My Top 10 Card Games

Ever since publishing My Top 10 Favorite Tabletop Games, I have been dissatisfied with the result. There are just too many fabulous games that had to be left out of the list. To solve that problem, I've divided the world's greatest games into categories. Here's the second: my Top 10 card games.

Dragonmaster is out of print and highly sought after. The trick-taking and not-taking mechanism resembles Hearts but is infinitely more satisfying, due to the strategical necessity of choosing the right time to play Staff of Power. And when you're through playing, you can just gaze at the artwork on the cards. Or try some of these Game Variants.

The Crew also features the strategy of taking some tricks and leaving others, but this time it's cooperative. As the crew of a space ship, you are required each mission to make sure certain players take certain cards. It's up to you to see that they do so by throwing point cards away as often as you take them. As long as you throw them to the right crew member. Nerve-wracking fun.

In Sushi Go, you pass all the hands around the table, taking one card from each. To get the right amount of tofu, you might have to pass on the eel or the tempura. Be sure to buy the Party version of the game, as it comes with more entree choices. Maki or sashimi? Decisions, decisions...

There are multiple versions of Boomerang, each representing a different part of the world. I have Boomerang Europe, so that's the version I'm going to talk about. Try to collect every country in Scandanavia before anyone else to score the bonus. Or maybe one card from every geographic area instead. But can you do it while also grabbing up the right transportation cards? You might have to sacrifice one to score the other. And then there's that final card, over which you have no control, which gives you your 'boomerang' for the round. It can make you or break you, depending on the secret card you stashed before the round began.

In 7 Wonders, you need a lot of resources to build your Pyramid, or Hanging Gardens, or one of the other Wonders of the World. Not to mention the smaller cards you build to get points. That Town Hall is so tempting, but you really should have more glass and cloth, or you'll end up buying them from your neighbor, the same guy who's going to pulverise you if you don't build up your army instead.

Don't let the gruesome theme stop you: Guillotine is good family fun. Sure, you're lining up nobles to have their noggins removed, but with cards like, "After You" and "Was That My Name?" to move victims forward or back, you'll laugh your head off.

Trumpet is out of print, but worth searching for. There are six different suits, and you decide when you win the round which one is trump. Too bad for you that the guy who wins the next round places a suit above yours. Now there are two trump suits, one higher than the other. And soon there will be three, and four, and finally, all six trumps in play. But wait, there's more. Now you can switch the suits around to try to give yourself the best hand. Better hurry and play those trump cards before somebody else relegates your stars to the bottom of the heap.

In Nimalia you lay your cards down to form a grid of animals. Each round has its own rules for scoring, so you place your cards strategically to cover certain animals or place some in pairs or rows. As the rounds progress, it gets harder and harder to score well, especially when you have three rules to follow at the same time. You'll have to make some sacrifices to get the best score.

I couldn't leave out the Totally Insane Card Game. Think Uno on steroids. Alongside the familiar Reverse and Skip cards you'll find the Totally Useless Card, the This Hand Is Dead card, and everybody's favourite, the This Is Not My Card card. Fun, frenzied, and frustrating, play can take hours or, and this really happened, about a minute and a half. And it's only sold on their official website.

In Fantasy Realms, you pick a card, discard a card to collect the most points in your hand. Every card has some point value, but they also have qualifiers. Like, that Mountain card earns an extra 50 points if you also possess a Smoke card. But the Knights are minus 8 unless paired with a Leader. The combinations are infinite and you are continually rethinking your strategy. Is it worth it to keep the Wildfire that just blanked your Rangers? Maybe you should concentrate on Army cards instead...

My Top 10 Tabletop Games

Every serious gamer has a list of favourites, those games he can play over and over again and never grow tired of them. Well, almost never.

Here's my list of the best of the best, not in any particular order; it's tough enough to narrow it down to just 10 without worrying about who comes in first. If you're looking to get into gaming, or just need something new to add to your already-robust collection, these are my suggestions.

Note: I use the term "tabletop" because I'm including board games, card games, and party games, but not video games.

