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This article is presented by Bicycle Cards.
Whether you’re working on your Wednesday Addams dance moves and taking the local Halloween party by storm, or taking it easy with some comfort watches at home like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Halloween is an especially great holiday for games. And because Halloween celebrates the spirits of the past, some of the best games to play are also the most classic.
Having a great deck of playing cards on hand is always a great idea, but these can be made even cooler and more seasonal if you pick the new Wednesday deck or other options like a visit from Jack Skellington.
And, once you have a slick deck of cards, you’re not limited to just poker. There are plenty of other classic games you can share with friends. Here’s a quick refresher on three classic games, just in time for a great night in — or out.
Go Fish
Everyone thinks they know how to play Go Fish, but do you really? Tired parents back from wrangling trick-or-treaters, or cosplaying demons returning from their themed Halloween players might want to unwind with this classic game. So, here’s a quick refresher on how to actually play “Go Fish.”
The Goal
You know it’s a matching game, but the crucial detail folks sometimes forget is that you need four matching cards to make a set, or a “book.” This object of the game is all about making sets or “books” of four matching cards, and ends up being the player with the most complete “books,” which you can also call “matches.”
The Set-Up
You start by deciding who is going to be the dealer. Somebody — anybody — flips one card up to each player. The highest card determines who is the deal. Keep in mind here, that unlike poker aces are low, representing the number “1.” Don’t worry about suites (I.E. hearts, spades, etc.). Only the numbers or the type of cards matter.
How to Play and How to Win
Once the dealer is decided, that person cuts the cards and passes the cards, one at a time, clockwise to each player. If there are 2-3 players in total, deal 7 cards to each person. However, if there are 4-5 players, everybody gets 5 cards.
From there, the player to the left of the dealer selects one player and asks that player for cards. These have to be cards you need, so, if you have a three in your hand, you say “Give me all your threes.” If the player being asked for cards has any of those cards, they have to fork those cards over. If not, you say “Go fish!”
The game continues like this, as players complete their sets. If a player suddenly has no cards left in their hand, they can draw a card for the deck and try to fish. If they can’t get a matching card, they’re out! The player who has the most “books” completed after several rounds, is the winner.
Crazy 8s
Crazy 8s is basically a matching game, but instead of collecting cards, you’re using a number or a type of card as a match to get rid of the cards in your hand. This makes it like a race to get rid of as many cards as possible, a game format that went on to inspire other card games you might have heard of, one of which takes its name from the Spanish word for “one.” But, you don’t need lots of fancy bonus cards to play this game, a simple deck will achieve the same result.
The Goal
Crazy 8s is about getting rid of as many cards as you can as quickly as you can. This is accomplished by matching numbers or suites. The first person to get rid of all their cards is the winner.
The Set-Up
Give five cards out, one at a time, face down, to each player. The rest of the deck is then returned to the center, and then, one card is turned face up. This is the “starter card.” Players then have to play a card from their hand that either matches the suit or the exact number.
How to Play and How to Win
Players take turns placing cards from their hands — if they can — that match the suite or the number. For example, if the face-up card is a 5 of diamonds, you need either a 5 or any diamond card. If you can’t discard anything from your hand, you have to draw cards from the deck until you find a card you can play. This can make your hand increase in size which you don’t want.
The twist here is that all 8s are “crazy,” meaning those are wild cards and anything can be played on those cards. Obviously, holding onto an 8 is a good strategy, sort of like keeping a magical spell hidden, and then casting it when everyone least expects it.
War
Begun the card war has! Well before the existence of competitive collectible card games, the ability to have a battle with another person using an ordinary deck of cards already existed. And, as the name suggests, War is fairly easy to play, but not so easy to win.
The Goal
The goal of a game of War is to decimate your opponent and capture all their starcruisers. Just kidding. The real goal of War is to be the person who captures all the cards. In this way, War is more like a battle of conversion. It’s almost like you’re assimilating the other side, like zombies or vampires converting victims to their ranks.
The Set-up
A standard 52-card deck is evenly split between two people, dealing one at a time. Once you have these 26 cards, that’s basically your entire fighting force. As long as each player has the same number of cards to begin with, it’s fair.
How to Play and How to Win
War is basically a test of high versus low. Each player reveals one card at a time. The player with the highest card wins the other card. For example, if Player 1 has a Jack and Player 2 has a King, Player 2 wins Player 1’s card.
But, if both players reveal a card of the same value, there has to be a little battle fought. This means that each player produces two more cards each, one face up and one face down for each player. From this match-up, whoever has the highest value altogether, wins all cards. In a standard war, that would be six cards total. (The two original cards, plus the two sets of two used to wage the “war.”)
If there’s a tie again during the war, players each have to produce two more cards, one face up and one face down. This process continues until that specific battle is over.
In the end, the player who obtains all the other player’s cards in this way wins. Call it your new Empire. Call it Order 52, but if you have all fifty-two cards, you’re all set.
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