Draw a card

To take a card from the stock, the talon or the pile indicated by the rules. In card games, “drawing” doesn’t mean cheating: it just means picking up a new card when it’s your turn.

Discard

To play or throw away a card you don’t want to keep. In some games you discard to end your turn, like in Chinchón. In others, you discard because you can’t follow the led suit or because the card isn’t useful to you.

Discard pile

Pile of discarded cards, usually face-up. In games like Chinchón, the discard pile can be as interesting as the stock, because it lets you see which cards the others have let go.

Combination

A group of cards that meets a specific rule. It can be a pair, a triplet, a run, a group of identical cards or any set the game considers valid.

Meld

To form a valid combination with several cards. In Chinchón, for example, you can meld cards by forming groups of the same number or runs of the same suit.

Run / sequence

A combination of consecutive cards. In many games they must be of the same suit. In others, it’s enough for the numbers to be sequential. Before playing it’s worth checking whether the ace can sit only at the start, only at the end, or at either end.

Three of a kind

Three cards of the same value. For example, three sevens or three kings. It’s a common combination in games like Chinchón and other games in the Rummy family.

Close / go out

To end a hand because a player meets the necessary condition to do so. In Chinchón, closing means ending the hand when your cards are melded, or almost melded, depending on the agreed rule.

Stand

To stop asking for cards because you’d rather keep the score you already have. A very common word in games like Spanish 7½.

Bluff

A play based on making others believe something that isn’t true. In games like Mentiroso (Liar), the bluff isn’t a bad habit: it’s practically the heart of the game.

Bibliography used as reference for the glossary

Botín, A. (2011). Todos los juegos de cartas. Barcelona: Ediciones Robinbook. ISBN 978-84-96746-58-9. If you’re interested in this book, it’s available on Amazon.

Carobene, B. (1979). El gran libro de los juegos de cartas. Barcelona: Editorial De Vecchi. ISBN 84-315-5155-0. If you’re interested in this book, it’s available on Amazon.

Fournier, H. (1995). Juegos de naipes españoles (22nd ed.). Vitoria: Editorial Fournier. ISBN 84-85074-01-7. If you’re interested in this book, it’s available on Amazon.

Núñez Elvira, J. L. (1990). El gran libro de los juegos de cartas. Barcelona: Ediciones Martínez Roca. ISBN 84-270-1408-2. If you’re interested in this book, it’s available on Amazon.

Pibernat, J. L. (1998). Naipes. El fascinante mundo de los juegos de cartas. Barcelona: Editorial Aldaya. ISBN 84-487-0460-6.

Frequently asked questions about card games

Which games can you play with a Spanish deck?

With a Spanish deck you can play many popular games: Brisca, Chinchón, Escoba, Spanish 7½, Burro, Old Maid (La Mona), Mentiroso (Liar), Tute, Cinquillo, Pocha, Mus and many family variants. Some are trick-taking games, others matching, others memory, bluffing or point-counting games.

Which are the easiest card games to start with?

If you want to start with simple games, try Old Maid (La Mona), Burro, Mentiroso (Liar), Escoba or Spanish 7½. They have easy-to-explain rules, fast rounds and don’t demand much card-game vocabulary. If the group has played before, Brisca is also a great option.

Which are the best card games for two players?

For two players, Brisca, Escoba, Chinchón, Spanish 7½ and some variants of trick-taking or matching games work very well. The key is to choose games where every turn has interesting decisions and the play doesn’t depend on having a big group.

Which card games are good for children?

For kids, games with clear rules, fast turns and easy-to-grasp goals usually work best. Old Maid (La Mona), Burro, Mentiroso (Liar) and a simple version of Escoba are good options. On top of that, many card games help practise memory, attention, mental arithmetic and tolerance for losing, all without turning the game into a lesson.

How many cards are in a Spanish deck?

The Spanish deck can have 40 or 48 cards. The 40-card Spanish deck is the most common in many traditional games: four suits and, in each suit, cards from the ace to the seven plus jack, knight and king. The 48-card deck adds the 8s and 9s.

What are the suits of the Spanish deck?

The suits of the Spanish deck are coins, cups, swords and clubs. Each suit has its numeral cards and its court cards. In some games all the suits have the same value. In others, one of them becomes the trump suit, or certain cards from a specific suit give special points.

What’s the difference between the Spanish deck and the standard (French) deck?

The Spanish deck uses the suits coins, cups, swords and clubs. The standard (French) deck uses hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs. The court cards also change: in the Spanish deck there’s jack, knight and king. In the French one, jack, queen and king. Some games can be adapted from one deck to another, but they don’t always fit equally well.

What does trump mean in a card game?

The trump is the suit that has the most strength during a hand. If a suit is trump, its cards can beat cards of other suits. For example, if coins are trump, a coin can win a trick even if a card of another suit is higher. It’s a central rule in many trick-taking games.

What is a trick?

A trick is the set of cards played in a single round, usually one card per player. At the end of that round, one player wins the trick and picks up those cards. In some games, like Brisca, what matters isn’t winning many tricks but winning the tricks that contain valuable cards.

What is the talon?

The talon is the pile of cards left over after the initial deal. In many games it’s left face-down on the table and players draw cards from it during play.

What does it mean to draw a card?

To draw a card means to take a card from the stock, the talon or the pile indicated by the rules. It has nothing to do with cheating: in card games, drawing simply means picking up a new card when it’s your turn.

What does it mean to discard?

Discarding means getting rid of a card from your hand. In some games you discard at the end of your turn. In others, you discard because you can’t play a card of the required suit or because that card no longer serves you.

Which card game is best for a family after-meal session?

It depends on the group. For a relaxed session, Escoba, Chinchón or Brisca work very well. If there are kids or players who don’t know many card games, Old Maid (La Mona), Burro or Mentiroso (Liar) tend to be easier to bring out to the table.

Are card games only games of chance?

No. Luck does play a part, of course, because the cards are dealt at random. But many card games also involve memory, calculation, strategy, observation and reading the other players. That’s exactly the beauty of it: you don’t control the cards you get, but you do decide what to do with them.

Why is it worth playing cards?

Because a deck lets you play almost anywhere, with very little kit and with people of different ages. Card games are cheap, easy to carry around and perfect for sharing real time together: talking, laughing, thinking, competing a bit and building memories around a table.

Tabletop games

Games which are played on a plane surface, tipically on a table

board games

Board games

Crossdice = crosswords game with letter dice

Dice games

Card games

category balance and stack

Balancing and stacking games

Girl smiling playing a pen and paper game

Pen and paper games