Dragonmaster is out of print and highly sought after. The trick-taking and not-taking mechanism resembles Hearts but is infinitely more satisfying, due to the strategical necessity of choosing the right time to play Staff of Power. And when you're through playing, you can just gaze at the artwork on the cards. Or try some of these Game Variants.

Time's Up is a long party game, but the progressively harder rounds make it well worth it. Start out by describing a famous, or not-so-famous person, progress to giving only a one-word clue, and end up with sounds and body language only. There is also a version where you have to guess titles instead of names, and I enjoy it, but the original is still my favourite. Take a look at the elusive Fourth Round of this game.

No one can beat my brother-in-law at Quacks of Quedlinburg. It's a testimony to the fun of drawing ingredient tokens out of a bag without (you hope) making your cauldron explode that I keep on playing, even when I know I'll lose.

The movement system in Fearsome Floors is great fun, especially when it's the monster that's moving. Try to position your terrified investigators so the creature goes for the other guy and not you.

The goal and gameplay in Villainous is different for each player, so some characters are more fun to use than others. But I can't resist the Disney vibe. Every expansion comes with new villains to try out. Help the Wicked Queen create her potion, or Hades free the Titans, or Ratigan become King of England -- it all depends on which villain you choose. Plus the snippets of dialogue and phrases from my favourite movies printed on the cards give me a Disney thrill.

Tags is probably the best 'see-how-many-you-can-name' party game I've tried. The changing letter tiles ensure the game is different every time, while the ability to pick up unguessed words after your friend has failed makes for lots of bragging rights. And unlike some games, this one is not dumbed down enough to exclude the tough letters. Can't think of a villain who starts with Q? Too bad, I can!

Now here's a game I can win, and often do. Stone Age requires worker placement to get the raw materials to buy cards, tools, farms, and huts that all score victory points. Don't run out of food, or you'll be forced to spend those precious resources to feed your people. There are plenty of different strategies to try. I won't reveal mine, but only say that I'm always up for this game.

I couldn't leave out the Totally Insane Card Game. Think Uno on steroids. Alongside the familiar Reverse and Skip cards you'll find the Totally Useless Card, the This Hand Is Dead card, and everybody's favourite, the This Is Not My Card card. Fun, frenzied, and frustrating, play can take hours or, and this really happened, about a minute and a half. And it's only sold on their official website.

When you first try Puns of Anarchy, you may find it impossible. But don't give up; you'll soon get the hang of it. Alter your cards by writing over parts of the song title, movie, celebrity, or whatever is written there to create phrases that fit the categories. This is easily the best of the "choose-the-funniest-answer" genre, probably because actual creativity is required.

Dixit is a very popular game, and deserves to be. The bizarre but beautiful cards are open to limitless descriptive phrases, but you have to pick the one that only some of your friends will guess. Make it too hard, and you score zero. Make it too easy and you score, you guessed it, zero. Bluff other players with a great card on your opponent's turn and you steal his points. And when the game is over, you can spend a long time just looking through the cards. One caveat: this game has a load of expansions, but some of them have better cards than others. You might want to search the internet for a preview before choosing your expansion.

Making a list of only 10 is exceptionally difficult. I regret having to leave off Fit To Print, Inklings, Last Will, Carcasonne, Wise and Other Wise, Istanbul, Museum Pictura, Galaxy Trucker, and so many others. But too many great games to name just 10 is a plus. So get out there and try these games. You'lll soon have your own list of faves to play again and again.

Dragonmaster Game Variants and House Rules

You might remember a card game from the '70s called Dragonmaster. It has something of a cult following today, and for good reason. This trick-taking card game never grows old. It's a lot like Hearts with a fantasy overlay, but the different goals chosen for each of the five hands, combined with fabulous artwork, elevates Dragonmaster to classic status.

Although the official instructions include three variations of the game, that was never enough for our family. We somehow, over the course of hundreds of gameplays, developed a number of house variants. Some worked better than others, but all are worthy of a try. So Whatsits Galore presents them here. Game on! More...