Card Game Time-Wasters

Killing time with playing card games has always been a favorite activity for many people. There are so many choices that you have to decide from when it comes to playing cards. Euchre, Egyptian Ratscrew, Old Maid, Golf, Speed, War, Solitaire, Go Fish, and Slapjack are all card games that are often chosen to occupy time with or just hang out with friends. Some of the best and happy moments can happen when you take up a pack of cards, open them, and lay them all out on the table to decide to play a card game. Here is how to play a couple of my favorite card games:

Egyptian Ratscrew

Egyptian Ratscrew, also known as simply ERS, is a fun card game that can last for hours. The object of the game is to be able to have all the cards in your hand at the end of the game. This can be done in several ways. However, the game starts out by dealing each of the 52 playing cards evenly among 2 or more players. The first player of the game proceeds to turn over his or her first card on the table. The second player turns over his or her card on top of the first card and the play continues in the same direction.

Rules of ERS

When one player lays an Ace, King, Queen, or Jack playing card, the next player has several chances to combat that face card with a face card of his or her own. If an Ace was laid, the next player would have to turn over 4 cards on top of that Ace. If he or she turned over 4 cards and there was no face card within those cards that he or she turned over, the player that laid the Ace would take the whole stack of playing cards on the table. However, if the Ace was laid and the player who tried to combat that Ace laid a face card on their first, second, third, or fourth try, the player who originally laid the Ace would then have to try to combat their face card. This order of play continues until someone takes up the stack of playing cards.

Another way to gain playing cards is to slap the deck with your hand when two of the same cards are laid down in succession. For example, if two 2s, 3s, or 4s were laid down right on top of the other, the player that slaps the stack of cards first would take them. Egyptian Ratscrew continues until one person has the whole deck of cards. The player that has the full deck is declared the winner.

Golf

Another card game that is relatively simple but still enjoyable is the card game of Golf. Just as in the real game of golf, the point of this game is to receive the lowest score. The playing cards 2 through 10 are valued at their face value, Jacks are worth 0 points, but Queens, Kings, and Aces are all worth 10 points. can

Rules of Golf

Each player receives 4 playing cards. The 4 playing cards are laid out in front of the card game players in a square or rectangular fashion so that 2 playing cards are close to the player and 2 of them are positioned about an inch or so from the first two cards. The players are allowed to "peek" at the two cards that are closest to them to see if they're desirable cards. In this card game of Golf, any low number cards would be desirable as well as any Jacks, which are worth 0.

The remaining cards are stacked between the players and is the draw pile. The first player (determined at the beginning of the game) picks up a card from the draw pile and decides whether or not he or she wants to switch that card with any of his or her 4 cards. Even though the player has not seen his or her top two cards and is not allowed to look at them, he or she still has the chance to replace one of the top two cards or either of the bottom two cards that he or she's already seen with the one that was picked up from the draw pile. If the player doesn't want the card then he or she can simply lay the card down face up on the table next to the draw pile, starting a new pile.

The players also have the option of being able to pick up the very top card of that new pile of discarded playing cards to use it to switch it with one of their 4 playing cards. The player can pick that card up immediately on his or her turn without picking one up from the draw pile, but also can decide that he or she doesn't want the card from the draw pile and pick up the card from the discarded pile to use it; of course the card chosen from the draw pile would have to be "discarded" also.

Golf continues play in this fashion until the draw pile is all used up or until someone lays one of the cards that they picked up from the draw pile face down on the discarded pile. The players add up their total scores from their 4 cards and whoever has the least amount (least amount being 0) wins!

Both of these card games are excellent to play if you're bored or just want to relax with someone and have some fun. They don't require much thought, either, and that's another benefit to playing these card games as well as some of the other simple card games out there. Card games in general is a good way to have some fun with your friends and family no matter what day of the week it is!