We researched the best card games for all ages, considering each pick’s entertainment value, replayability, and length of play. Our best overall pick is Mattel’s Apples to Apples. Perfect for parties and game nights, the hilariously engaging game is suitable for various ages while being extremely easy to learn. Here are the best card games available online that were vetted by hours of research or suggested by our experts. This engaging game is flexible and fun. The deck is divided into red cards (which list people, places, things, and events) and green ones (which have adjectives). To play, the judge flips over the top green card, and the other players must put down a red card that best fits with the green one in play. The judge chooses the best suggestion, and that player earns a green card and gets to judge next. To win the game, you must earn the most amount of green cards. Note that it’s OK if the cards don’t fit perfectly together, since the point is to impress the judge, and that might mean creating a funny or outrageous combination. Players are also allowed to lobby for their choices, which can lead to lively banter. The original Apples to Apples is recommended for kids ages 12 and up, but Mattel also makes an Apples to Apples Junior Edition for children ages 9 and older. Younger children can play if they have a parent or sibling to help them with reading. Thousands of positive users keep coming back to this game for the hilarious content and high replay value. The game will look completely different depending on who’s playing and which cards you draw. One thing to note: some cards reference pop culture events that young players may not understand. Price at time of publish: $17 Price at time of publish: $28 Lots of variation on the classic set are currently available, as are themed options, too. Overall, families with kids have a blast with this game, and it’s likely to quickly become your favorite. Price at time of publish: $6 Sushi Go! is a fast-playing game in which players try to gather up the most points over the course of three rounds on different combinations of sushi dishes. Over time, the game reinforces cognitive skills like probability, visual discrimination, and strategic thinking. Price at time of publish: $7 The game is similar to Russian Roulette and players draw cards from a pile, hoping to avoid the Exploding Kitten card, which would get them knocked out. To keep things interesting, you can avoid this sudden death by playing cards such as defuse, relocate, or skip a turn. As one parent of a 6-year-old said, “It took a little bit of explaining and coaching to get the kids up to speed, but after that, they ruled the table.” Price at time of publish: $20 This strategic game is designed for both teens and adults and it boasts being one of Kickstarter’s 100 most backed projects of all time. Price at time of publish: $15 The Grimwood allows two to six players, comes with 68 poker-sized playing cards with breath-taking illustrations, one rule booklet, and four rule cards. It’s easy to learn and to teach others how to play as well. Price at time of publish: $20 Additionally, The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine was the 2020 winner of the Kennerspiel des Jahres Game of the Year (a German award meaning expert/connoisseur game of the year). Donahue describes this award as “the Oscars of board/card games”, meaning it’s the highest award a board or a card game can win. Price at time of publish: $10 Price at time of publish: $20 Essentially, the objective is to harvest the orchard’s fruit by overlapping the cards of the trees already bearing the same fruit. The game incorporates dice as well as cubes to help you keep track of your harvest, rotten fruit, and more. While the game is great for solo players, but you can also play with someone else. Price at time of publish: $16 The game itself is adorned with beautiful illustrations and comes in a convenient and attractive box for storage and on-the-go fun. Price at time of publish: $16 Price at time of publish: $14 There are numerous Magic the Gathering sets available, depending upon where you want to start and what themes appeal to you. Many players believe that Commander is the most popular of all the sets, however. Price at time of publish: $38 For this game, players must choose a superhero and work as a team to fight off the world’s most nefarious villains. First, they must organize the powers of their chosen heroes against their teammates in order to effectively fight the villains. Then they have to decide when to reveal themselves or when to stay disguised, when to fight, and when to wait. There are different levels of difficulty to choose from as well as new additions to toss into growing collections as you play. Price at time of publish: $56 Like Magic the Gathering, FLUXX comes in a variety of themes like Monty Python, Star Wars, Zombies, etc. The FLUXX Holiday game ties together not only themes from the winter holidays but all preceding games. Cooney also likes the FLUXX games because they’re made in the USA and therefore easy to get from distributors—so any delays in the supply chain can be avoided. Price at time of publish: $16 Cooney, our card game expert from Dice City Games says, “Living card games like Arkham Horror do not have a collectible element, but sometimes they do have expansion (add-ons you can buy like extra scenarios, weapons, characters, game areas, etc). Usually all the cards are the same, there are no valuable cards, no rarity like the collectibles might have, so you can buy the game and have all the pieces in your hand. You don’t need any extra pieces." Price at time of publish: $33 Donahue agrees and recommends considering other games and game themes the player usually likes. “Living card games always a good choice," she says, “and for smaller, regular card games, I recommend ones that are easy to learn with a lot of competition or cooperative card game sets.”
Replayability
You’ll want to choose a game that you can play over and over again; otherwise, players grow bored once the game play becomes predictable. Look for games that allow for open-ended outcomes or offer various categories and themes.
Length of Play
While most card games don’t last as long as board games, there are some that have a longer duration than others. While longer rounds typically involve more challenge and strategy, shorter rounds will allow you to play them more often (or have more rematches).
Why Trust The Spruce?
KJ Callihan writes for The Spruce and has also created gift and shopping guides for sites like AAA Northeast magazine, CNET, and Knoji. She enjoys spending hours on her guides to make sure the products suggested are unique and of the highest quality. To be sure she selected the very best games for this guide, KJ also consulted card game experts Kathleen Donahue, owner of Labyrinth Games & Puzzles in Washington, D.C., and Jimmy Cooney, owner of Dice City Games in Silver Spring, Maryland, for their wisdom and guidance.
