Summary
Card games are one of the oldest forms of tabletop games, with standardized decksof playing cardsbeing the primary format in which they are played. These cards have gone through many changes and iterations over the years, and are different in all parts of the world. Countless traditional card games exist or have existed, but these examples provide a varied history of card games.
Information and evidence of older card games exist in varying quantities, so while some of these games almost certainly came from a specific period, some have a less accurately recorded history. Regardless, it’s safe to assume that all the games included are fairly old, though some of them are still played today.
Updated July 31, 2025 by Harry Ted Sprinks:With the popularity of tabletop games only increasing in recent years, and modern indie games embracing a variety of board game mechanics, card games are becoming an increasingly popular format for digital and physical games.
As such, there’s never been a better time to look into where it all started. Unfortunately, players won’t be able to play some of theseold card games, as some of their rules have been lost to time.
10Coon Can / Conquian
1887
Coon CanandConquianare similar, if not virtually identical, versions of a card game that is likely to have originated in Spain and/or parts of the New World, due to the fact that it was typically played with a Spanish 40-card deck. The game entered America through Mexico and quickly became popular in the bordering US states, primarily Texas.
The game first appeared in writing in 1887aspart ofThe Standard Hoyle, though as with all older games, it could be assumed that the game could have been around for an indefinite amount of time before that.
9Poker
1829-1836
A classic American pastime,Pokeris almost synonymous with playing cards, though it hasn’t been around nearly as long as other card games and has evenshown up in some video games. This is a testament to the game’s popularity and cultural impact.
AlthoughExposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling(1843, Jonathan H. Green) andThirty Years Passed Among the Players in England and America(1844, Joe Cowell) imply thatPokerwas widely played by 1829,the first evidence of the game stems back to the writings of J. Hildreth and theirDragoon Campaigns To The Rocky Mountainsin 1836.
8Juckerspiel
Late 18th Century
It’s almost inarguable thatJuckerspielisthe originator of the popular card game,Euchre, and is believed to have been brought to America by German immigrants. The game originates from Alsace and is mainly considered to have been popular during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Later on,Juckerspielwas eclipsed by the immensely popular gameEuchre, which popularized (and is considered to have necessitated) the Joker card. AlthoughEuchreis still popular in America and some other parts of the world today, its popularity has steadily declined since the nineteenth century.
7Patience
1798
The term “Patience” regarding card games can often refer to solo (solitaire) games as a whole, butthe earliest mention ofPatienceas a game in of itself occurs inDas neue Spielalmanach für(1798) where it is described as a game for two playersin which players take turns playingPatience, with both the players andpotential spectators gamblingon the outcome of the game.
The interesting thing about this reference is that it implies thatPatience, a game typically assumed to be a solitaire experience, was originally played with two players. It could therefore be assumed thatPatienceevolved into a solitaire game through players practicing the game by themselves, only to find it an enjoyable pastime.
6Whist
1674
AlthoughWhistwas first described by Charles Cotton in his account of various game rules,The Compleat Gamester, in 1674, the game’s widespread popularity wasn’t fully developed until the early-to-mid eighteenth century, when famed English writer and card player,Edmond Hoyle, began to tutor the game before publishing his work on it,A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist, in 1742.
Whistis one of the most popular classic trick-taking card games, and remained fairly popular throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, though its popularity has died out since. However,Whisthas seen many off-shoots since its original conception, including the famousBoston (Whist)andKnock-Out Whist.
5Ombre
1665
This English variation ofL’Hombre, which came from the Spanish card game,Hombre, was one of the most popular card games in the West untilWhistcame about and eclipsed it, which itself was later overshadowed by the still-popular partnership game ofBridge.
AlthoughOmbredid come after other, older games, it’s still one of the oldest card games to have been played and popularized,with its first concrete appearance inThe Royal Game Of Ombre Written At The Request Of Divers Honourable Personsin 1665.
4Noddy
1589
The earliest evidence ofNoddy, which is predated byCostly Coloursand is a precursor to the massively popularCribbage, isan appearance in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1589. The game gets its name from its term for the traditional “Jack” card, which was often known as a “Knave” in other games, and known as a “Noddy” (a popular English term for a fool at the time) in this game.
The game itself is extremely similar toCribbagein both its scoring (players can use cards to make fifteens and count cards more than once in different combinations) and the peg-and-hole board to keep track of the game.
3Thirty-One
1440
This precursor to the gambling gameVingt-Un, the originator of the essentially identical gameTwenty-One(otherwise known asBlackjack), is extremely similar to that ofTwenty-One, with its core difference being fairly obvious: the reduced target count.
Thirty-Oneisn’t just one of the oldest card games, it’s also one of the oldest gambling card games, dating back to a 1440 sermon of an Italian monk and “mentioned by name in a 1464 French translation.” The card game remained popular, especially in France, through to the eighteenth century, and began to die out sometime during the nineteenth century as it was eclipsed by its successor,Twenty-One.
2Karnoffel
1426
As far as European card games go,Karnoffelis the oldest of them all, with evidence of its existence dating back to the passing of a law in the German state of Bavaria in 1426 that allowed the councilors to play the game at an annually held festival.The game was played with a standard deck of German-suited cards that included the suits of acorns, leaves, hearts, and bells.
Unfortunately,the original rules forKarnoffelare long gone, and many have abandoned hope of recovering them, though some have attempted to reconstruct them based on the limited information available.Karnoffelis arguably responsible for many of the tropes that exist in more modern European card games, especially in trick-taking games, most notably being responsible for the general rule that the Ace beats out the King.
1The Chinese “Leaf” Game (Yezi Ge)
618-907
It is widely considered that playing cards originated in China in the form of a game calledyezi ge, which translates to “the game of Leaves”, between 618 and 907 during the Tang Dynasty. This assumption, however, relies on the basis that the term “leaves” refers to paper cards.Some believe that this card game was actually a paper version of dominoes.
Assuming that “the game of Leaves” refers to the playing of cards (and not the “leaves” of a rule book detailing a dice game,as written by historian Ouyang Xiu),yezi geis one of, if not the oldest playing card game to have existed.
