Up My Two Person Card Game … Game

October 26, 2021 8:08 PM

My wife and I play Spite & Malice, both at home and when traveling. We need a new card game. What should we play?

One problem with Spite & Malice is that I brought it into the marriage after playing it for years with my sister. I thus bring both years of strategy and the cutthroat competitiveness that only close siblings have. I'd like to find a new two person card game we can both learn equally, instead of whatever my family used to play. (This also rules out Cribbage and Gin Rummy, at least by the rules my family played it).

Games may use one or two standard decks of cards with or without jokers. They should not require other parts, especially such parts as we would be unable to find for a reasonable price if we have left the house without decks of cards. (We have, on two separate occasions, in two different states, stopped at stores for the explicit purpose of buying playing cards and I'm OK with that, but I want to keep this to the same set of requirements we have now).

I'd prefer a game that requires either the same size playing area as Spite & Malice or one that was even more amenable to, say, airplane tray tables or inadequately furnished airport lounges. 16 piles of cards can be quite difficult to manage.

So, what's your favorite two person card game that isn't Spite & Malice, Cribbage, or Gin Rummy?

posted by fedward to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (24 answers total)

It is not a card game, but Cosmic Wimpout is a dice game that can be played almost anywhere, is easily transported, and cheap enough that you could have one for home one for travel one for the car and one in a purse.
posted by vrakatar at 8:24 PM on October 26, 2021

You've linked to pagat.com, so I understand you're looking for MeFi faves, but FWIW pagat.com also has a list of recommended 2-player games. Their index of ~300 2-player games doesn't seem to include games invented by site contributors, and I guess I'd interpret modern inventions as recommendations from people who might've seen a lot of these games.
posted by Wobbuffet at 9:13 PM on October 26, 2021

Idiot is a particular favorite of mine, as someone who loooves Spite and Malice. It's a little faster to play but the end game can be just as bitter. Single deck, though theoretically could be played with 2.
posted by Grim Fridge at 9:14 PM on October 26, 2021

Rummy for points? Play to an arbitrary number of thousands of points?
posted by TimHare at 9:39 PM on October 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

You can play canasta with two players.

Also, there are several versions of solitaire for two players. These games are much quicker than canasta. Here is version that doesn't take much room.
posted by NotLost at 9:58 PM on October 26, 2021

This is explicitly not answering your stated question, but travel backgammon is another game that often appeals to card players.
posted by away for regrooving at 11:50 PM on October 26, 2021

If you're open to trick-taking card games, there's Five Hundred -- which is usually played with four players arranged in two partnerships. But there's a great two player variation of Five Hundred where each player plays two hands of cards -- one they hold in their hand as normal, and a second hand placed on the table in front of them that has a mix of face down and face up cards. It's sort of like each player is simulating playing the part of both players in a partnership, without being able to see all the cards. When you're placing bids at the start of the game, you can see 3/4 of the cards in your two hands (10 hidden from your opponent, 5 on the table face up), 1/4 are unknown (five on the table face down), and you can also see 1/4 of the cards in your opponent's hand (their tabled face up cards).

If you haven't played many similar trick-taking card games, it might be a bit strange to start with two handed Five Hundred. Having some normal games of Five Hundred with four players might be one way to ease into the two player version.

There's also much simpler trick-taking games such as Oh Hell, which can be entertaining in larger groups, but won't work at all for two players.
posted by are-coral-made at 1:58 AM on October 27, 2021

Piquet! Said this before: perhaps the most elegant and sophisticated two-handed card game ever played, which is a cross between rummy, whist and medieval French.
posted by BobTheScientist at 3:33 AM on October 27, 2021 [3 favorites]

There's also much simpler trick-taking games such as Oh Hell, which can be entertaining in larger groups, but won't work at all for two players.

Actually...

A friend and I have developed a variant of Oh Hell that works fabulously for two players. All that's required is one small rule change that we borrowed from pinochle.

Ready? Here it is:

If you have a higher card of the same suit as the card led, you must play it.

That eliminates so much of the variance in two-person trick-taking and allows you to systematically narrow down what the other person has in their hand, the better to make your bid. The dozen or so games we've played with this rule so far have been fantastically tense and interesting.

We also start with two rounds of dealing three cards each, since one and two are mostly exercises in randomness, and go up to 12 and back from there. Screw the dealer rule applies also, obviously.

If you like Oh Hell (which I tend to call Bullseye, since that's actually descriptive), give this rule variation a try. We've also adopted the rule for 3+ player games by stating that the first player who has a higher card of the suit led must play it (unless someone has already trumped), and that subsequent players are free from the restriction.

