4 Fun Card Games to Play While Stuck at Home

Boredom has probably set in. Being home for months on end is harder than anyone anticipated. Finding new things to do is becoming almost impossible. Your closet’s have been cleaned out, that junk drawer you’ve been tossing random pens and elastic bands into for the last 2 years is now organized, and you finally sewed that button back on your favourite shirt. You’ve worked your way through Netflix, done all your puzzles and played all your board games. Now what? Here are a few card games you can play to keep you and your family busy during those long days. The winner gets to eat that emergency chocolate bar you’ve been hiding in the back of your pantry.

SLAPJACK

Lots of action that keeps kids and adults alike from getting bored while waiting for their turn.

Players: 4-10

Objective: Collect all the cards.

How to Play:

• Have everyone sit around a table or on the floor. Deal the complete deck of cards face down, clockwise. Everyone picks up their cards without looking at them.
• Going clockwise around the circle, each player takes the top card of their deck and without looking at it places it in the center of the circle face up. Each player continues to place their cards in the center the same way.
• When a Jack card is played face up, the goal is to be the first person to “slap” it, or cover it with your hand. If several people slap at once, the person whose hand is most in contact with the Jack gets all the cards.
• If a player incorrectly slaps a card that isn’t a Jack, they must give the top card in their pile to the player who placed the card they slapped. That player adds the extra card to the bottom of their deck.
• When a player runs out of cards, the player is out—unless he or she can slap a Jack laid by someone else. At that point, the “out” player can get back into the game with the cards they collected from the pile.
• Play continues until one person wins all of the cards.

Note: For a shorter version, stop play when the first person runs out of cards. Whoever has the most cards at that time is the winner.

CHEAT

Cheat or some call it Bulls***t, shows you how well you know or don’t know your campers by calling their bluff.

Players: 4-10

Objective: Get rid of all your cards.

How to Play:

• First, decide if the Ace will be considered a low or high card. Then, deal out all the cards. The person left of the dealer, puts down a chosen number of cards, face-down in the centre, and announces what the cards are (for example, “two Jacks.”) However, the cards that they place down may or may not be what the player says they are. If someone decides to call their bluff, they yell, “cheat!”
• The cards that were put down are then flipped over. If the player was honest about their cards, the person who said “cheat” must take all the cards in the centre pile. If the player was dishonest, then they must take back all the cards in the centre pile.
• If no one calls out “cheat,” then it’s the next players turn. They must place at least one card that is either one higher or one lower than the previous card’s rank (for example, “three Queens or tens”) If the player doesn’t have a Queen or 10, they will be forced to bluff. Once again, any of the players can call “cheat”—but they risk picking up the pile if the player was honest.
• After the highest rank card value is played, the next card will be twos, then threes, etc. The game continues until one player gets rid of all their cards.

BLURT OUT BATTLE

Lots of fun to play with a group around the campfire. This is a quick-thinking game that has you yelling out random words before your opponent does.

Players: 2 -10

Objective: To collect the most cards.

How to Play:

• Player One holds the deck of cards face-down. They turn to the person on their left (Player Two). Player One flips the top card up away from themselves. As soon as they see what the card is, both try to shout out a word that begins with the same letter as the number displayed. Words cannot be numbers or proper nouns (including names). Whichever player yells a correct word first gets to keep the card and is given the deck.
• Then that player turns to the next person on their left to battle it out. Once a word has been “blurted out,” it cannot be used again.
• The game ends when all the cards in the deck have been flipped over. The winner is the player who has collected the most cards.

Example: Player One flips a three. Player Two yells “toad.” Player Two takes the deck from Player One, then turns to face Player Three (the next person to their left). Player Two flips a King. Player Two yells out “kangaroo.” Player Two gets to keep the deck, then moves on to battle the next person to Player Three’s left.

Note: If playing with two people, you simply battle back and forth until all the cards have been flipped over.

KNOCKOUT WHIST

This classic British card game is fun to play with people of all ages.

Players: 2 -7

Objective: To collect the most cards

• In Knockout whist, the Ace is a high number.
• Start by dealing 7 cards to each player.
• After dealing, turn the next card face-up on the table, and it becomes the “trump” suit.
• The player to the left of the dealer places the first card, and the rest of the group will need to follow suit if they can, if not they may play any card.
• The highest “trump” in the game wins the “trick,” and if no-one plays a trump then the highest card value of the suit that was led by the first player leads with will be the winner.
• The winner in any round deals, leads the upcoming trick and chooses trump.
• After the first hand, the second hand is dealt with only six cards each. The game continues like this, with one fewer card per player on each hand, until the final hand consists of one card each.
• After your group has played all seven of their cards, players that haven’t achieved any tricks are removed from the game until just one person is remaining.
• The game is won by the winner of the one trick on the final hand. Or if all but one of the players are knocked out before this, the surviving player is the winner.

Note: There are many variations to the game