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Practice card games, with a coach
Learn by playing, free, in your browser. A text panel called the Coach explains the rules and warns you about mistakes beginners often make.
Not sure where to start? New to card games? Try Go Fish or Crazy Eights: short deals and few rules. Then try Hearts: no partner, and one clear goal, the fewest points. If you have played some Rummy, try Gin Rummy or Rummy 500. On your own? Play Solitaire.
Play against the computer
Twelve games you play against computer players (Hearts and Go Fish are one deal at a time; the others run to a full-game score). Click a game to start it, or open “How it works” first. Three words come up: a round is one card from each player (the best card wins all four); a deal is everything played with one dealing of the cards; and in some games one suit is the strongest suit: any card of that suit beats every card of the other suits.
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How it works
Four players, 13 cards each. Most deals start with you choosing three cards to hand to another player (the Hint button suggests which). Then you play 13 rounds. Whoever plays the highest card of the suit that was played first picks up all four cards. Hearts count against you (1 point each, 13 for the queen of spades), so you try to play low and let someone else pick them up. The lowest score wins, the opposite of most card games. Here you play one deal and score it on its own; in a full game the scores from each deal are added up until someone reaches 100, which ends the game, and the lowest total wins.
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How it works
You and a computer partner play against two computer opponents. Each round everyone puts down one card and the highest card of the suit played first wins it. But each deal one suit is made the strongest suit (it is the suit of the dealer's last card, which is turned face up), and any card of that suit beats every card of the other suits, even an ace. Your team scores in a deal by taking 7 or more of the 13 rounds: 1 point for the 7th round and 1 more for each round after it, and the first team to reach 7 points wins the game. The Coach points out slips and good plays, like keeping your high card when your partner is already winning the round, and the Hint button explains the best card to play at any moment.
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How it works
Pinochle uses 48 cards: the 9, 10, jack, queen, king and ace of each suit, two of each. Each deal has four steps. First an auction: each player bids a number of points their team promises to score, and the highest bid wins the right to name the strongest suit. Then the winner and the winner's partner swap four cards. Then everyone shows the combinations of cards they hold, such as a king and queen of one suit, and each scores points. Then you play 12 rounds, and the aces, 10s and kings you win are worth 10 points each. If the team that won the auction scores less than it promised, it loses that many points. Your cards' worth in combinations is shown for every suit before you bid, the Coach explains each step, and the Hint button names one good move and the reason for it. The first team to reach 1500 points wins.
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How it works
You are South, with North as your partner, against West and East. Each player counts card points (ace 4, king 3, queen 2, jack 1). The side with more points plays the deal, and on that side the player with more points is the declarer. The declarer’s partner, the dummy, lays their hand face up. The declarer looks at both hands and chooses a strongest suit (or none) and a goal: a part-score (7 of the 13 rounds) or a game (9, 10 or 11). When you are the declarer you also play the dummy’s cards. When you are a defender you try to stop the contract. A made contract scores points for each round beyond six, plus a bonus (50 for a part-score, 300 for a game). A contract that falls short gives the other side 50 for each round missed. The Coach counts your sure winners and explains each play, and the Hint button names one play and the reason.
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How it works
Each turn you draw one card and throw one away, trying to collect groups: three or four of a kind, or three or more in a row in one suit. The game spots your groups for you and outlines them in gold. Cards left outside a group count against you: an ace is 1, a jack, queen or king is 10, and every other card is its number. When the points on your leftover cards add up to 10 or less, you may “knock” to end the deal. If you have fewer leftover points than the computer, you score the difference toward the 100 you are playing to (for example, 4 against 12 scores 8). But if the computer has the same or fewer, the computer scores instead, plus a bonus. Wait too long and the computer may knock first.
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How it works
You and the computer each get 10 cards. On your turn you take one card, either the top card of the draw pile or the face-up card beside it. Then you may put down groups (three or four cards of one rank, or three or more in a row in one suit) and add cards to groups already on the table, yours or the computer's. You end the turn by discarding one card. The first player with no cards left wins the deal and scores the points on every card still in the other player's hand: an ace is 1, a jack, queen or king is 10, and every other card is its number. Cards in a hand count even when they make a group, so the Coach teaches you to put groups down early. The first to reach 100 points wins the game.
