15+ Fun Card Games for Kids of All Ages

Game expert Ashton Wu recommends kid-friendly card games to play with a standard 52-card deck

Co-authored by Elaine Heredia, BA Reviewed by Ashton Wu

Last Updated: February 9, 2026 Fact Checked

Bored and looking for a fun game to play with your friends or siblings? We've got you covered. All you need is a standard deck of 52 cards and this helpful article! Keep reading to learn about 14 simple card games for kids of all ages and how to play them. We also spoke to game expert Ashton Wu for his recommendations.

What are the best card games for kids?

Game expert Ashton Wu recommends card games like War, Spoons, Palace, and Blackjack. Other great options include:

Go Fish: Lay down the most sets of 4 of the same cards.
Old Maid: Play your entire hand without getting stuck with the Old Maid.
Crazy Eights: Play a whole hand by matching the top card on the discard pile.
Gin Rummy: Play all the cards in your hand as runs or sets.
Slapjack: Slap the Jack to win all the cards under it.

1

Go Fish

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Lay down the most sets of 4 of the same cards to win. To play Go Fish, deal each player 5 cards, then set the rest of the deck facedown in the middle of the table. On your turn, you can either draw a card from the deck or ask one of your opponents if they have the card you need to build a matching set of 4. If you ask and they don't have what you want, they must say, "Go fish!" In that case, you must draw a card from the deck. The first player to lay down the most sets of matching 4 cards and get rid of all the cards in their hand wins!
- No. of players: 2-4
- Recommended ages: 4+ years old
- Difficulty level: Easy
- Time: 5-15 minutes
- Are you a parent looking for an educational version of this game? Try Alphabet Go Fish!
Meet the wikiHow Expert

Ashton Wu is a game expert at Shelfside, which is the name of his YouTube channel. Shelfside is a gaming resource that puts out content like game reviews and tutorials. It has over 45K subscribers and over 4 million views.

2

Old Maid

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Play your entire hand without getting stuck with the Old Maid. To play Old Maid, find the 4 Queens in a 52-card deck and set three of them aside. Shuffle the cards and deal the rest of the deck evenly amongst all the players. Lay all the pairs in your hand down on the table in front of you. When it's your turn, fan your cards out facedown toward the player on your left, and have them draw one. Similarly, when the player on your right offers their hand to you, draw one of their cards. Play the card you drew if you have one to match it. Otherwise, keep it in your hand until you draw a match. The player who lays down the last matching pair and has the 4th Queen, or the Old Maid, in their hand loses!^{[1]
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- No. of players: 2-12
- Recommended ages: 4+ years old
- Difficulty level: Easy
- Time: 5-15 minutes

3

Crazy Eights

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Get rid of your hand by matching cards to the top card on the discard pile. To play Crazy Eights, deal 8 cards to each player. Place the rest of the deck facedown on the table and turn one over face up next to it. On your turn, try to match the face, number, or suit of the upturned card with a card from your hand, and lay that card on top of it. If you don't have a matching card, draw one from the facedown deck. Whoever plays all their cards on the discard pile first wins!^{[2]
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- No. of players: 2-5
- Recommended ages: 4+ years old
- Difficulty level: Easy
- Time: 10-20 minutes

4

Memory

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Flip over cards on the table to make more matches than your opponents. To play Memory (also called Concentration or Match), lay all the cards in a 52-card deck facedown on the table. On your turn, turn over two cards to try to make a match with the same number or face cards. If you make a match, pick up the two cards and set them in front of you to add to your score at the end. If you don't, let the player to your left take a turn. Whoever makes the most matches by the time the table is cleared wins!
- No. of players: 2-4
- Recommended ages: 4+ years old
- Difficulty level: Easy
- Time: 5-10 minutes
- Heads up, parents! Teach your kids about all the creatures in the animal kingdom with an animal-themed Memory game!

5

Gin Rummy

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Play all the cards in your hand as sets or runs. To play Gin Rummy, deal each player 10 cards. Lay the rest of the deck of cards facedown on the table and flip one over to start a discard pile. On your turn, either draw a card from the top of the deck or pick up the top card on the discard pile. If you have the right cards, lay down a set of 3 or more of the same number or face value (e.g., 3 Queens or 3 Spades) or a run of 3 or more cards in consecutive order (e.g., 5-6-7 or Jack-Queen-King). When you're finished laying down cards, or if you can't play any, discard a card from your hand. The first player to play all their cards in sets or runs wins!^{[3]
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- No. of players: 2
- Recommended ages: 8 years old+
- Difficulty level: Medium
- Time: 10-15 minutes

