Best 7 Card Games Similar to Bridge

Bridge can be awesomely addictive. But for those days you want to try something new, there are lots of games similar to Bridge you can play. Some of them feature physical board and cards you can purchase to play with friends. Others work online but you can still play against your friends.

Uno

Similar to Bridge, Uno is a simple to play yet incredibly thrilling card game played by millions of people worldwide. It involves 2-10 players, each with seven cards dealt face down. At the start of a game, each player plays a card in the discard pile.

Your card must match the color, number or action of the discard pile. For example, if the discard pile has a number six, you need to place a card with the number six on it. In summary, here are Uno’s main rules:

• Play a card matching the discard
• Play a wild draw or a wild card
• Draw the top card if possible

Similar to most card games, there are also penalties for not following simple rules. For example, you must draw two cards as a penalty if you fail to call “Uno” when playing your second to last card.

Poker

Similar to Bridge, the objective of poker is to defeat your opponents by producing the best combination of cards. You can play the game alone or together with a few friends. It’s more exciting to play against other people.

In fact, poker’s intriguing features makes it one of the most popular casino games. It’s popular with professionals and amateurs, celebrities and rulers. Being a gambling game, poker can make you rich or lead you into a spiral of losses.

Fortunately, you don’t have to play poker for real money. With the right groups of people, you can play the game for fun at home or online. It’s easy to learn but takes time before you can become an expert.

Baccarat

James Bond’s favorite card game also happens to be rather popular with some of England’s most popular kings. 

Edward VII, who played whilst a prince and as a king, is remembered by many for his impatience, his love for flouting the law, and his infamous Royal Baccarat Scandal. As the word go, Edward didn’t always associate with honest men. So, when the prince and his friends had a house party in the late 1890s, one of his closest friends got caught trying to cheat.

 He was apprehended and ostracized from society for life. Edward went on to become the king although he kept his gambling habits as a secret.

Back to baccarat, this casino game is fast-paced features many of the same cards you find on Bridge. However, these cards (10, J, Q and K) hold the value: zero. An Ace equals one while numbers 2-9 hold their face value. The goal of baccarat is to produce cards whose total value equals closest to nine. 

Five Crowns

Five Crowns is a game you can play with your family, friends of online strangers. Unlike Bridge, the game’s target is to get the least points. Here’s how it works:

• You receive three cards
• 3’s and jokers are wild
• Each player draws a card from the discard of deck

Five Crowns have a few more rules, so make sure you understand all of them before you play the game competitively. Speaking of which, the game works best in a group of 2-7. It involves some bit of luck but having a great strategy can also win you a game.

Blackjack

Blackjack is significantly different than Bridge, but it’s an exciting game nonetheless. Conventionally, you go head to head against a dealer with the sole aim being to defeat him or her.

How do you do it? You receive two cards at the start of the game, the same as the dealer. However, you can also view the dealer’s card values. Against that backdrop, what you do next is meant to help you get a value closest to or equal to 21.

Let’s say you receive an ace (11) and a 6-value card. You have a total of seventeen points. You can decide to hit and get an extra card or to stand. If you stand and the dealer ends up getting a better hand, you lose. 

Gin Rummy

Gin Rummy and Five Crowns are almost similar. But in the former, the goal is to match all your cards before everyone else. During the entire time, you hide your cards from your opponents. 

You can play Gin Rummy with 2-7 people. It features a 52-card deck, similar to Bridge, and there must be a dealer. He or she then deals all participants ten cards face down. The remaining cards form the discard pile and are dealt face up.

Because the game’s objective is to produce a set of the same cards fast, it’s wise to sort out your cards early. For example:

• Look for a run of jack, queen and king of diamonds
• Group a set of 1o of diamonds, spades and clubs

In Gin Rummy, you are also allowed to choose an extra card from the discard pile or to get rid of a card you don’t need. All in all, the goal is to match your cards into sets and runs faster than your opponents.

Go Fish

Sure, you probably played Go Fish enough as a kid. But for a game that takes less than twenty minutes, it’s worth playing no matter how old you are. What’s more, it’s an excellent game for bonding with family and friends.

The game’s rules are simple. Each player receives at least five cards. The players then ask each other when they have a specific type of cards? 

For example, the first player on the left asks his friend Joe, do you have any queens? If Joe has Queens, he’s give them out. If not, he will respond “Go Fish.” The asker then draws cards from a pile. If it’s the same cards he had asked Joe about, he gets to play twice. The goal of “GO FISH” is to produce the most four-of-a-kind cards. 

Photo by Jenny Marvin on Unsplash