The 15 Best Card Games, Ranked by Our Fun Score
Card games are the best value in the hobby. Most of the games below cost less than a dinner out, fit in a coat pocket, and teach in under five minutes, and a few of them are better than most of the big boxes on our shelf.
This list ranks the 15 best card games we’ve reviewed by a simple rule. They’re sorted by our Pandas score, how fun a game is, and ties go to the one that’s easier to learn on our Bamboo score. Every pick links to its full review, and every score is the one we published.
Some links below are Amazon affiliate links — as an Amazon Associate, King Panda Games earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Full disclosure.
Looking for something more specific? Our best card games for adults list covers party and adult-only picks, the 2-player card games list covers games for two, and our 25 card games for a standard deck needs nothing but a regular deck. Last verified: October 2026.
1. Sushi Go Party — The Best Card Game We Rate
Sushi Go Party is a card-drafting game. Everyone takes one card from their hand and passes the rest along, and you score for the sushi dishes you collect. Before each game you choose which dishes go in the deck, so it plays like dozens of different games from one box.
It’s one of only two games with a perfect 5/5 Bamboo and 5/5 Pandas from us, in our Sushi Go Party review. It seats 2–8, the box says 8+, and a game takes 20–30 minutes. Our best menus guide covers which dishes to start with.
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2. Cover Your Assets — The Most Laughs Per Game
Cover Your Assets has you building stacks of matching asset cards, and anyone holding a matching card can steal your top stack. The stacks fly back and forth all game, and the richest player at the end wins. The teach takes about ninety seconds.
It’s our other perfect score, 5/5 Bamboo and 5/5 Pandas in our Cover Your Assets review. It has produced laughter every single time it’s come out, from our six-year-old to the adults. It seats 2–6, the box says 7+, and it runs 20–40 minutes.
Check Cover Your Assets price on Amazon →
3. 7 Wonders Duel — The Best Card Game for Two
7 Wonders Duel is a two-player card game where you draft from a shared layout of cards and build rival civilizations. There are three ways to win, by military, by science or on points, and you have to watch all three.
It’s the best two-player strategy game under $50 we’ve reviewed, 4/5 Bamboo and 5/5 Pandas in our 7 Wonders Duel review. The first game is rough if nobody has read the rulebook, and it clicks by game three. For more two-player picks, see our best 2-player card games list.
Check 7 Wonders Duel price on Amazon →
4. Coup — Fifteen Minutes of Bluffing
Coup gives every player two hidden character cards. On your turn you can claim to be any character, whether you hold it or not, and anyone can call you a liar. Lose a challenge and you flip a card, and when both are face up you’re out.
It’s the most drama per minute of any game we own, 4/5 Bamboo and 5/5 Pandas in our Coup review. We’ve watched the table’s best liar win on pure nerve with a Contessa claim she never had. It seats 3–6 and plays in 15 minutes. Wikipedia’s Coup page covers its history.
5. Skip-Bo — The Family Classic That Holds Up
Skip-Bo has everyone racing to empty a personal stockpile by building shared piles in order from 1 to 12, with Skip-Bo wild cards bridging the gaps. You can see what your opponents need, so half the game is blocking them.
It scored 4/5 Bamboo and 5/5 Pandas in our Skip-Bo review, great at two and easy to take anywhere. It seats 2–6, the box says 7+, and a game takes about 20 minutes. Skip-Bo vs Phase 10 vs Uno compares the three family classics.
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6. The Crew Mission Deep Sea — The Best Co-op Card Game
The Crew turns trick-taking, the family of games behind Hearts and Spades, into a team puzzle. Each mission gives the team tasks, like a specific player winning a specific card, and you have to pull them off while barely talking about your hands.
It’s the best cooperative card game we’ve played, 4/5 Bamboo and 5/5 Pandas in our Crew review. It seats 3–5 with a two-player variant, and Wikipedia’s page on The Crew covers the original. More team games are on our best cooperative board games list.
