Two-Player Card Games for Couples: 9 Games to Play Together

A card game for two is a small ritual. The deck comes out after the dishes are done, someone shuffles, and for twenty minutes the phones stay face down. The right game depends less on “which is best” and more on the evening you want: quiet and thoughtful, quick and noisy, or long and slow with a pot of coffee.

Here are nine that couples keep coming back to, grouped by mood.

Which two-player game fits your evening

Twenty quiet minutes after dinner

1. Cribbage

The classic couple’s game, and for good reason. You each get six cards and give two to the dealer’s “crib.” Then you play the cards out, calling running totals to 31, and count your hands for fifteens, pairs and runs. The pegboard race to 121 means even a losing game feels close until the end. Try counting a hand:

Count this cribbage hand

Hand: Five of hearts, Five of spades, Six of diamonds, Four of clubs. Starter: Jack of hearts.

Fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteen six, fifteen eight, a double run of three is sixteen — 16 points.

1. Fifteen two (+2)
2. Fifteen four (+2)
3. Fifteen six (+2)
4. Fifteen eight (+2)
5. A pair is ten (+2)
6. A run of three is thirteen (+3)
7. A run of three is sixteen (+3)

New to it? How to play cribbage, or play a game online to see the counting done for you.

2. Gin Rummy

Ten cards each. Draw one, discard one, and try to arrange your cards into sets (three 8s) and runs (5-6-7 of hearts). When the cards you can’t use add up to 10 or less, knock. Hands go fast, so it is easy to stop at any time. Gin Rummy rules.

3. Rummy 500

If one of you finds gin too tight, Rummy 500 loosens it up. With two players, deal 13 cards each. You lay melds on the table as you go, you can take more than one card from the discard pile, and the first to 500 points wins. See how it differs from gin.

Quick and lively

4. Spite and Malice

A race: each of you has a stockpile, and you build center piles from ace up to queen to get rid of it. Kings are wild. Luck evens things out, so it is a good game when one of you is much more experienced. It is the ancestor of the boxed game Skip-Bo. Spite and Malice rules.

5. Speed

No turns at all. Both players slap cards one higher or one lower onto two center piles as fast as they can. A game lasts about five minutes and usually ends in laughter. Fair warning: it rewards quick hands more than wisdom.

6. Yahtzee-style dice

Not a card game, but it fills the same spot: five dice, three rolls, thirteen boxes to fill. Twenty minutes, lots of luck, and a satisfying shout when the five-of-a-kind lands. Play Yacht Dice or print score sheets.

A long, slow afternoon

7. Two-handed Canasta

Canasta is usually four players in partners, but the two-player version is excellent. You each get 15 cards, draw two and discard one each turn, and need two canastas (melds of seven cards) to go out. A game to 5,000 points takes several deals. Canasta rules.

8. Two-handed Pinochle

The 48-card pinochle deck, twelve cards each, with melds scored between tricks. Plenty to think about, and the meld chart becomes a familiar friend. Pinochle rules, plus a printable meld chart.

9. Mexican Train for two

Dominoes rather than cards, but it plays well with two: 15 tiles each, three trains on the table. A relaxed game you can talk over. Mexican Train rules.

Making it a habit

• Keep a running tally. One sheet on the fridge, a line per evening. Over a month the score evens out, and it becomes its own story.
• Rotate games by season. Cribbage on weeknights, Canasta on Sundays.
• Let the newer player choose the game when you are learning one together. It keeps the evening fun for both.
• Play apart, too. Traveling or visiting family? Play the same game online at the same time and call each other between hands.

Looking for more two-player games, sorted by type? See our full list of card games for two.