Playing cards is thought to have originated in Italy in the mid 1800s. Today, card games remain popular all over the world. Some different types of card games include Bridge, Poker, Cribbage, Solitaire and Rummy.
Many different variations of Rummy exist today. Rummy games are thought to be inspired by a Mexican game called Conquian that is played with a deck of 40 cards that has no eights, nines or tens. Basic Rummy, or Straight Rummy, is usually played with two to four people, but can be played with up to five or six.
The choice of a certain number of deals or a target score must be agreed on before commencing play in basic Rummy games. All 52 cards in a standard deck of playing cards are used, with the ace low and the King high. Six or seven cards are dealt to each player, depending on the number of players. The top card of the remaining deck is put face up to begin the discard pile and the rest of the deck is the stock pile. The object of basic Rummy is to get rid of all your cards in sequences of numbers in the same suit as well as in three and four of a kind.
Solitaire is usually played solo, but started as a multi-player card game in the mid 1800s. Solitaire is often known as Patience in Britain and Reussite, meaning success, in France. In Germany, Solitaire was popularly played as a competitive multi-player game using a deck of cards for each player. The solo aspect of Solitaire is thought to have come from players practicing on their own for competition games. Online Solitaire is one of the most popular online card games played today.
Sir John Suckling of England is said to have invented Cribbage in the early 1600s from the game called Noddy. Although in the modern version of Cribbage, a player discards two cards into the crib, Suckling's version had only one card placed in the crib. Cribbage is different from many other games played with cards in that it is played with a special board containing holes and pegs that count the points. Combinations adding up to 15 as well as runs and pairs and three of a kind are scored for points in Cribbage.
Poker is said to have its origins in Asia over 1,000 years ago. Poker is a vying game, meaning that hands are bluffed and wagers are made with a pot of winnings such as poker chips or money. Poque, a French card game, brought the concept of the heart, club, diamond and spade suits we still use today. Poker games were played in the United States as early as 1811 on Mississippi steamboats. Different forms of Poker include variations on bluffing and holding strategies. Good Poker hands include flushes, or suited sequences of cards, and a full house, which is a pair plus three of a kind.
Derived from the 16th century English game Whist, Bridge is one of the most popular and most difficult card games of all time. Bridge is a trick-taking and bidding game with many complex conventions and bidding signals. Learning and practicing strategies such as defending the hand and making opening bids is important in learning to become a good Bridge player. Bridge is also known as Contract Bridge.