Card Games For Two
This book will become a general database of known card games.
Each card game should have a full set of rules to accompany it on its own article page.
Disney Villainous is arguably one of the most satisfying board games for 2 players. Besides letting you play in a Disney-themed toybox with all your favorite evil-doers, its layers of strategy will. (Of course, if you’re looking for fun two-person games that require nothing but a deck of cards, you can try rummy, gin rummy, double solitaire, crazy eights and war.) There’s a pretty pink tarot card deck to give readings to your roommate and a mini Zoltar kit if you’ve always wished to foretell your fortune.
The goal of this book is to generate the most comprehensive card game library ever created. As card games have little to no official rules and are very often regional this will require a lot of help from the community.
Card games listed here do not need to be 'official' in any way. If you have a great card game that you can accurately recite the rules for, please by all means create a page and document it! The same goes for if you find that a game is not listed here, please either add a note in the discussion or create the page yourself. As many card games are simply regional variants of each other, you may find it easier to add a variation tab to already existing games.
Card Games For Two People 52
Card games that use atypical decks such as CCGs, Hanafuda or chess cards are also welcome, just be sure to note of they do.
Contents[edit]
Popular Games[edit]
Related Wikibooks[edit]
Bibliography[edit]
Introduction
The following description was rescued from John Hay's Rule Book, formerly at Geocities. An archive copy of the original page is also available at reocities.com. I have unfortunately lost touch with John Hay. If anyone knows how to contact him, or what became of his rule book, please let me know.
John Hay wrote: I put the rules in the form below from information provided by George Klemic and Andrew Lipscomb, to whom I owe a huge thank you.
Players, cards and deal
Number of Players: 2
Deck: Standard Pinochle deck of 48 cards consisting of 2 each of all cards 9 and above (including aces).
Deal: Each player is dealt 12 cards, the next card is turned up to determine trump for the hand and the remainder of the deck (the stock) is placed crosswise on this upturned card. Deal alternates between players.
Bidding: There is no bidding in this game.
The game is played in two phases, described separately below.
Play
Phase 1: As long as cards remain in the stock, thegame is in Phase 1. The non-dealer leads to the first trick, the dealerthen plays any card from their hand to the trick (not required tofollow suit or trump). The winner of the trick takes the top card ofthe stock and puts it in their hand, the loser of the trick then takesthe next card from the stock and places it in their hand. The winner ofthe trick is now allowed to meld if they wish. (See section on meldingbelow.) The winner of the trick then leads a card to the next trick(the card led can be in their hand or on the table as part of a meld).Play continues as above until their are no cards left in the stock.When the stock is down to one face down card and the remaining trumpcard, the winner of the trick may choose which card to take. Afterpicking up these last two cards the winner of that trick may still meld.
Phase 2: Once there are no cards left in the stock,the rules change. There is no longer any melding. Each player picks upany meld they have and place it in their hand. The winner of the lasttrick from Phase 1 leads to the next trick. The second player mustfollow suit if able. If not, they must trump if possible. The secondplayer must win the trick if they are able to. The winner of the trickleads to the next trick. Play continues in this manner until all cardshave been played.
Melding
In Phase 1, when a player wins a trick theymay place any meld they have face up in front of them and receivepoints for it. The various combinations that may be melded and thepoints they receive are listed below. When a player melds, it iswritten down on the scoresheet immediately.
Run - A 10 K Q J in trumps - 150 points
Marriage - K Q in same suit - 20 points
Royal Marriage - K Q in trumps - 40 points
Aces around - A in each suit - 100 points
Kings around - K in each suit - 80 points
Queens around - Q in each suit - 60 points
Jacks around - J in each suit - 40 points
Pinochle - J of Diamonds and Q of Spades, - 40 points
Double Pinochle - 2 pinochles - 300 points (Note: A Double Pinochle isthe only meld which gives a bonus for having more than one, all othermelds simply count twice. e.g. Double aces around count 200 points.)
9 of Trumps (Dix) - 10 points
Special rule concerning Dix: The first Dix to be melded is done so byexchanging it for the face-up trump card at the bottom of the stock(even if it is the other Dix). The card taken from the bottom may beused immediately in meld if desired.
Special notes concerning melding:
Card Games For Two Players Online
A player mayuse a card in more than one meld provided it is used to make adifferent type of meld. (e.g. A player melds a marriage in spades. Ifboth cards are still on the table on a later turn, the player may addthe other 3 kings for kings around, the other 3 queens for queensaround, or the Jack of Diamonds for a Pinochle. They may not addanother single King of Spades for a second marriage.)
If aplayer has melded a Royal Marriage and they later add the A, 10, and Jor trumps for a run, they only score an additional 110 points insteadof 150.
If a player has melded a Pinochle and they later addanother Pinocle for a Double Pinochle (while the original Pinochle isstill down), they only score an additional 260 points instead of 300.(If the first Pinochle had already been broken up, they would onlyscore 40 points for the second one.)
Scoring
Card Games For Two Or Three People
In addition to any meld a player scoredduring the hand they also receive 11 points for each ace, 10 points foreach ten, 4 points for each king, 3 points for each queen, and 2 pointsfor each jack they captured in play. The player who captures the lasttrick also gets ten points. (Total of 250 points to be taken in play.)The first player to get a total of 1200 points wins the game.
Variations
Game may be played to 1500 or 1000 points instead of 1200.
An optional scoring method for cards taken in play is to count each Aceand ten 10 points, and count each king and queen 5 points.
Another scoring method is to simply count each ace, ten, and king 10points. If this scoring method is used, then all scores in the gamewill end in a zero. Since this is the case, the zeroes can be droppedoff the end of the score, effectively dividing all possible scores by10.
In phase 2 the second player is only required to take the trick if possible if trumps were led.
Any of the 'Special notes concerning melding' could be ignored, exceptfor the rule that a player can use a card that has already been meldedin additional meld.
'Mouse' has contributed rules for an interesting variant played by his family which features larger hands, more melds, and 'glups' which are scored for losing several consecutive tricks by following suit.
Software
A shareware 2-player Pinochle program which supports network and offline play is available from Meggiesoft Games.
Card Games For Two Kids
Another shareware 2-player Pinochle program for Windows is available from Card Games Galore.
Card Games For Two People Online
The collection HOYLE Card Games for Windows or Mac OS X includes a Two-Player Pinochle program, along with many other popular card games.