If you’re bored of watching TV and you don’t want the commitment of a board game, playing card games could be the perfect activity for your student house or halls. It’s a great bonding experience, and it’s flexible time-wise, so you can play for a few minutes or a few hours. Plus, all you need is a basic deck. So here are some fun card games to play with your flatmates, and how to play them.
Hearts
Hearts is a four-player game where the goal is to get as few points as possible. The point values are 1 point for every heart card, 13 points for the Queen of Spades and -10 points for the Jack of Diamonds. The deck is fully dealed out so each player has 1/4 of the cards to begin with. The person with the 2 of clubs begins the game by placing down this card. The person to the left then puts down a card, which has to follow suit if they have any clubs, and the same for the next person to the left and the final player. Whoever had the highest card in the initial suit takes the cards and adds them to a separate pile from their hand. This pattern repeats until all the cards have been collected into the piles. Whoever has the least amount of points wins, unless one player manages to get all of the hearts as well as the Queen of Spades, in which case this player wins by ‘shooting the moon.’
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Spite and Malice
Spite and Malice is a two-player patience game. Both players have 4 side stacks and a pay off pile, with three centre stacks and a stock pile between them. The goal of the game is to be the first to get all of the cards from your pay-off pile into the centre stacks. You can only play with one pay-off card at a time. Whoever’s initial card is higher begins the game, and then players alternate turns. If you have fewer than 5 cards in your hand, start by drawing from the stock pile. The game operates similarly to solitaire, with the option to play a card from the top of your side stacks, the top of your pay-off pile, or from your hand into the centre stacks, either beginning a stack with an ace or adding a successive one-higher card to a stack.
Blackjack
Blackjack is another fun card game. The goal of blackjack is to reach as close to a count of 21 as possible without exceeding it. Aces are either worth 1 or 11, and face cards are worth 10. Players place their bets, and then the dealer gives one card face-up to each player and then one to themselves. The process is repeated, with the second dealer’s card being placed face-down. The player to the left begins by indicating whether they want to ‘stand,’ which means to receive no cards or ‘hit’ which means to receive an additional card. After each player has had their turn, the dealer flips over their second card. If the total is under 16, the dealer takes another card, and if it is 17 or over the dealer stands. The process repeats until each bet is settled.
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