Although it may sound old-fashioned, the best card games provide tons of entertainment. This proves that you don’t have to get a gaming console or a PC in order to have fun with your loved ones. Today’s card games offer more fun options, creative themes, and interactive elements than ever before. These are the top card games in 2022, which are sure to bring hours of enjoyment, no matter if you are looking for something new or a twist on an old favourite.
A deck of playing cards can transform any family night into a game or a relaxing drinking game. After your 10th round, you may be ready to move on to something new. These engaging new games allow you to travel to new places in your mind with their inspiring artwork and compelling storytelling.
Race for the Galaxy allows players to create resources on other planets and increase their control over space. Everdell lets players invite forest critters into their communities to build new structures and compete for different combinations in an environment that is visually stunning. Time Stories lets players explore mysteries in Lovecraftian hospitals, zombie-infested cities, and other ancient Egyptian cities.
Are you looking for fun and provocative games to enjoy with your friends on a casual night? You have two options: Cards Against Humanity and The voting game. In this game, participants are asked questions and must choose the person who answers them. You can also play Exploding Kittens, a fun, silly, and adorable game that has its own rules and objectives.
For us, it was crucial that this list included a variety of games. These games were all played dozens of times with different people as I was trying to find the best. These are the best, most replayable, and most fun card games of 2022.
1. Tichu
Tichu is easy to pick up if you have played Rook, Euchre, or other trick-taking partner card games. There are two traditional cards (2 through Ace) and four new cards (4: The mahjong dog, the phoenix, and the dragon). Apart from these cards, Tichu is unique because of its mix of card-playing. Players can play full houses and straights, as well as strategy. Before rounds begin, players must trade cards between partners and opponents.
Tichu’s mechanics are simple, but there are a few clever subversions to traditional trick-taking rules that make this classic-style card game one of the most fun.
2. Exploding Kittens
Exploding Kittens is loved by families with children of all ages. My college friends and I played exploding kittens together every night. It’s simple. Draw your cards, aim at the target and try to avoid any exploding kittens. Players draw different action cards and try to betray their family and friends.
Playing this fast-paced card game yourself is the best way to discover its true essence. And don’t forget about those exploding kittens that lurk in every deck!
3. PARKS
In PARKS, players take on the role of two wanderers who trek along different paths over four seasons. While on the trail, these wanderers will perform actions and collect memories of the places your wanderers’ visit. These memories are represented by different resource counters, such as mountains and forests. Collecting these memories in sets allows players to trade them in for a visit to a national park at the end of each hike.
Each trail represents a season, and with each season, the trails change and grow longer. The paths, represented by tiles, are shuffled between seasons and relaid for the next round. Resources can be difficult to obtain, especially when someone is in the location you are trying to reach! Campfires allow you to share space and time with other hikers. Canteens and equipment can also be used to increase your access to resources through the game. It’s going to be difficult to pull off building your engine compared to the park spend, but we bet you’re up to the challenge. Welcome to PARKS!
PARKS is a celebration of US National Parks featuring illustrious art from Fifty-Nine Parks.
4. Time Stories
Time Stories is an amazing game. It’s a simple deck with cards that can propel you across dimensions and time. It also guides you through beautiful settings and brings Lovecraftian monsters to your face — and this is just the first campaign.
Time Stories allows players to investigate mysteries in a variety of settings, including ancient Egypt and zombie-infested areas. Your decisions affect the stories. Your ability to solve the mystery depends on how well you cooperate with others, your problem-solving skills, and your ability to adapt to changes made by the game.
Time Stories is not perfect. There are many chat boards online where people debate which stories are the best and which ones could be better balanced. Even small imbalances can be caused by the game’s enormous ambition. It’s difficult not to feel overwhelmed every time you play this card game.
Read also: Top 50 free Android games – Ranking 2022
5. Watergate
In the two-player game Watergate, one player represents the Nixon administration and tries not to resign until the end of the game, while the other player represents the Washington Post and tries to prove the connections between Nixon and some of his informants.
In June 1972, five men were arrested at the Watergate building in Washington. What appears to be a third-rate break-in attempt at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee prompts Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to launch a thorough investigation. Over the next two years, they discover that the five White House men have been ordered to spy on political opponents. As a result, President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 to avoid impeachment.
In Watergate, one player takes on the role of a journalist while the other embodies the Nixon administration – each with a unique set of cards. To win, the Nixon administration must build enough momentum to make it to the end of the president’s term, while the journalist must gather enough evidence to directly link two whistleblowers to the president. Of course, the government will do everything in its power to stifle any evidence.
The story of Watergate is included in the game.
Nominated for 9 awards, 4 won.
