There's nothing cozier than playing a hand of cards in the corner of a café, next to a fireplace, or on porch. I personally keep a pack on my person at all times to liven up waiting for food at a restaurant or to spice up evening drinks at a friend's home.

Here are a few of our favorite games for two. Grab a deck and a friend, crush, or long-time-love and see where the cards fall 😉.
Let us know in the comments what your favorite two-player card games are.

The goal is to win the most "books" of cards. A book is any four of a kind, such as four kings, four aces, and so on.

The dealer deals the cards clockwise one at a time, face down, beginning with the player to the left. If two are playing, each player receives seven cards. The remainder of the pack is placed face down on the table to form the stock.

The player to the left of the dealer begins by asking any of their opponents for any of their ranks (for example "Give me your fours"). It's polite to address your opponent by name before requesting their cards. The player who is "fishing" for that card must have at least one of those cards in their hand. If the opponent does indeed have the cards requested, they have to hand them off to the fisher. But if the opponent does not have any of those cards, they say "Go fish!" and the player has to draw a card from the top card of the stack and place it in their hand.

If the player receives cards from the asked opponent, his/her turn continues and they get to that same opponent or another opponent for a rank. It can be the same card or a different one. So long as the player succeeds in getting cards (makes a catch), their turn continues. If a player gets the fourth card of a book, the player shows all four cards, places them on the table face up in front of everyone, and plays again.

 If the player goes fishing without "making a catch" (does not receive a card he/she asked for), the turn passes to the left.

The game ends when all thirteen books have been won. The winner is the player with the most books. During the game, if a player is left without cards, they may (when it's their turn to play), draw from the stock and then ask for cards of that rank. If there are no cards left in the stock, they are out of the game.

 

The object is for players to have the lowest value of the cards in front of them by either swapping them for lesser value cards or by pairing them up with cards of equal rank.

Beginning with the player to the dealer's left, players take turns drawing single cards from either the stock or discard piles. The drawn card may either be swapped for one of that player's 6 cards, or discarded. If the card is swapped for one of the face down cards, the card swapped in remains face up. The round ends when all of a player's cards are face-up.

A game is nine "holes" (deals), and the player with the lowest total score is the winner.

 

We added a cute Valentine's-themed card jacket to our decks of playing cards. Buy a pack for your family members, besties, and soon-to-be lovers to let them know that they're the real deal.