The ultimate card-player's companion, crammed with over 300 pages of games to provide hours of engrossing entertainment playing in groups or by yourself. A tricks section provides ways to astound your friends and family with your seemingly effortless skills. Both games and tricks cater for a range of abilities so that you can progress and expand your repertoire. Bridge, Brag, Poker, Rummy and Cribbage - all the classics are here, along with all their variations, as well as lesser known games such as Red Dog, Beleaguered Castle and Quinto. With easy-to-follow explanations for each game including their origins, rules, ranking of cards and tactics, as well as clear illustrations of sample hands, scoring systems and a full glossary of terms, you can quickly make yourself familiar with games you've never tried. Tricks include sleights and shuffling tricks, tricks with prepared packs, magic tricks and mathematical tricks. Challenge yourself and have fun no matter where you are - all you need is a pack of cards and The Card Games Bible.

A comprehensive compendium celebrating the old-fashioned pleasure of pure play.

The Penguin Book of Card Games is the authoritative up-to-date compendium, describing an abundance of games to be played both for fun and by serious players. Auctions, trumpless hands, cross-ruffing and lurching: card players have a language all of their own. From games of high skill (Bridge) to games of high chance (Newmarket) to trick-taking (Whist) and banking (Pontoon), David Parlett, seasoned specialist in card games, takes us masterfully through the countless games to choose from. Not content to merely show us games with the conventional fifty-two card pack, Parlett covers many games played with other types of cards - are you brave enough to play with Tarot? With a 'working description' of each game, with the rules, variations and origins of each, as well as an appendix of games invented by the author himself, The Penguin Book of Card Games will delight, entertain and inform both the novice and the seasoned player.

Pick a card game - any game Everyone loves to play cards and this ultimate collection has all the fun favourites, including rummy, spades, war, old maid, go fish, snip snap snorem and hearts. There are over 50 games in all, organised by type and difficulty, and complete with instructions, rules, strategies, colour illustrations and a brief note on each one's origins.

Sometimes in these days of expensive toys and gadgets we forget that a simple pack of cards (or two) can provide hours of fun. Cards are inexpensive, easily portable and endlessly adaptable. Families can enjoy a game together, kids can play in groups on their own, and a solitary child can while away the hours playing solitaire games, practicing shuffling and dealing, or building card houses. Put a pack of cards in your pocket or handbag and this book onto your kindle and you'll always have entertainment ready! Card games also build all sorts of skills. Younger children will encounter number recognition, sorting problems, fine motor skills, taking turns, practicing patience. Older children will start to use their strategic thinking skills and can benefit from watching (and trying to remember) the cards that other players put down or play and working out odds. So get the cards out and have a go! There are easy instructions for 36 of the best card games for children and families in this book to choose from, and I know you'll find something fun - whether you are looking for a quiet game for 2 kids, a rowdy game for a family gathering, or a game which will keep a group of teenagers and younger children entertained.