6. Everdell
While card games are fun, they can be difficult for visual learners. Most of the action takes place between cards. There are many great options for games that combine cards and a central board. Everdell is one such game.
Everdell combines tableau-building with traditional meeple placements on a central board. This game is rich in strategic elements, but it’s also charming. You recruit woodland creatures to your settlement and then build structures with wood, stone, and resin.
Everdell is one of the most beautiful games for those who are more artistic-minded.
7. balance of terror
“Now the trumpet calls us again, not as a call to bear arms, though we need arms; not as a call to battle, though we are contested – as a call to bear the burden of a long evening battle.” John F Kennedy.
In 1945, unlikely allies brought down Hitler’s war machine while mankind’s most devastating weapons brought the Japanese Empire to its knees in a firestorm. Where once there were many great powers, there were only two. The world had months barely to sigh its collective relief before a new conflict threatened. In contrast to the titanic struggles of previous decades, this conflict would not primarily be fought by soldiers and tanks but by spies and politicians, scientists and intellectuals, artists and traitors. Balance of Terror is a two-player game that simulates the forty-five-year dance of intrigue, prestige, and occasional warfare between the Soviet Union and the United States. The whole world is the stage where these two titans fight to make the world safe for their own ideologies and ways of life. The game begins amidst the ruins of Europe, with the two new “superpowers” crawling over the rubble of World War II, and ends in 1989 when only the United States remained standing.
Balance of Terror inherits its core systems from the card-driven classics We the People and Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage. It’s a fast-playing, complex game in that tradition. The game map is a world map of time where players move units and influence to gain allies and control of their superpower. As with GMT’s other card-driven games, decision-making is challenging; how to make the best use of your maps and units when resources are constantly limited?
Balance of Terror’s Event cards adds detail and flavor to the game. They cover a variety of historical events, from the Arab-Israeli conflicts of 1948 and 1967, through Vietnam and the US peace movement, to the Cuban Missile Crisis, and other incidents that brought the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation. Subsystems capture the prestigious space race as well as nuclear tensions with the possibility of ending the nuclear war.
Nominated for 6 awards, 5 won.
8. Wonders: Duel
7 Wonders: Duel is a clever card-drafting game that adds a bit of weight to two-player card games. Each player attempts to build civilizations in three different eras. They draw cards that can help them pursue scientific or military dominance, increase their resources, and create various Wonders.
This competitive game is more fluid than Everdell’s larger strategy games. The card-drafting system gives you surprising opportunities to trap or block your opponent. This is a great game to play for multiple sessions.
9. Twilight Struggle
Twilight Struggle combines the strategic complexity of “big” games with the simplicity of traditional conquest games like Risk. As you battle for dominance, presence, and complete control in various battleground areas around the globe, one player plays the USSR while the other takes on the role of the United States. Each side aims to place a man on Mars, reduce the DEFCON status by military operations, and avoid nuclear war (an immediate loss) while trying to spread their influence around the globe in a tug-of-war for global power.
Twilight Struggle is not for everyone. It’s a time investment, and your brain might feel like mush after the first play. Few games are as satisfying to play, no matter how you win.
10. The Voting Game
What friend do you think would survive a zombie apocalypse, and what are your thoughts? Or, who has the most outrageous Google search history? The Voting Game will ask you and your friends all these questions, and then each person will vote for the card they think is best. I enjoy playing card games that require your group to think critically and expose one another. The Voting Game is a great choice for any small gathering or kickback and will guarantee a laugh-outable time.
11. King of New York
There’s always something going on in the city that never sleeps. Maybe it’s the lights, maybe it’s the energy, or maybe it’s the giant monsters trying to destroy the place!
King of New York is a standalone game by designer Richard Garfield that retains the core ideas of King of Tokyo while opening up new ways to play. As with KoT, your goal is to be the first monster to collect 20 Victory Points (VPs) or the last monster to stand. When it is your turn, you roll six dice up to three times and then perform the actions with those dice. Claws deal damage to other monsters, hearts heal damage to yourself, and energy is stored so you can purchase power cards that offer unique effects unavailable to anyone else.
What’s new about King of New York is that now you can try to be a star in the big city; more specifically, you can achieve “fame” that networks you as VPs, but superstar status is fleeting, so enjoy your time in the spotlight.
The playing field for the King of New York is larger than the King of Tokyo, with each monster occupying a borough in the city and each trying to shine in Manhattan. When you attack, you can drive out a monster in another district, whether it’s escaping military forces or finding new opportunities. Yes, smash because now you can destroy buildings and get bonuses for doing so, but the more destruction you cause, the more intense the military response.
King of New York’s monsters can be used in King of Tokyo and vice versa, but the power cards are specific to that game.
Nominated for 5 awards.
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