Card games: the heritage way of spending pastime

We were analyzing many exciting games in recent past using this platform. Many of those games were relatively new concept (20^th century concept). But today we will discuss on a game which I bet everybody has heard about and most of us, if not all have played it in the past. Yes, I am talking about card games, one of the most popular indoor games. Card games can be seen in paintings of even 15^th century and its popularity is still going strong. The simple yet exciting game structures are the basis of its success. The incorporation of gambling has provoked further spark to its triumph. Nowadays though the same card game can be played over both online and offline mode, but the basics of the game are same in both cases with online versions have some innovation and new games introduced for fun only.

The game

A card game as we all know is a game played with the help of specific playing cards. Plenty of card games are available including family related games. Though few games follow the same rules, it may vary greatly with cultures, demographics and personal differentiation. Some of these games need a board (a simple guide to keep updated on the scores and to keep the cards), while others focus more on the player's position around the board.

Game-play

There are several factors associated with card games like Number of players participating in a particular game (number of players that can take part in a game is fixed for a certain game); Playing direction (can be clockwise or anticlockwise according to region); Role of a dealer (all the players are not symmetric and the roles are determined according to the dealer, the player who shuffles the cards and make the distribution among the players); Hands/ Rounds (a hand starts with a dealer shuffling the cards and distributing the cards and ends with the scoring followed by the announcement of the next dealer. A game usually consists of a fixed number of rounds); Shuffling (a process of rearranging the cards in random manner. The techniques of shuffling can vary a lot and it is a critical step for casino games where large sums are involved); Deal (Distribution of cards among players after proper shuffling).

Types

There are many types of card games possible with different rules. Few of the notables once are Trick-Taking Games (Bridge, Whist Spades etc. are notable examples of Trick-Taking Games. It is multiple round plays where every player has to produce a single card from their hand and based on the card value, winner is decided in that take or trick. The final winner has to win maximum tricks); Matching Games (Rummy, Go Fish, Blue Canary are based on matching groups of cards as quickly as possible before any other opponent can do it); Shedding Games (As the name suggest the game play is based on how quickly a player can discard every card in hand. The first to do so will win. Examples are Crazy eight, Doubt it, Phase 10); Accumulating Games (Here the aim is get all the cards in the deck. e.g. Egyptian war); Fishing Games (Here cards are both in hands and on table and players have to match cards between hands and tables to get the cards from the table. e.g. Scopa, Cassino); Comparing Games (This type of games are based on the total hand values which decide the winner. Games like Poker, Blackjack are played like this); Solitaire Games (These games are played by one player only. Also known as Patience, where the motto is to build a particular stack of cards); Drinking Games (The games are based on either drinking the cards or make other drink them. e.g. Toepen); Multi genre Games (The goals are usually a collection of game-plays from various types of games. Many variants of Go Fish or Rummy have these features); Collectible Games (Based on collection of large pool of cards available in deck. One can buy a deck of choice and play against another deck); Casino/Poker and other Gambling Games (Wager of money are the main motivation in these games and players often bet with each other).

Online options

There are plenty of variants of card games and if you are alone, have nothing to do now and a card game addict then the best thing to do is to go online and play some online card games. Hundreds of sites will offer you many free games. Giving a few website links below:-

Card Games from Card Game Solitaire

Card Games from Games.com

Card Games from Game house

Card Games from ace2three

Card Games from Board and Card – Yahoo Games

Hope you will enjoy these games a lot and have some real fun.