Card games have been one of the world’s most popular pastimes for a few centuries. You’ve likely loved playing card games at some time in your life, whether you’re young, elderly, or middle-aged. Card games, from Solitaire to Blackjack, have long been a big part of our lives.
Last year, as the world was shaken by the COVID-19 pandemic and people were forced to stay at home to comply with quarantines, lockdowns, and social distancing, most of us found ourselves seeking alternate forms of amusement.
After going through all of those popular online entertainment options that are available today, people finally had to turn their attention to other pastime activities. As a result, card games resurfaced as a popular alternative, due to the possibility of playing a wide variety of games with the same old deck of cards.
But with social distancing in place, online versions of these games also soared in popularity during lockdowns, with bettors being able to play these classic games from the safety of their homes against players from all over the world. Today’s online game selection is nearly limitless, and US friendly online casinos provide a wide range of card games with different variations, stake limits, and themes.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of card games exist across the world, covering various game families and regional variants. Despite the fact that each area, country, and even continent has its own versions and variants, this article will focus on a few of the most popular card games played by millions of people all over the world.
Poker
This should come as no surprise to anyone: poker is the most popular card game in the world. The game has become a cultural phenomenon and an important aspect of modern life since the mid-2000s.
Poker is a competitive game, including notable tournaments and events such as the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour, as well as being featured in the Mind Sports Olympiad.
The game’s origins are a point of contention. Some academics think that the development of poker was inspired by a number of ancient games, including the Persian game As-Nas, the Renaissance game primero, and the French game brelan.
However, there is a modern school of thought that dismisses these ancestries, claiming that poker’s distinguishing features are the betting, which does not appear in any known older game.
They believe poker was invented in the early 1800s and expanded throughout the Mississippi River area, and its evolution is tied to the introduction of commercial gambling.
Blackjack
Blackjack is unquestionably the most popular casino game in the world, as well as the second most popular card game. It may be found at both online and land-based casinos. Blackjack is one of the easiest card games to play, with simple rules, a low house edge, and higher chances of winning, which is why it’s favored by many punters.
Blackjack is based on the ancient Spanish card game veintiuna (Spanish for “twenty-one”), which was originally mentioned in the 17th century by Spain’s great writer Miguel de Cervantes. It arrived in England around the end of the 18th century, and the first set of rules was developed in the early 1900s, with the game being known as Vingt-Un.
It rose to prominence in the United States during the Klondike Gold Rush, when it was called Blackjack, another word for zincblende, a mineral discovered by prospectors in gold and silver deposits.
Rummy
Rummy is a family of matching-card games distinguished by their comparable gameplay centered on matching cards of the same rank or sequence and same suit. The main purpose of any variation of rummy is to construct melds, which can be sets (three or four of a kind of the same rank) or runs (three or more sequential cards of the same suit).
According to games scholar David Parlett, the game combines elements from two ancient games: the Mexican game of Conquian and the Chinese game Khanhoo. The rummy premise of drawing and discarding with the goal of merging originally appeared in Chinese card games in the early 19th century, and possibly as early as the 18th century.
There are several ideas concerning the origin of the name “rummy.” Some credit it to the British slang term rum, which means unusual or peculiar. Others claim the origins can be traced back to the game Rum Poker or the popular beverage of the same name.
Bridge
One of the world’s most popular card games, especially among seniors, Bridge is a card game in which four players compete in two competitive partnerships, with partners seated opposite each other around a table. The bridge is played by millions of people worldwide in clubs, competitions, and even online.
The bridge is a derivation of whist and belongs to the family of trick-taking games. With the invention of “Biritch” in the nineteenth century, the game deviated from whist and progressed through the late 19th century and early 20th century to become the current game.
Rubber bridge is the most popular variation in casual games, but the most club and tournament games feature some variant of duplicate bridge.