6

Slapjack

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Slap the Jack card when it's turned over to win all the cards underneath it. To play Slapjack, deal a 52-card deck evenly between all the players. Keep your hand facedown on the table and don't look at it. Next, choose someone to go first and flip over a card from their hand face-up in the center of the table. On their turn, each player must flip a card over from their hand into the center pile. When someone lays down a Jack, the player who drew it must draw their hand back, then everyone must try to be the first to slap their hand down on the Jack. Whoever slaps it first gets to pick up all the cards facing up on the table, Jack included, and add them to their hand. The game continues until one person has collected all the cards.
- No. of players: 2-5
- Recommended ages: 8 years old+
  - For a more complex game for older kids that’s still very similar to Slapjack, consider Egyptian Ratscrew (aka Egyptian War). Wu recommends it!^{[4]
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- Difficulty level: Medium
- Time: 10-20 minutes

7

Pig

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Build a set of 4 cards of the same value in your hand and touch your nose. To play Pig, sort through a 52-card deck and set aside 4 sets of 4 cards with the same values (e.g., 4 Kings or 4 fives). Shuffle the 4 sets of 4 cards together, then deal them evenly to the players. In this game, everyone plays on the same turn. Take a card from your hand that you don't want and pass it to the player on your left. Accept the card that the player on your right gives you. Keep passing around cards until you get 4 cards of the same value, then press your finger against your nose. If you see another player press their finger to their nose, do the same. The last person to touch their finger to their nose loses! The remaining players play more rounds until one of the last two players gets 4 of the same cards and touches their nose. That person is the winner!
- No. of players: 4
- Recommended ages: 8 years old+
- Difficulty level: Medium
- Time: 5-15 minutes

8

Palace

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Play all of your cards to win the game. Wu says Palace is another great card game for kids.^{[5]
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Expert Interview} Deal 3 cards face-down to each player, 3 cards face-up on top of the face-down cards, and 3 cards to each player to hold in their hand. Put the rest of the deck in the middle. The player with the lowest card starts the discard pile. When it’s your turn, play a card (or cards) equal to or higher in rank than the top card on the discard pile. Then, draw from the deck in the middle so you’re always holding 3 cards. If you can’t play a card, pick up the entire discard pile. When a player gets rid of all the cards in their hand, they play their face up cards. After they play all of their face up cards, the player plays the face down cards blind. After the player plays all their cards, they’re out of the game. The last player with cards loses.^{[6]
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- Number of players: 2-5
- Recommended ages: 8 years old+
- Difficulty level: Medium
- Time: 10-20 minutes

9

War

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Win more cards than your opponent. Wu says War is a fun card game for kids.^{[7]
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Expert Interview} To play War, distribute the cards in a 52-card deck evenly between the players (i.e., 26 cards each for 2 players). Each player places their hand facedown on the table opposite the other. Count down from three to zero, and have each player flip over the top card of their hand onto the table at the same time. The player with the highest value card takes both cards and adds them to their hand. If the cards are the same, the players must draw and place 3 more cards facedown on the table. Then, they must each flip over a fourth card. Whoever has the highest value on the fourth draw gets all 10 cards. Continue this gameplay until one player wins all the cards!^{[8]
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- No. of players: 2
- Recommended ages: 13+ years old
- Difficulty level: Hard
- Time: 5-30 minutes

10

Snap

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Pick up the most pairs of matching cards by yelling, "Snap!" To play Snap, split the cards in a standard deck of 52 evenly between the players. Each player must keep their hand facedown on the table. On your turn, flip the top card of your hand face-up onto the table for everyone to see. As each player turns over a card, watch to see if anyone sets down matching faces or numbers. If you spot one, call out, "Snap!" The first person to yell "Snap!" collects the piles of face-up cards underneath the matching cards and adds them to the bottom of their facedown pile. Whoever collects everyone else's cards first wins!
- No. of players: 2-6
- Recommended ages: 13+ years old
- Difficulty level: Hard
- Time: 15-30 minutes

11

Kent

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Collects 4 cards of the same value and call out "KENT" to win. To play Kent, divide 4 players into 2 teams and position the teammates opposite each other. Choose the first dealer and have them deal 4 cards from a deck of 52 cards to each player. Next, the dealer places 4 cards facedown on the table and flips them over one by one. All the players may grab one of these 4 cards and replace them with a discard from their hand. When one player collects 4 cards of the same number or face value, they must secretly signal their teammate. Their teammate must then call out, "Kent!" The team to call out "Kent!" for four rounds in total wins the game!
- No. of players: 4
- Recommended ages: 13+ years old
- Difficulty level: Hard
- Time: 5-20 minutes

