Best Card Games for a Pandemic

 

As this *bonus time* at home stretches out into nearly a year, I thought I'd share some favorite card games that we've been playing to pass the time.

Perhaps there will be a few new ones that your family might want to give a try:

1. Monopoly Deal - When I broke my hand this summer, my sister Dawn came to stay with us and introduced us to this fun game. It's based on the Monopoly board game, but it's a lot faster and more fun.  We have an older and a newer version of the cards, but prefer the older version (the green box pictured on the left), because the cards are easier to read.

2. Phase Ten - I introduced my girls to this game over the summer and Scarlett wouldn't rest until she figured out how to beat me.  She finally did, so I bought her this hat for Christmas that says "Card Shark". We don't play much anymore, because, frankly, the high of beating Mom has gone to her head. :)

3. Cover Your Assets - Although we got this game a year ago, I only recently started to play with the rest of my family. I'm not keen on the name I guess, but sometimes you've gotta just go with the flow.  One day this fall Scarlett and I were playing this on the front porch and our  10-year old neighbor asked if he could play.  He got hooked and made his mom buy this game for their family as well.  It's a relatively quick game and easy to learn.

4. Wig Out - This is a fun, fast-paced game that really young kids can play as well as older kids, because there are no words to read.  You just quickly match your cards to the ones on the table and try to be the first one to go out by yelling "Wig Out". Gamewright has a lot of card games that we enjoy, and I really like fast-paced games with really silly images on them.

5. Bohnanza - This game is an oldie but a goodie. We were introduced to it when we were first married and we call it the bean game, because all of the cards are different beans with lots of character.  The game is a series of planting and harvesting of bean fields and gathering of points for said bean harvests.  There's also a lot of bargaining and deal making within the game that can be a fun element.

6. Slamwich - We tend to play this game in the summertime on rainy days.  It's a fast paced game with image-only cards. And there tends to be a lot of slapping of the deck going on. You've got to be quick!

7. Sleeping Queens - This is a very enjoyable game for younger kids.  We haven't played it a lot this year, but when my daughter was about 10, she was all over it!

8. Fluxx - Fluxx is a game where you can change the rules of the game basically with every card that you put down, so you really have to pay attention. It must be really popular, because while we just have the original version, a quick search online shows me that there are a LOT of spinoff versions of this game...Dr. Who Fluxx, Fairytale Fluxx, etc.

9. The Game - This game is for people who really enjoy numbers, but the concept is pretty simple. You're trying to work collaboratively with the other players to get all of the cards down.  So in this there isn't just one winner, but you can all "win".

10. Set - This is a game that we actually really like, BUT we can't play that much because a) my husband is color blind, so he's at an extreme disadvantage, and b) we lost a few of the cards over the years.  But it's a fun game, again, no reading needed.  You're looking to put cards in sets of three and to find those "sets" faster than the other players.  It's a game you can sort of also play alone if you'd like.

Ok, that's all. Does your family have a game they've been playing during the last year?  Please share. I'd love to hear!