Check The Crew Mission Deep Sea price on Amazon →
7. Codenames — The Party Card Game for Thinkers
Codenames lays out a grid of word cards. Two teams each have a spymaster who gives one-word clues to link several words at once, and their team tries to guess the right ones without hitting the assassin.
It scored 4/5 Bamboo and 5/5 Pandas in our Codenames review. It’s best with six, as two teams of three, plays in 15–30 minutes, and gets better the better people know each other. Czech Games Edition publishes it.
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8. Love Letter — Sixteen Cards and a Lot of Tension
Love Letter is a tiny game. You hold one card, draw a second, and play one of the two, using its power to knock other players out of the round. Each card has a number, and whoever holds the highest when the deck runs out wins the round.
It scored 5/5 Bamboo and 4/5 Pandas in our Love Letter review, with a ninety-second teach and rounds of 5–15 minutes. It seats 2–6 and fits in a pocket. Love Letter vs Coup covers which small bluffing game to buy.
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9. Five Crowns — Rummy Where the Wild Card Keeps Changing
Five Crowns is a rummy game with five suits. The number of cards dealt goes up by one each hand, and whichever card matches that number is wild, so the most valuable card in your hand keeps changing.
We’ve played it at kitchen tables, on camping trips and during a three-hour power outage. It scored 5/5 Bamboo and 4/5 Pandas in our Five Crowns review. It seats 2–7, the box says 8+, and it runs 30–60 minutes.
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10. Phase 10 — The One for Long Nights
Phase 10 has everyone racing through ten phases in order, like two sets of three or a run of seven, and you only move on when you complete your current phase. Getting stuck for five hands while everyone else moves on is half the drama.
We’ve played it more than 100 times, and it’s a staple when we go camping. It scored 5/5 Bamboo and 4/5 Pandas in our Phase 10 review. It seats 2–6 and the box says 7+.
Check Phase 10 price on Amazon →
11. 6 Nimmt — The Best Card Game for a Crowd
In 6 Nimmt everyone picks a card at the same time, and the cards go into rows in number order. Whoever places the sixth card in a row takes the other five, and those cards cost you points. It’s simple, fast and very funny with a big group.
We’ve taught it to a table of eight people who’d been drinking, and it worked. It scored 5/5 Bamboo and 4/5 Pandas in our 6 Nimmt review. It seats 2–10, and it’s brilliant with six or more and merely fine with two.
Check 6 Nimmt price on Amazon →
12. Sea Salt and Paper — The Best Travel Card Game
Sea Salt and Paper is a set-collecting card game with origami art. You draw, collect pairs that trigger small effects, and decide when to end the round, betting that your hand beats everyone else’s.
You can fully explain it in the time it takes to shuffle the cards, which is why it scored 5/5 Bamboo and 4/5 Pandas in our Sea Salt and Paper review. It seats 2–4 and takes 20–30 minutes. Wikipedia’s Sea Salt and Paper page covers its awards.
Check Sea Salt and Paper price on Amazon →
13. Bohnanza — The Trading Card Game
Bohnanza is a card game about planting beans. You can never rearrange your hand, so you spend every turn trading with the table to get rid of beans you don’t want. Every turn is a negotiation, and a good deal is worth coins at harvest.
We’ve played it about a dozen times, and it’s one of the easiest trading games to teach, 5/5 Bamboo and 4/5 Pandas in our Bohnanza review. It seats 3–5 in the main game and plays in about 45 minutes. Wikipedia’s Bohnanza page covers its many editions.
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14. Happy Salmon — The Fastest Card Game Here
Happy Salmon has no turns. Everybody flips cards at once, shouts the action on their card, and finds someone shouting the same one to high-five, fish-bump or swap places with. A round lasts about ninety seconds.
