Fun & Easy Card Games for Children

Here are a few card games to occupy children when they’re looking for something to do. These are card games that are fun & easy to learn.

PIG

* Pig is an “ice-breaker” game for either children or adults. Up to thirteen players can play.

>Take four cards of a rank for each player in the game. For example, with seven players, take the aces, deuces, and so on up to sevens, discarding all higher cards. It does not matter what ranks you choose.

>After shuffling, deal the cards out one at a time, giving each player four cards.

>The entire play consists in exchanging cards. All players take a card from their hands and place it to the left, then all simultaneously pick up the cards they find at their right. Actually, it is not important to keep these exchanges synchronized. The “ice-breaking” feature is that the etiquette of the game permits the player to scream at his right-hand neighbor, “Hurry up, I’m waiting!”

>When any player gets four cards of the same rank into his hand, he must stop passing cards and put a finger to his nose. The last to perceive that the game is ended is a pig, and is usually required to pay forfeit.

Beggar-Your-Neighbor

* This two player game depends entirely on the luck of the shuffle.

>Shuffle & deal out all cards, half to each player.

>The nondealer turns up a card from the top of his packet and places it on the table.

>The dealer then turns up a card from his packet and places it upon the other. The play continues in the same way until the appearance of a face card or ace.

>When one player turns up a high card, the other must place upon it: four cards for an ace, three for a king, two for a queen, one for a jack.

>If the high card draws its quota in lower cards(ten or lower), the player of the high card takes up the entire common pile, places it face down under his packet, and leads for a new series of plays. But if a face card or ace appears in the course of playing the quota on an opponent’s high card, the obligation is reversed, and the continues until a player wins the pile.

>The player who gets the entire pack into his hands wins the game. This may happen in one “run-through” or the game may continue for a long time.

War

*This is a two player game.

>A regular deck of cards is divided into halves, one for each player, face down.

>Each turns up a card and the higher card wins the other, the two cards going face down under the winner’s packet.

>This continues until the turned cards are a pair; then there is “war.”

>The pair are placed in the center, each player adds three cards face down, and then each player turns a card, the high card winning all ten.

>If these third cards also are a pair, they go in the center, each adds a card, and the whole group goes to the winner of the next turn.

>Since it takes a long time for either player to win all 52 cards, it is usually agreed that the first to win three wars is the winner of the game.

Old Maid

*Old Maid is a two to eight player game.

>Discard one queen from a deck of cards.

>Deal the remaining cards out, one at a time, until all are dealt-they do not have to come out even.

>Each player discards, face up, all his pairs(never three of a kind). Then each player in turn shuffles his hand and offers it face down to his left-hand neighbor, who draws one card, discards a pair if he has drawn one, and offers his shuffled hand to his left. Eventually one player must be left with the odd queen and is the “old maid.”

Concentration or Memory

*Concentration(or Memory) is for two or more players.

>Shuffle the deck of cards and lay the cards out one by one on a large table, with their faces down and so spaced that they do not overlap.

>Each player in turn must turn up any two cards, one at a time, leaving them in their original positions on the table. If they are a pair, he takes them and similarly turns up two more cards. If they are not a pair, he turns them face down again(still in their original position) and the next player to his left plays.

>The point is that by careful watching you can remember where cards of certain kinds are. After turning up your first card, you may remember what card to turn up to find its mate. The object is to get as many pairs as possible, and the one who gets the most pairs wins the game.