I was looking through my games I wanted to write about, and was thinking about card games, and why you should play them. It then turned into a card games for gameschooling, and a bit of a collection of all my card games, both the ones I’ve written about, and the ones I haven’t written about yet, and am not sure I ever will.
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What are card games?
For purposes of this post a card game is any game that does not have a central board with pieces on it. There are no tiles to move around, you have cards.
This leads right into the first reason card games are great. They travel easily. Most of my travel games are some variation of card games. When we travel, we always throw in a few card games to play.
Now why play card games?
Card games tend to be shorter, you can play them in an hour or less, and most card games will tend to be in the 20-30-minute range.
The skills you learn will depend on the type of card game you are playing. Some are just fun and how fast can you play your cards, and only take a deck of cards.
Others, teach all manner of skills. Let’s start looking at our various card games we own (or have owned, that post I started to write is for a game we gave away when the kids outgrew it).
Set-collecting card games
In set collection you are trying to get sets of something. Because these are card games you are trying to collect sets of cards. This can be by matching colors, numbers, suits, or creating patterns.
With set collection you are learning patterns, but you are also learning statistics, how likely are you to see the cards you need to finish your set? At what point do you give up on that card and go for another card?
I like set-collecting games. Some of my favorite games are set-collecting, and quite a few of the Bible games I created are variations on set-collecting with a Bible skin on top.
- Dragonrealm– this is the game that inspired this post. As one person called it, “Poker for kids,” you are collecting sets of fantasy characters to try and explore different realms. I’d refer more to gin rummy, which is probably part of why I enjoyed it, I like gin rummy. My kids however were vaguely indifferent to it. Maybe at some point I’ll write a review of it…
- 5 Crowns– Jeff and I found this as newlyweds and have bought and given away many copies. I love this game.
- Quiddler– I like this game, but it is not as popular with the more math-minded members of my family
- Death on the Cards– a deduction hidden murderer game, where I do not do well, but the puns amuse me, oh and it’s set collection, so I just moved it up here to set collection
- Guillotine card game– this is an odd set collection and hand management, I always forget it’s set collection
Press Your Luck
We have both board games and card games that are press-your-luck games. I almost always lose horribly at these, but I think they are so much fun.
Aside from the soft skills of losing gracefully, you continue to work on counting cards. I mean statistics.
Resource Management card games
This is a bit of a catch-all term, especially when it comes to card games, usually resource management means you are keeping track of what cards you have and working to improve your standing in the game some way.
I have to admit creating all of these means I have them handy for talking about them elsewhere.
Resource management helps you learn how to plan better. A skill all of us could use in life.
- Marrying Mr Darcy card game– I’m not sure if this is the best place to put this, but this is where I’m putting it
- Munchkin Game– this is also a stab your friend in the back game, which is why I have rather mixed feelings on it, but you are managing your cards to play them at the right time
- Minecraft card game– this is another game my kids have pretty much outgrown, but once upon a time it was very popular
- Clue Card Game– this is a very light resource management, but it fits best here
Drafting and Deck building card games
Okay, we as a family are not huge fans of drafting card games. Or maybe, it’s that we have a few, and didn’t feel a need to collect some of the more famous drafting games.
- Sushi Go– this is commonly referred to as the entryway drafting game, get the kids addicted and then move them on to
- 7 Wonders– everyone raves about this game. I like it okay, but it also falls prey to the attack your friends, which I don’t like
- there are more, but these are the two I’ve played
But Deck-building games, we love deck building. I’m only going to mention the games that are specifically card games and don’t require some form of board (Harry Potter)
- Dominion– this is the original deck-building game, there are loads of expansions, which changes up what cards you play with and greatly changes up how long the game takes to play. Dominion card game
- Tea Dragon Society– if you run in gaming circles, this is the game people bring up as a way to teach your kids how to learn deck-building. It’s not very competitive, and the theme is very child-friendly. Tea Dragon Society Game
- Star Realm– my boys play this with their friends, from what I’m reading it’s a bit more competitive than I prefer as you’re trying to get your competitors to zero
I should really pull out Tea Dragon Society again, that was such a cute game. I wonder if I could convince the Artist to play it…
The Smorgasbord of card games
These are the card games that I only have one or two of that particular type of card game, so as I share the game, I’ll tell you what type of game it is.
- Beta Botz– bidding and a bit of stab your friends game, so I’m rather meh on this. Neither are game mechanics I really enjoy
- Smash Up– we have so many expansions for this game, it’s a worker placement card cycling game
- There’s Been a Murder– this is an amusing cooperative deduction game
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