The 16 Best Card Games of 2023

Best Overall

Mattel Games Apples to Apples

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This engaging game is flexible and fun. The deck is divided into red cards (which list people, places, things, and events) and green ones (which have adjectives). To play, the judge flips over the top green card, and the other players must put down a red card that best fits with the green one in play. The judge chooses the best suggestion, and that player earns a green card and gets to judge next. To win the game, you must earn the most amount of green cards.

Note that it's OK if the cards don't fit perfectly together, since the point is to impress the judge, and that might mean creating a funny or outrageous combination. Players are also allowed to lobby for their choices, which can lead to lively banter. 

The original Apples to Apples is recommended for kids ages 12 and up, but Mattel also makes an Apples to Apples Junior Edition for children ages 9 and older. Younger children can play if they have a parent or sibling to help them with reading.

Price at time of publish: $21

_{Number of Players: 4-8 | Age range: 12 and up | Duration: 30 minutes}

Best Party Game

Anomia Card Game: Party Edition

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For Anomia, you’ll turn cards over using two unique decks with 92 different category cards, until the symbol on two players’ cards matches. A great party game, Anomia is ideal for older kids and up and adults. It also travels easily thanks to its organized box packaging. The instructions are extremely easy to learn, and the content is very family-friendly, for a fun time for all ages.

Price at time of publish: $30

_{Number of Players: 3-6 | Age range: 10 and up | Duration: 30 minutes}

Best Classic

Mattel UNO Game

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There are lots of reasons UNO is considered a classic; it's easy to learn, fun to play, and is appropriate for players of all ages. With elements of matching, counting, and a hint of strategy involved, it's an especially great option for young kids (as long as they can manage their hands of cards). Plus, there's some wiggle room for grown-ups to adjust rules to suit different age levels.

Lots of variations on the classic set are currently available, as are themed options, too. Overall, families with kids have a blast with this game, and it’s likely to quickly become your favorite.

Price at time of publish: $7

_{Number of Players: 2-10 | Age range: 7 and up | Duration: Not listed}

Best Fast-Paced

Gamewright Sushi Go! Card Game

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Jimmy Cooney, owner of Dice City Games in Silver Spring, Maryland recommends this card game to everyone, saying, “This game is loved by all, especially those who love sushi." The cards include adorable illustrations of sushi, and the simple objective makes it an excellent introduction to anyone new to card games. The game comes in a tin and is perfect for ages 8 and up.

Sushi Go! is a fast-playing game in which players try to gather up the most points over the course of three rounds on different combinations of sushi dishes. Over time, the game reinforces cognitive skills like probability, visual discrimination, and strategic thinking.

Price at time of publish: $12

_{Number of Players: 2-5 | Age range: 8 and up | Duration: 15 minutes}

Best for Families

Exploding Kittens Card Game

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There is no denying that people are serious about Exploding Kittens, which is recommended for children 8 and older, but the concept is simple enough that younger kids will also be able to easily grasp it. Families love it because it's simple to teach and not too much of a time commitment. And as long as you steer clear of the NSFW expansion pack, the subject matter is fairly tame (but be prepared for some potty humor). 

The game is similar to Russian Roulette and players draw cards from a pile, hoping to avoid the Exploding Kitten card, which would get them knocked out. We found that to keep things interesting, you can avoid this sudden death by playing cards such as defuse, relocate, or skip a turn. As one parent of a 6-year-old said, "It took a little bit of explaining and coaching to get the kids up to speed, but after that, they ruled the table."

Price at time of publish: $20

_{Number of Players: 2-5 | Age range: 8 and up | Duration: 15 minutes}

Best for Young Kids

Ravensburger World of Disney Eye Found It Card Game

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When there are young players in the group, certain card game concepts can be a heavy lift. This look-and-find game, however, manages to seamlessly blend card play with a hidden picture activity, and it features familiar Disney characters and settings, too. Players of all ages will enjoy the subtle details that call out their favorite films while enjoying the satisfaction of spotting hidden items. Just be sure to double-check the instructions since some players report making incorrect assumptions when they see the cards.

Price at time of publish: $10

_{Number of Players: 2-6 | Age range: 3 and up | Duration: 15 minutes}

Best for Teens

TeeTurtle Unstable Unicorns Card Game

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Brought to you by the same brilliant minds that created Exploding Kittens, Unstable Unicorns has a pretty simple goal: Be the first to collect seven unicorns. Throughout the game, you can build your unicorn army and use your magic to upgrade, downgrade, or draw other cards to play.

This strategic game is designed for both teens and adults and it boasts being one of Kickstarter’s 100 most backed projects of all time.

Price at time of publish: $20

_{Number of Players: 2-8 | Age range: 14 and up | Duration: 35-40 minutes}

Best Strategic Game

Adventure On Games The Grimwood

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The Grimwood is a fast-playing game where players draw from the deck, swindle other players, and send their supernaturals out to do their bidding—all while collecting points until the last card is drawn. Then it’s over, ready or not! The Grimwood is great for families and those who like fast-paced games. 