12

Spoons

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Collect 4 cards of the same value and remove a spoon to win the round. Wu says Spoons is a good card game for kids.^{[9]
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Expert Interview} To play Spoons, arrange as many spoons in the center of the table as the number of players, minus 1 (e.g., 3 spoons for 4 players). Deal 4 cards to each player from a 52-card deck. Simultaneously, each player discards a card from their hand to their left. The players can either pick up the card discarded by the player on their right or draw a new one from the deck. When a player collects 4 cards of the same value (e.g., 4 sixes or 4 Aces), they must covertly remove a spoon from the middle of the table. Once the other players notice that a spoon is gone, they must each take one, too. The last player who fails to grab a spoon is out of the game. Repeat the rounds until there's only one spoon left. The player who takes it is the winner!^{[10]
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- No. of players: 4-6
- Recommended ages: 13+ years old
- Difficulty level: Hard
- Time: 5-15 minutes

13

Garbage

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Lay your cards out in a sequence of Ace to 10 to win. To play Garbage, deal 10 cards to each player and lay them out in 2 rows of 5 cards, one on top of the other. These 10 cards represent values Ace through 5 on top and 6-10 on the bottom. Set the rest of the deck facedown in the middle of the table. On your turn, draw a card from the deck and place it in the correct position on the cards in front of you (if possible). Next, flip over the card you set the drawn one on top of, and put it into position. Continue placing cards and flipping the ones underneath them until you draw a card you can't position. Then discard it next to the facedown deck. Whoever flips all 10 cards in front of them and positions them in sequence wins!
- No. of players: 2-4 (1 deck) or 4-6 (2 decks)
- Recommended ages: 13+ years old
- Difficulty level: Hard
- Time: 10-15 minutes

14

President

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Be the first player to lay down all your cards in ranking order. To play President, deal all 52 cards evenly among at least 4 players. The player holding the 3 of Clubs must lay it down in the center of the table, and the person to their left must lay a card of a higher value on top of it. This is called "outranking." On their turn, each player must try to outrank the top card in the center of the table with a higher-value card from their hand. The first person to play all their cards becomes President and wins the game!
- No. of players: 4-7
- Recommended ages: 13+ years old
- Difficulty level: Hard
- Time: 5-15 minutes

15

Knock-Out Whist

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Collect the highest number of tricks. To play Knock-Out Whist, deal each player 7 cards. Set the rest of the deck facedown on the table and flip the top card to reveal the trump suit. Next, choose a player to "lead" the trick by laying down a card of any suit or value. The other players must each lay down a card matching the lead card's suit or value. Alternatively, they can play a card that matches the trump card's suit. Whoever plays the card with the highest value wins the trick and collects the cards. The winner leads the next round by laying down a card of their choice. Gameplay continues until everyone plays all the cards in their hand. Players who don't win any tricks are out of the game, and the rest keep playing more rounds until one player—the winner—remains!^{[11]
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- No. of players: 2-7
- Recommended ages: 13+ years old
- Difficulty level: Hard
- Time: 20 minutes

16

Blackjack

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Get a higher hand total than the dealer without going over 21. Wu recommends playing Blackjack.^{[12]
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Expert Interview} Before the dealer begins, each player places a bet in the middle of the table. Kids can bet with anything–marbles, buttons, or loose change. The dealer gives one card face up to each player, plus one card face up to themselves. Then, they deal another round of single cards face up to each player, and the dealer takes their second card face down. The player to the left of the dealer goes first and has to announce whether they "stand" (not ask for another card) or "hit" (ask for another card). The goal is to get closer to a count of 21, or hit 21 exactly. If they “hit” and go over 21, they “bust.”^{[13]
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- No. of players: 2-7
- Recommended ages: 13+ years old
- Difficulty level: Hard (requires math, strategy, and betting)
- Time: 5-10 minutes

17

Easy Educational Card Games for Kids

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Help kids learn new words, develop memory skills, and identify patterns. If you're a parent with young kids, you know that every fun activity can also be a teachable moment. The fun, educational card games below help children develop essential skills like memorization, spelling, pattern recognition, and more. Check them out!
- Fish n' Flip (teaches logic)
- Guess in 10: Animal Planet (teaches about animals)
- Racko (teaches numerical sequencing)
- Scholastic: The World Card Game (teaches about other countries and cultures)
- Spellchecked Card Game (teaches spelling)