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How it works
Put down groups of cards to score points (three or four of a kind, or three or more in a row in one suit). Cards left in your hand count against you. You may take any card from the face-up discard pile that you can use right away, but you must also take every card thrown after it (the pile is shown oldest first, newest last). You must use the card you chose first: put it in a group with cards from your hand, or add it to a group already on the table. The game will not let you take a card you cannot use. Learn when the extra cards are worth it.
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How it works
You and the computer each get a hand of 11 cards and a foot of 11 more cards, face down. You play from your hand, and pick up your foot as soon as the hand is used up. On your turn you draw two cards, or take the top seven cards of the discard pile if you hold two cards that match the top card. Then you put down groups of three to seven cards of the same rank, and discard one card. A 2 or a joker is a wild card that can stand in for any rank, but a group needs more natural cards (4 to ace) than wild cards. A group of seven is a book: 500 points if it has no wild card and 300 if it does. Your first groups in each deal must be worth a minimum number of points, which goes up from deal to deal. To go out you need one book of each kind and your foot played. The higher total after four deals wins. The Coach explains each idea before you meet it, and the Hint button names a good move and says why.
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How it works
You, West and East get 5 cards each, and the rest are the draw pile. On your turn you click a player, then one of your cards, and ask for every card of that rank (all the sevens, say). You can only ask for a rank you already hold. If the player has any, they hand them all over and you ask again. If not, they say “Go fish!” and you draw a card; if it is the rank you asked for, you ask again. Four cards of one rank make a book and are put down face up. When all 13 books have been made, the player with the most books wins. Every question tells the others what you hold, and every question you hear tells you what they hold: the Coach points this out, and the Hint tells you whom to ask.
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How it works
You and two computer players get 5 cards each. On your turn you play one card onto the discard pile, the face-up pile in the middle. It has to match the top card by suit (hearts, diamonds, clubs or spades) or by rank (the number or picture on it). An 8 can be played on anything, and whoever plays one names the suit the next player must play. If you cannot play, you draw cards until you get one you can play. The first player to get rid of every card wins the deal, and the others add the points left in their hands to their totals (an 8 is 50, a king, queen, jack or 10 is 10, an ace is 1, any other card is its number). Lower is better, and the game ends when a total reaches 100. The Coach explains why to save your 8s, how to choose the suit and how to count your points, and the Hint button names a good move and says why.
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How it works
The deck is a normal deck with one queen taken out, so three queens are left, and each player gets 17 cards. A pair is two cards of the same rank, such as two 7s; the suits do not matter. First everyone puts down their pairs. Then, on your turn, you take one card, face down, from the player on your right, and put down any pair it makes. The player on your left takes a card from you. A player with no cards left is safe. Two of the three queens can make a pair, so one queen is left over, and the player who ends up holding it loses. Taking a card is luck, so the practice is in learning the rhythm of the game, and the Coach explains each turn as it happens.
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How it works
Four players in two teams: you and North against West and East, with 11 cards each. On your turn you draw a card or take the whole discard pile, put down groups of three or more cards of the same rank if you can, and discard one card. A 2 or a joker is a wild card that can stand in for any rank, but a group needs at least two natural cards (4 to ace) and can have at most three wild cards. A group of seven or more cards is a canasta, worth a bonus of 500 points, or 300 if it has wild cards. A red three is a bonus card. Your team’s first groups must be worth at least 50 points, and until then a frozen discard pile can be taken only with two cards from your hand that match its top card. Your team needs a canasta before anyone may use up all their cards. A game is played over several deals, and the first team to reach 5,000 points wins. The Coach explains each idea before you meet it, and the Hint button names a good move and says why.
Play on your own
A game for one player. You play against the cards, not against computer players, so there is no one to wait for.