The Grimwood allows two to six players, and comes with 68 poker-sized playing cards with breath-taking illustrations, one rule booklet, and four rule cards. It’s easy to learn and to teach others how to play as well.

Price at time of publish: $20

_{Number of Players: 2-6 | Age range: 12 and up | Duration: 30 minutes}

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Best Cooperative Game

Thames & Kosmos The Crew - Quest for Planet Nine

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For smaller, less complex card games, Kathleen Donahue, owner of Labyrinth Games & Puzzles in Washington, D.C. recommends games that are easy to learn with a lot of competition, or sometimes cooperative playing techniques. The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine is a cooperative trick-taking card game that takes players through missions while traveling to outer space. In this game, you must coordinate the completion of missions with your team to meet a list of objectives as you go along. There's also a new Deep Sea version of The Crew available now, and they are sometimes sold together.

Additionally, The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine was the 2020 winner of the Kennerspiel des Jahres Game of the Year (a German award meaning expert/connoisseur game of the year). Donahue describes this award as “the Oscars of board/card games”, meaning it's the highest award a board or a card game can win.

Price at time of publish: $15

_{Number of Players: 2-5 | Age range: 10 and up | Duration: 20 minutes}

Best Kid-Designed Game

Taco vs. Burrito LLC Taco vs. Burrito

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While this game is great for all ages, it was designed by a 7-year-old! Inside each pleasant, sturdy box are 32 action cards, 24 ingredient cards, an instruction booklet, and four cardholders. While the game itself is easily learned, throwing in the action cards is said to make things less foreseeable, which keeps it exciting for all players.

Price at time of publish: $25

_{Number of Players: 2-4 | Age range: 7 and up | Duration: 15 minutes}

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Best Two-Player Game

Renegade Game Studios The Fox in the Forest Card Game

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Fox in the Forest comes with 33 cards, 17 tokens, 2 reference cards, and a rule book. It's a fairy-tale-based game that centers on a woodcutter and his daughter who live in a small village near the forest. Each player has to use the special abilities of either character to win tricks and keep your place in the forest.

The game itself is adorned with beautiful illustrations and comes in a convenient and attractive box for storage and on-the-go fun.

Price at time of publish: $16

_{Number of Players: 2 | Age range: 10 and up | Duration: 30 minutes}

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Best Portable Game

Again Products Love Letter Card Game

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Another great Pick Up and Play game recommended by Cooney, Love Letter is a game where suitors of all kinds work to impress the princess and win her over. The key objective of this game is outsmarting the others by getting your “love letters” to the princess before they do. This is a new edition of the game, featuring updated artwork, two new character roles, and a cute pouch to carry it all in, so it's perfect to take on your travels. Players familiar with the old game find this set to be high-quality and fun to play.

Price at time of publish: $12

_{Number of Players: 2-6 | Age range: 10 and up | Duration: 20 minutes}

Best Card Battle Game

Magic The Gathering Commander Legends Deck

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“Magic the Gathering is the best-selling card game in the entire world,” says Donahue. "It is incredibly complex—an incredibly complicated collectible card game that has released new sets once a quarter since the 1990s." It's mostly a two-player game, although some formats allow multiplayer.

There are numerous Magic the Gathering sets available, depending upon where you want to start and what themes appeal to you. Many players believe that Commander is the most popular of all the sets, however.

Price at time of publish: $80

_{Number of Players: 2+ | Age range: 13 and up | Duration: 2.5 hours}

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Best Living Card Game

Fantasy Flight Games Marvel Champions The Card Game

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Living card games are meant to give players a more comprehensive gaming experience than traditional card games, often with expansion packs and additional elements. Donahue is a fan of this card game, saying, “It features wonderful themes that intertwine with the mechanics of the game.” You’ll probably want to start with the base game of Marvel Champions, shown above, which is a cooperative strategy game for both adults and teens.

For this game, players must choose a superhero and work as a team to fight off the world's most nefarious villains. First, they must organize the powers of their chosen heroes against their teammates in order to effectively fight the villains. Then they have to decide when to reveal themselves or when to stay disguised when to fight, and when to wait. There are different levels of difficulty to choose from as well as new additions to toss into growing collections as you play.

Price at time of publish: $56

_{Number of Players: 1-4 | Age range: 14 and up | Duration: 45 to 90 minutes}

Best Pick-Up-And-Play Game

Looney Labs Fluxx 5.0 Card Game

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Cooney explains that Pick Up and Play games are built around custom-made cards, fully contained in the box, and have no expansions or extra cards. They can often be played in 10 to 30 minutes, have universal rules, and are usually all-age-friendly. Instead of having an instruction card or booklet, the rules in FLUXX are written on the cards themselves—so the card tells players what to do next.

Like Magic The Gathering, FLUXX comes in a variety of themes like Monty Python, Star Wars, Zombies, etc. The FLUXX Holiday game ties together not only themes from the winter holidays but all preceding games. Cooney also likes the FLUXX games because they’re made in the USA and therefore easy to get from distributors—so any delays in the supply chain can be avoided.

Price at time of publish: $20

_{Number of Players: 2-4 | Age range: 8 and up | Duration: 10-40 minutes}