13 Best Card Games for 3 People

Co-authored by Janice Tieperman Reviewed by Ashton Wu

Last Updated: September 11, 2024 Fact Checked

Card games are a pretty great way to pass the time, but what if you only have 3 people available to play? Not to worry—from simple games like Go Fish and Old Maid to trick-taking tournaments like Skat and Ninety-Nine, there’s no shortage of ways to have fun in a group of 3. We’ll be giving you a quick run-down of the most popular 3-player card games out there, so you can find a game that appeals to you and your group.

Things You Should Know

You can play all of these games with a classic 52-card deck.
Go Fish, Old Maid, Crazy Eights, Slapjack, and Bullshit are all classic card games that don’t involve specific card rankings.
Skat, Let It Ride, Ninety-Nine, and Sergeant Major are fun games that involve either bets or tricks.

1

Gin Rummy

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Customize a classic 2-player game of Gin Rummy by alternating dealers. Assign one player as the dealer while the other 2 players go head-to-head in a round of Gin Rummy. Play the game as usual by sorting your cards into runs (consecutive cards in a matching suit) or sets (3-4 identical cards of different suits). The losing player of each round switches spots with the current dealer until someone scores 100 cumulative points over multiple rounds.^{[1]
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- Gameplay style: Individual
- Card ranking (low to high): A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K
- Gin Rummy Instructions

2

Go Fish

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Pair off all of your cards first in an iconic “Go Fish” face-off. Hand out 7 cards to each player, leaving the rest of the deck face-down in the center. Take turns asking a single player for a specific card—if they don’t have what you’re looking for, “go fish” by drawing a new card from the center deck. The first player to pair off all their cards is the winner!
- Gameplay style: Individual
- Card ranking (low to high): No card ranking
- Go Fish Instructions

3

Crazy Eights

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Get rid of all your cards first in Crazy Eights. In this UNO-like game, start by handing out 5 cards to each player and placing the other cards face-down in the center of the play area. On your turn, discard any card that matches the rank or suit of the center card. Any 8s are treated like wild cards—the dealer gets to decide what the new suit for the round is.^{[2]
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- Gameplay style: Individual
- Card ranking (low to high): No card ranking
- Crazy Eights Instructions
- Just like in UNO, you need to say “last card” before making a play that leaves you with one card. Queens are treated as Skips, Aces are treated as Reverses, and 2s are treated as Draw 2s.

4

Skat

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Skat is an alliance-based game designed specifically for 3 players. From dealing and partnering to bidding and competing, this game has a little bit of everything. In a game of Skat, 120 total “card points” are up for grabs—the solo player tries to score at least 61 points, while the partnered duo needs at least 60 combined points.^{[3]
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- Gameplay style: Alliance
- Card ranking (low to high): 7 8 9 Q K 10 A J♦ J♥ J♠ J♣
- Skat Instructions
- Skat is completely different from the card game Scat. Skat with a “K” originated in Germany and has a pretty complex set of rules, while Scat with a “C” is a simple American card game that just involves drawing and discarding cards.^{[4]
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5

Let It Ride

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Create the most valuable hand possible in a round of Let It Ride. In this poker variation, each player gets 3 cards while the dealer gets 2. Each player tries to create the best possible hand between their cards and the dealer’s. Like most poker games, royal flushes, straight flushes, four of a kinds, full houses, and flushes have the highest payouts. Don’t worry, though—straights, three of a kinds, and two pairs will still earn you something.^{[5]
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- Gameplay style: Individual
- Card ranking (low to high): Standard poker card ranking
- Let It Ride Instructions
- You need at least a pair of 10s to break even in a round of Let It Ride.

