Awesome Card Games

Balatro is one of the best and most addictive games of the year. Developer LocalThunk teamed up with Fangamer and artist Tony Kuchar to produce an IRL deck of playing cards based on the ones in the game. Each card has pixelated graphics on the front and back, and the deck includes four of the game’s jokers. Now we need a set with all 150 jokers.

This hilariously-warped card game from The Oatmeal creator Matthew Inman drops players into a therapist’s office. The goal? Create a funny three-panel comic consisting of a therapist’s question, a patient’s answer, and an outlandish treatment. Players win points for selecting the funniest treatment card. This one’s definitely not for the kids. (Thanks, Karen!)

Vicious Gardens is a deviously fun card game in which you try to grow the best garden while sabotaging others. Plant your favorite fruits, veggies, flowers, and herbs and use Specialist cards to help your garden grow, or send a pestilence to your neighbors. Collect groups of plants and harvest them to win Victory Cards – the first to achieve three victories wins!

Jordan McLaughlin’s Rookie Mage Games created this adult party game inspired by classic horror movies. Designed for 3 to 5 players, it turns one person into the killer and the others their victims. Can you and your friends escape almost certain doom, or will the murderer win out? Start playing it now so you’re in practice by next Halloween.

Balatro is your next gaming addiction – but not because it’s a poker game. It merely uses the card game’s hands as a starting point, and then it quickly goes off the rails. Like fellow indie hit Vampire Survivors, this fast-paced roguelike keeps you hooked with lots of shiny rewards that will help you rack up scores on the edge of math.

This grim but funny card game challenges players to act out unusual ways of dying. One team chooses who died and how they died, and the other team must draw or act out their demise for their teammates to guess. For example: Who: Air Tube Dancing Man; How: Lawnmower Accident. It’s basically Charades or Pictionary but in a cemetery. For 4 to 6 players.

This challenging party game asks players to steal items from a museum guarded by laser beams. Only the laser beams are elastic strings, and the hands you’ll use to grab things are tiny. Tiny Laser Heist also incorporates strategic card game elements as players draw cards to recruit their team and plan the biggest heist possible.

Ready to chew bubble gum and kick ass, but you’re all out of bubble gum? We’ve got a game for you. Based on John Carpenter’s classic, They Live, this card game from Iconiq Studios has players teaming up to uncover the aliens hidden at the table. The upgrade pack includes Hoffman Lenses that reveal hidden words on some cards.

Après Hours’ ready-made espresso martinis make cocktails easy, and combined with the Drunk Après Hours Drinking Game, it makes happy hour even happier. This collaboration with Drunk in Love is a simple game for three or more requiring players to follow prompts correctly or take a sip.

The party game I Have This Friend is a great way to get to know people. It plays out much like “Never Have I Ever,” except with players picking cards from a deck of awkward or embarrassing situations, then asking everyone at the table to fess up when it applies to them. Mix with booze for added laughs.

From the makers of Exploding Kittens comes a fun card game with a deceptively simple set of rules. Using the colors and icons on the backs of cards as clues, players must figure out what cards to steal from their opponents to maximize their score. Each game takes about 10 minutes to play. For 2 to 6 players.

Pick Your Poison is an adult party game that asks players to choose from two very unpleasant scenarios to try and guess which one the rest of the table will go with. Players earn points each time they guess the majority answer. This edition includes some seriously NSFW suggestions, so it’s definitely not for the kids.

Apothic Wines double dares you to get the party started with Would You Dare? a conversational 21+ game for those who aren’t afraid to play without rules. The 54-card deck features bold prompts such as “reveal your deepest desire.” Guaranteed to make the night more interesting, especially after a bottle of wine.

Tabletop games are great, but keeping their cards and tokens from getting scattered all over is a pain. MagHolders are modular mini drawers perfect for holding game pieces and cards. They have multiple magnets, so they can be attached side by side, stacked, or inverted to hold extra cards. Sold in sets from 4 to 100 pieces.

Smashing Helmets is a unique tabletop game that asks players to build their own cardboard helmets, then battle by tearing apart their opponents’ armor. The game includes templates for crafting helmets, along with either plastic or aluminum hardware, and a set of game cards. For 2 to 6 players. BYO cardboard boxes.

Etsy seller Casiopea3D makes these 3D-printed trays for keeping your cards and tokens neat and tidy when playing tabletop games. Each one has three card slots and four token trays. Measures appx. 7.9″ w x 2.4″ d. Sold in sets of two or more in a variety of colors.