How Card Games Have Adapted Through the Course of the Decades

The humble deck of cards has long been the source of hours of entertainment, family feuds, and rewarding competitions. From this deck of cards, we have some hugely popular games that have evolved in both the physical and digital worlds. One such fascinating card game is poker. The revolution of poker as a card game has truly evolved and adapted to current trends and the digital world. If we look back 50 years ago, we would not have imagined that you could play poker online in your home or anywhere for that matter. Now let’s look at some other card games that have stood the test of time, continue to delight players, as well as those games that have adapted to change.

While Uno is not your standard 52-card deck, it has been around for more than 50 years and has single-handedly ruined so many friendships - it’s all in the name of fun, though. The fact that Uno started over an argument is so interesting, as the game can push you to your limits! Inventor Merle Robbins and his son were playing Crazy Eights when they started to argue over the rules, this was when Merle got the genius idea of Uno. The rules of Uno are simple, each player is dealt seven cards, with each player getting a turn to play by matching the color or number and sometimes the action card of the previous player. The first player to yell Uno on their second last card and then to play their last card wins! But Uno has thrown the rules in the air in recent years. Previously, the rules allowed players to stack plus 4 action cards - this meant you were able to play a plus 4 on top of a plus 4 on top of a 4 plus. But Uno’s social media accounts were buzzing when they announced players could no longer do this! Every few months Uno will drop their latest rules on their Twitter account and it has proved to spark even more interest in the game. Uno has also released some suave card styles as well and launched some wild new rules in 2022.

This is one card game that’s had its fair share of changes. First starting as the game we love and know as Klondike, we are now playing Solitaire online. Card solitaire games originated towards the end of the 18th Century and were pretty much only in the Klondike style. At the time, Klondike was considered a truly remarkable game as it was one of the few instances of games that challenged people. Later this would change to be for pure entertainment value. Not that it’s an easy game to play. At first, the games were designed to be extremely hard to solve because people had fewer things to do compared to today, where the game is more fast-paced. Over time, players were challenged even more when they were given a certain amount of time in which to complete a board. This proved successful as timed Klondike Solitaire games are still popular today. After some time, Solitaire as we know and love it today was created. In Klondike Solitaire, the object of the game was to stack up to four columns of cards of each suit starting from the ace to the king. In the version we play today, players must clear all cards from the playing field. Today Microsoft's Solitaire is still one of the best and we couldn’t agree more.

Blackjack is one of the more popular card games. It’s quite simple to play and many underestimate it because of this. In blackjack, you are playing against the house (the dealer), and you either need to have your cards add up to 21 or as close to 21 as possible in order to win! Legend has it this card game was invented by the Romans, now we can’t say this for certain, but we wouldn’t be surprised! The theory holds a lot of weight because gambling was extremely popular amongst the Romans, however, it's still only a theory. During the 19th century, this card game rose in popularity in the US. The game was often seen in the legalized gambling halls in New Orleans, but it wasn’t played the way we play it today. Back then in the earlier form of blackjack, only the dealer was allowed to double; the game was also known as 21 back then. In the 20th Century, 21 changed to blackjack as we know and love it today.

The Pokémon card game was first released in December 1998. Every single Pokémon-loving child wanted and collected these little playing cards. But how did you play it? Each Pokémon card featured a Pokémon with a specific set of moves that allowed it to take down another Pokémon. So, all you had to do as a player was to outsmart your opponent using the correct Pokémon with the correct set of moves. Now if you were Pokémon obsessed like we were, you would know right off the bat which Pokémon would defeat another. However, the cards offer an extra layer of complexity as Pokémon are given random moves making the game more challenging. Today, however, no one plays the Pokémon card game not because it’s outdated, but because the cards are highly valued and extremely rare. If you have them, hold onto them.