Snap

Play Snap with traditional playing cards, or buy a set of themed Snap cards. If you use traditional playing cards, the aim is to match cards with the same number (ignore the suits). Themed Snap is especially fun for children, and you can purchase Snap cards with a theme to suit their interests (or to teach them numbers, maths or specific words).

Deal out the cards around all the players so each player has a pile of cards which they place facedown.

The first player turns over the card at the top of their pile and starts a pile in the centre.

The next player to their left turns over the card at the top of their pile and adds it to the centre pile, and so on.

If there are two cards that match, the first player to yell 'Snap!' wins the cards in the middle.

If a player runs out of cards, they lose.

Go Fish

Shuffle the cards and deal them out to the players. For two players, deal each player seven cards; for three players, deal six cards; and for four players, deal five cards. Place the remaining cards randomly in the middle of the table.

Each player looks at their cards secretly.

The first player to take a turn chooses another player and asks them if they have any cards of a certain value. They must have a card with the number they ask about in their hand. For example, they must have one or more Kings to ask for a King.

If the player who is asked has any cards of the value requested, they must hand them over. The player who asked for the cards can then take another turn and ask for another card.

If the player who is asked has no cards of the requested value, they must tell the player to 'Go fish.' The player must then take a card from the centre.

At any point, if a player collects a set of four of the same kind, they win the cards and put them aside in their winner's pile.

Play continues until all sets of four cards have been collected. The winner is the player with the most sets of four cards at the end.

UNO

Every player starts with seven cards, and they are dealt face down. The rest of the cards are placed in a Draw Pile face down. Next to the pile a space should be designated for a Discard Pile. The top card should be placed in the Discard Pile, and the game begins!

The first player is normally the player to the left of the dealer (you can also choose the youngest player) and gameplay usually follows a clockwise direction. Every player views his/her cards and tries to match the card in the Discard Pile. You have to match either by the number, color, or the symbol/Action. For instance, if the Discard Pile has a red card that is an 8 you have to place either a red card or a card with an 8 on it. You can also play a Wild card (which can alter current color in play).

If the player has no matches or they choose not to play any of their cards even though they might have a match, they must draw a card from the Draw pile. If that card can be played, play it. Otherwise, the game moves on to the next person in turn. You can also play a Wild card, or a Wild Draw Four card on your turn.

Note: If the first card turned up from the Draw Pile (to form the Discard Pile) is an Action card, the Action from that card applies and must be carried out. The exceptions are if the Wild or Wild Draw Four cards are turned up, in which case – Return them to the Draw Pile, shuffle them, and turn over a new card. At any time, if the Draw Pile becomes depleted and no one has yet won the round, take the Discard Pile, shuffle it, and turn it over to regenerate a new Draw Pile.

After a card is drawn the player can discard it if it is a match, or if not, play passes on to the next player. 

The game continues until a player has one card left. The moment a player has just one card they must yell “UNO!”. If they are caught not saying “Uno” by another player before any card has been played, the player must draw two new cards. Once a player has no cards remaining, the game round is over, points are scored, and the game begins over again. Normally, everyone tries to be the first one to achieve 500 points, but you can also choose whatever points number to win the game, as long as everyone agrees to it.

Action Cards: Besides the number cards, there are several other cards that help mix up the game. These are called Action or Symbol cards.

Reverse – If going clockwise, switch to counterclockwise or vice versa.

Skip – When a player places this card, the next player has to skip their turn. If turned up at the beginning, the first player loses his/her turn.

Draw Two – When a person places this card, the next player will have to pick up two cards and forfeit his/her turn.

Wild – This card represents all four colors, and can be placed on any card. The player has to state which color it will represent for the next player. It can be played regardless of whether another card is available.

Wild Draw Four – This acts just like the wild card except that the next player also has to draw four cards. With this card, you must have no other alternative cards to play that matches the color of the card previously played. If you play this card illegally, you may be challenged by the other player to show your hand. If guilty, you need to draw 4 cards. If not, the challenger needs to draw 6 cards instead.

Top Trumps

Top Trumps is a fun, versatile card game that can be enjoyed by everyone. Top Trumps sports a variety of colorful, educational decks, ranging from pets to famous people and popular landmarks. The object of the game is to collect all of the cards in the deck by having the highest “stats,” or numerical values on the card. You can play with as many people as you’d like, as long as you can divide the cards evenly.

Shuffle the deck of cards before starting the game. Choose a player to shuffle the cards, making sure that they’re all interspersed evenly throughout the deck. Assign this player as the dealer, so you can figure out the play order.

Divide the cards evenly between all the players. Check your box of cards to see how many come in a box. Evenly deal the cards so they’re face-down, so no one can see what cards any other player has.

Hold your own cards face-up in a stack so only the top 1 is visible. Grab your cards and keep them close to you, so no other player can see what you have. Stack the cards so they’re on top of 1 another, and only the top card is visible. As you collect cards throughout the game, you’ll add them to bottom of the stack.

Wait for the player left of the dealer to choose a card and read 1 of the stats. Invite the first player to read over their card and choose a “stat,” or card description, with a high numerical value. Keep in mind that these stats may be a little different depending on the Top Trumps deck you’re playing with.

Invite other players to compare the same stat on their card. Go around in a circle and have each player list the same stat from the topmost card on their deck. Once everyone shares their stat, determine who shared the highest number.

Collect all of the players’ cards if your stat is highest. Wait for all of the other players to put their losing card face-up in the middle of the playing area. Stack these cards and place them at the bottom of your card pile.

Start a new round with the winning player calling out a stat. Invite the most recent winner to choose the highest stat from their top card and share it with the rest of the group. As you did before, go around in a circle and share your identical stats. The winning player will collect all of the cards and add them to the bottom of the deck.

Place everyone’s cards in the middle if there’s a tie. Two players might have stats that are equal—in this case, everyone stacks their cards face up in the center of the playing area. At this point, start a new round, with the last winning player sharing their highest stat with the other players. The new winner from this round will add the losing cards to their own hand, as well as the cards from the center of the play area.

Play multiple rounds until 1 player has all the cards.

Finding a Picked Card

Ask a volunteer to pick any card out of the deck. Hold a deck of cards face-down and fan them out. Ask your volunteer to choose one card at random and take it out of the deck. Be patient, because the longer you give the volunteer to pick a card, the more confident they will become that you won't be able to guess it.

Shuffle the cards first so the audience knows that they really are in a random order.

Look away from the cards as the person picks their card to make the trick more convincing.

Ask a volunteer to pick any card out of the deck. Hold a deck of cards face-down and fan them out. Ask your volunteer to choose one card at random and take it out of the deck. Be patient, because the longer you give the volunteer to pick a card, the more confident they will become that you won't be able to guess it.

Shuffle the cards first so the audience knows that they really are in a random order.

Look away from the cards as the person picks their card to make the trick more convincing.

Build the tallest freestanding structure possible using only one deck of cards. No other materials (glue, tape, etc.) may be used to build your structure