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How it works
Seven columns of cards are dealt, with 1 card in the first and 7 in the last. Only the last card of each column is face up. You move cards between the columns, building downward in alternating colors (a red 6 goes on a black 7), to reach the hidden cards. The other 24 cards are the draw pile, which you turn over one card at a time or three at a time. The aces start the four home piles, one for each suit, and you build each up to the king. You win when all 52 cards are on the home piles. Not every deal can be won, and the game tells you when it can prove that a deal is lost. Hint names one good move and says why, Undo takes back a move as often as you like, and Auto sends home only the cards that are safe to send.
Quick drills: one decision at a time
Each drill practices one skill from a game, not the whole game, and starts with a lesson in the Coach (skim it, or just start and press Hint). You get a hand, make one decision, read how you did right after you answer, and go again as often as you like.
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How it works
Spades is a partner game in which the spades suit beats every other suit. You get 13 cards. Type in how many of the 13 rounds you think they would win. In a real game this guess is a promise your team's score depends on. The Coach then shows how many a hand like yours usually wins and teaches a quick way to work that out yourself.
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How it works
Euchre is played in two teams of two. You see your five cards and one card turned face up. You choose: order it up, which makes that card's suit the strongest suit for this deal (any card of that suit beats every card of the other suits), or pass, which costs nothing and leaves the choice to the next player. If you order it up and your team wins at least 3 of the 5 rounds, your team scores 1 point (2 points for all 5). If it wins fewer, the other team scores 2 points. So order it up only if your team would win at least 3 of the 5 rounds in more than 2 deals out of 3. The Coach shows how often a hand like yours manages it.
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How it works
You are shown four cards plus one extra card, the starter, which counts as a fifth card in your hand. Add up the points and type the total in: 2 for every combination of cards that adds up to 15 (a card can be in more than one combination; face cards count 10, an ace counts 1), 2 for every pair, 1 point per card for three or more in number order (suits do not matter), 4 for a flush (all four cards the same suit; 5 if the starter matches too), and 1 for a jack that matches the starter's suit. Sometimes the four cards are a crib (an extra hand the dealer gets) instead of a hand. A note tells you when, and a flush then counts only if the starter matches too. The Coach then shows where every point came from.
How the practice games work
- A line above your cards tells you what to do next. In the games with opponents it also says whose turn it is and which cards you may play. In Hearts and Whist, a card you are not allowed to play right now looks faded, with thin diagonal stripes; click it and the Coach tells you why.
- The Coach is a text panel beside your cards (below them on a phone; tap the “Coach ↓” button to jump to it). It holds the rules you need for that game, the mistakes beginners make, and a running commentary on what just happened and why.
- Help when you want it. Every game has a Hint button, or something like it, that gives advice about the moment you are in.
- Nothing to install, nothing saved unless you ask. Your running totals, such as deals played and how many you got right, stay only while the page is open. To keep them for next time, check the box called “Remember my progress on this device” in the Coach.
More about rounds, the strongest suit and each game's goal
Each round uses one card from every player, so if each player holds 13 cards, a deal has 13 rounds (in Euchre each player holds 5, so a deal has 5). The first card sets the suit for that round: if you have a card of that suit you must play one, and if you have none you may play any card. The best card is the highest card of that suit. (Whist, Spades and Euchre also have a strongest suit: any card of that suit beats any card of the other suits, even if the round started with a different suit. Hearts has no strongest suit.)
The goal is different in each game. In Hearts you want to avoid winning rounds that have hearts or the queen of spades in them. In Whist and Euchre your team wants to win enough rounds (7 or more of the 13 in Whist, at least 3 of the 5 in Euchre). In Spades each player says before play how many rounds their own cards will win. The two partners' numbers are added together, and the team scores if it wins at least that many rounds between them.
The practice games follow the usual US rules, and each page lists the few things it leaves out or changes. The full rules, with common house variations, are on our rules pages, and the glossary explains many of the words you may not know. At a real card table and in older rule books, a round is called a “trick”, the strongest suit is called “trump”, a group is called a “meld”, and leftover points are called “deadwood”. Our rules pages use the plain words and list the card players’ names at the end of each page.