We’ve played it more than 30 times as a family, and our six-year-old has won several rounds against the adults. It scored 5/5 Bamboo and 4/5 Pandas in our Happy Salmon review. The current edition seats 3–8 and the box says 6+. It’s a warm-up, not a whole night.
Check Happy Salmon price on Amazon →
15. Dominion — The Original Deck-Builder
Dominion started deck-building. Everyone begins with the same ten weak cards and buys better ones from a market of ten card types, so your deck grows stronger as you play. Working out which combination wins each game is the puzzle.
We’re 40-plus plays in and still hitting setups that make us rethink our openings, 4/5 Bamboo and 4/5 Pandas in our Dominion review. It seats 2–4 and plays in 30 minutes. Our best deck-building games list covers what came after it.
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Popular Card Games We Rate Lower
Some of the best-selling card games didn’t make the list, and it’s worth saying why.
Uno scores a perfect 5/5 Bamboo but only 2/5 Pandas, because the deck makes most of your decisions for you. Exploding Kittens is the same story, 5/5 Bamboo and 2/5 Pandas, a coin flip in a very funny costume. Monopoly Deal does better at 3/5 Pandas, fast and mean but decided a lot by the draw. If your family loves Uno, our card games like Uno list has the step-ups.
The Quick Picks Table
All 15, in ranked order, with our two scores side by side.
| Game | Bamboo / Pandas | Players | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sushi Go Party | 5 / 5 | 2–8 | 20–30 min |
| Cover Your Assets | 5 / 5 | 2–6 | 20–40 min |
| 7 Wonders Duel | 4 / 5 | 2 | 30 min |
| Coup | 4 / 5 | 3–6 | 15 min |
| Skip-Bo | 4 / 5 | 2–6 | 20 min |
| The Crew Mission Deep Sea | 4 / 5 | 3–5 | About 20 min a mission |
| Codenames | 4 / 5 | 2–8+ | 15–30 min |
| Love Letter | 5 / 4 | 2–6 | 5–15 min |
| Five Crowns | 5 / 4 | 2–7 | 30–60 min |
| Phase 10 | 5 / 4 | 2–6 | About 45 min |
| 6 Nimmt | 5 / 4 | 2–10 | 30–45 min |
| Sea Salt and Paper | 5 / 4 | 2–4 | 20–30 min |
| Bohnanza | 5 / 4 | 3–5 | About 45 min |
| Happy Salmon | 5 / 4 | 3–8 | 90 seconds a round |
| Dominion | 4 / 4 | 2–4 | 30 min |
If you buy one, buy Sushi Go Party for a group or Cover Your Assets for a family. For two players, buy 7 Wonders Duel. For a crowd of eight or more, buy 6 Nimmt.
Playing with a regular deck instead? See our best playing cards guide, which covers paper vs plastic decks and which deck suits which game.
Shopping for the holidays? our Black Friday board game deals page covers what usually goes on sale and how to tell a real discount from a fake one.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best card game?
Sushi Go Party. It’s one of only two card games we rate 5 out of 5 for both ease and fun, seats up to eight, and changes every game because you choose the dishes. Cover Your Assets is the other perfect score.
What is the best card game for 2 players?
7 Wonders Duel. It’s built for exactly two, plays in 30 minutes, and has three different ways to win. Skip-Bo and Love Letter are good lighter options for two.
What is the best card game for a family?
Cover Your Assets. It teaches in about ninety seconds, works from about six or seven, and gets laughs every time. Skip-Bo, Phase 10 and Five Crowns are the classic family alternatives.
What is the best card game for a big group?
6 Nimmt seats up to ten and everyone plays at the same time. Sushi Go Party and Happy Salmon both seat eight.
What is the best cooperative card game?
The Crew Mission Deep Sea. The team has to complete missions in a trick-taking game while barely talking about their hands.
Why isn’t Uno on the list?
We rate Uno 2 out of 5 for fun because the deck makes most of the decisions. It’s easy to teach, but every game on this list gives players more real choices.