6

Old Maid

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Avoid ending the game with the Queen card in a round of Old Maid. Take a single Queen card out of the deck and deal the leftover cards to the 3 players. Remove any pairs from your hand and take turns drawing cards from each other’s hands as you go. Unlike most card games, Old Maid doesn’t have a winner; instead, the player who ends up with the single Queen in their hand is the loser.^{[6]
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- Gameplay style: Individual
- Card ranking (low to high): No card ranking
- Old Maid Instructions

7

Golf

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Win Golf the card game by getting a lower score than your fellow players. This game has a 4- and 6-card variation, where each player tries to create matching pairs in their personal 4- or 6-card grid. At the end of each round, use a specialized scoring system to tally up everyone’s points. Whoever scores the lowest takes the crown!^{[7]
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- Gameplay style: Individual
- Card ranking (low to high): K A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q
- Golf Instructions

8

Ninety-Nine

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Use a smaller deck and specialized card code to play Ninety-Nine. Unlike other card games, Ninety-Nine only uses 36 cards in a deck (you can remove any 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s), with each player getting 12 cards. Using the suit ranks on your cards, each player tries to win the precise number of tricks specified by their 3 bid cards. Each player gets points for scoring tricks and completing their secret bid—whoever gets 100 points first wins the game.^{[8]
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- Gameplay style: Individual
- Card ranking (low to high): 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K A
- Ninety-Nine Instructions
- Clubs represent 3 tricks, hearts represent 2, spades represent 1, and diamonds represent 0. If your 3 bid cards included a heart, spade, and diamond, you’d need to win exactly 3 tricks.

9

Slapjack

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Win a game of Slapjack by “slapping” all of the cards into your hand. Divvy up the cards evenly into 3 face-down piles. Then, each player flips over their top card and places it in a center pile. When a Jack appears, everyone tries to physically slap the center pile with their palm. The first person to slap the jack collects the center pile, and the first person to get all of the cards wins the game.^{[9]
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- Gameplay style: Individual
- Card ranking (low to high): No card ranking
- Slapjack Instructions

10

Sergeant Major

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Beat your fellow players by winning the most tricks in a round of Sergeant Major. There are 3 different players in a game of Sergeant Major: the dealer, the player left of the dealer (also called “left”), and the player right of the dealer (also called “right”). The dealer wins by getting 8 tricks, the left player wins by scoring 5, and the right player wins by scoring 3.^{[10]
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- Gameplay style: Individual
- Card ranking (low to high): 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K A
- Sergeant Major Instructions

11

Bullshit

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Put on your best poker face in a hilarious round of Bullshit. Each player places 1 to 4 cards in the center of the play area and announces what they put down (like “three 2s” or “4 jacks”)—the catch is that you have to do this in ascending card order (start with Aces, followed by 2s, 3s, 4s, and so on). If you suspect a player is lying, say “Bull” or “Bullshit.” Either the lying player or false accuser has to collect all the central cards. Whoever successfully gets rid of their hand first is the winner!^{[11]
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- Gameplay style: Individual
- Card ranking (low to high): No card ranking
- Bullshit Instructions

12

Trash

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Be the first player to make a sequential grid of 10 cards. Place 10 cards face-down in front of each player in 2 rows of 5. Then, stack the rest of the cards face-down in the middle of the play area. During your turn, draw a card from the center and place it in the correct spot on the grid (Ace, 2, 3, 4, and 5 go in the top row while 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 go in the bottom row). The first player to successfully fill out their 10-card grid wins the game.^{[12]
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- Gameplay style: Individual
- Card ranking (low to high): Q K A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J
- Trash Instructions
- Use 2 decks of cards when you’re playing a round of Trash.^{[13]
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- Queen and King cards are worthless in Trash, while Jacks act as wild cards.^{[14]
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13

Palace

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Get rid of all your cards first in an exciting round of Palace. Each player starts with 3 cards face-down in front of them, along with 6 cards in their hand. The game cycles through as all players try to discard sequentially higher cards from their hands. The first player to successfully empty their hand wins the game.^{[15]
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- Gameplay style: Individual
- Card ranking (low to high): 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K A
- Palace Instructions

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Tips

You can also play Baccarat with 3 people, but you typically play this at a casino with a special table.^{[16]
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