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Rules
Rules written to be read at the table — what you need, how a hand runs, how scoring works, and the three things people usually get wrong.
How to play Euchre
4 players · The 24-card deck, the bowers, ordering up and going alone.
How to play Hearts
4 players · Passing, the two of clubs, breaking hearts and shooting the moon.
How to play Spades
4 players · Partnership bidding, nil, and why bags decide the game.
How to play Gin Rummy
2 players · Melds and deadwood, when to knock, gin and undercuts.
How to play Cribbage
2 players · The crib, pegging to 31, and counting a hand in the show.
How to play Whist
4 players · The book, odd tricks, honours, and playing to five.
How to play Rummy 500
2–8 players · Raiding the discard pile, and scoring what you meld.
Still to come: Canasta, Pinochle and Bridge.
Every page here has something playable on it. Hearts deals you a full hand against three opponents; Gin Rummy and Cribbage have practice drills; and Spades and Euchre drill the bid, which is the decision that decides those games.
New to card games generally? The glossary explains the vocabulary these pages use — tricks, trumps, following suit, melds and the rest.
All of these need nothing but a deck — see our deck picks if yours is past its best.
Books that cover the games we have not written up
Four pages will never cover what a good reference does. These are the four worth owning, and between them they run to several hundred games.
According to Hoyle
Richard L. Frey
The standard reference, in print in one form or another since 1742. Rules for several hundred games with no attempt to teach strategy — the book you reach for to settle an argument.
Hoyle's Rules of Games
Philip D. Morehead
The modern paperback most households own. Compact, cheap, and covers the games people actually play rather than every game ever recorded.
The Penguin Book of Card Games
David Parlett
The best single volume if you want to know why a game works, not just how. Parlett is a game historian and it shows — five hundred games with their origins and variants.
Card Games For Dummies
Barry Rigal
The gentlest starting point. Assumes nothing, explains the vocabulary as it goes, and covers the common household games properly before moving on.