So if Andy leads the 4 of clubs and Betty only has the 2 of clubs, then she may play it, and Christopher is obliged to play a higher club if he has it, even if he also holds the 3. But if Betty plays a higher club or a trump, then Christopher would be released from the obligation to play a higher club himself and would be free to duck under.

Oh Hell is a phenomenal (and deceptively complex) game. I think this variation makes it even better.
posted by Gadarene at 5:15 AM on October 27, 2021 [2 favorites]

Two player Euchre ?
posted by waving at 5:16 AM on October 27, 2021

Canasta canasta canasta
posted by Isingthebodyelectric at 6:04 AM on October 27, 2021

If you are willing to buy a small game based on a special deck of cards, you might love Hanabi.
posted by sevensnowflakes at 6:14 AM on October 27, 2021

Cribbage is a wonderful two-person card game. It is usually played with a Cribbage board, but you can substitute paper and pencil for score-keeping if necessary.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 7:53 AM on October 27, 2021

My SO and I play a lot of golf on the train.
posted by General Malaise at 9:24 AM on October 27, 2021

Klaberjass is a two person game that uses 32 cards like Piquet
posted by eckeric at 9:33 AM on October 27, 2021

2-hand Pinochle. You can get a Pinochle deck, or just make your own from two decks of cards (a Pinochle deck is 2 of each card from 9 up, including Aces).
posted by fimbulvetr at 11:00 AM on October 27, 2021

Response by poster: Please note: we do love other games (and in fact have a nice travel backgammon set as well as at least one cribbage board) but I'm specifically looking for games that use only standard decks of playing cards. Imagine being stuck in the World's Worst Airport (or the depths of New York Penn Station during a blizzard where the farthest you can safely go is the Duane Reade on the corner of 8th Ave & 34th) with only ten bucks to spend, and no spoons to learn a new game on the spot. We never fail to pack socks or underwear, but the travel games get left at home with surprising regularity.
posted by fedward at 11:10 AM on October 27, 2021 [2 favorites]

I know you ruled it out as you know it and your wife does not, but cribbage has long been my preferred two person card game, and I have tried many. It is an ideal mix of skill and luck, and requires enough attention that you can't half-ass it but not so much that you can't carry on a good conversation while playing. It also doesn't take too long to learn, so hopefully your wife could work up that learning curve quickly enough that she doesn't feel like you're impossible to beat/the game is too frustrating.
posted by lhputtgrass at 11:25 AM on October 27, 2021 [2 favorites]

I play Spite & Malice, too. I play using iPhone apps and face-to-face whenever I can.

Another game I've grown to love and think you'll probably like is Casino/Cassino/Kasino.

It's very easy to learn, and it doesn't take long to start to come up with strategies to improve your performance.

There are also some great smartphone apps that'll let you play and practice.
posted by yellowcandy at 11:48 AM on October 27, 2021

I'm a big fan of GOPS (Game of Pure Strategy) because as the name suggests it's a very easy to learn mechanically but the possibility for strategy and bluffing is extensive.
posted by metaphorever at 1:01 PM on October 27, 2021

Spades can be played as a two player game. You build your hand by alternating looking at the top card on the deck and either adding it to your hand and then discarding the next card unseen, or discarding the card you looked at and keeping the next card. The result is you each have 13 cards and then play goes like any other Spades game.
posted by COD at 2:33 PM on October 27, 2021 [3 favorites]

If you don't mind competitive speed elements as well as strategy ones, I've gotten a lot of two-player mileage out of Spit and Speed are fun, or Egyptian Rat Screw / ERS / Egyptian War.

Though I play them less with my partner since I feel much worse about smacking him in the hand by mistake than I did about any of my old band friends when we'd play this in high school
posted by Lady Li at 10:07 PM on October 27, 2021

German Whist occupied my husband and I through a number of train trips. Good to play on small surfaces.
posted by chiefthe at 7:11 AM on October 28, 2021

2nding Spades. I actually learned it as a 2 player game, with bidding on how many tricks you take. Go over and you get your bid, under and you lose the difference. (ie if you bid 7 tricks and get 6 tricks, you get 5 points: your bid of 6 minus the 1 difference)

I had a similar situation to you, fedward, in that my wife taught me Spite and Malice, and she is relentless and has no mercy and we had to stop playing.
posted by sauril at 10:50 AM on October 28, 2021