If you’ve managed to get your loved one to stop looking at a smartphone long enough to talk to you, this is already progress. But now you’ve upping the ante to two-player card games and you’re not looking for something on Google Play or the App Store? This is downright vintage in 2024!

For friends who enjoyed a good board game or showing off their shuffling skills, finding the best two-player card games will feel like a blast from the past. Let’s enjoy going down memory lane to recall four card game favorites.

Uno

This is a fairly simple game, as long as there are no suspicious new rules for what to do with Wild Cards. Played with a minimum of two people, each deck comes with 112 cards with three (optional) blanks. If you choose to use the blank cards and mutually decide what should be written on them, include those in the deck. If you’d rather work with already-printed cards, sit the blank ones to the size. Deal seven cards to each player.

The dealer flips one card from the top of the deck face up. The first player has to put down a matching color, number or symbol of the face-up card. There are a few tricks along the way, including Draw Four and Draw Two. The goal of the game is to be the last one with no cards. And when you get down to your last card, you must shout “Uno” or you’ll be forced to pick up two more cards.

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Spades

Although it’s way more common to play Spades with four people, it can be played with two people. With a 52-card deck, you and the other teammate must decide the winning score (200 or 500) before you start. Afterward, remove the Jokers from the deck. Place the deck face down on the table, and take turns drawing a card from the top of the stack until both players have 13 cards.

Adjust your cards so all the suits and symbols are organized (ex. Spades with other Spades, Hearts with other Hearts). Immediately look for “high cards” or “spades,” which can win “tricks” (i.e., cards in the center of the table). Higher-ranking cards (ex. Ace, King, Queen or Jack, and definitely high cards that are Spades) usually mean you have a good chance of doing well.

Bet how many rounds you’ll win before you start playing. You’ll win the round by playing your highest card. After 13 rounds, count how many you actually won.

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500 Rum

With a standard deck of 52 cards and two jokers, two players are given 13 cards. Face cards carry 10 points, and Jokers are 15 points. Players will each pick one card from the pile, and discard another before the next player can play. The goal is for players to collect at least three cards of a similar rank or suit. When that happens, place them face down. Any card (including the wild Joker card) that completes a sequence can be added to it.

Individuals can also pick the discard pile’s top card. When any player finishes placing down all their cards, the game ends. Players then subtract the card values they have in their hands from the value on the table. While some scores will be negative, the goal is to get to 500.

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Solitaire

As popular as it is to see someone playing Solitaire on their own, the game was intended to be played with two people. Players are supposed to build cards in descending order from King, Queen, Jack, 10 and onward into a set of four piles. In addition to numerical order, the cards should toggle between red and black in each set.

Both players start with a 52-card deck, and prepare seven rows with cards facing down. On the first row, add one card. The second row has two cards. The third row has three cards. Continue this pattern until the seventh row has seven cards. However, the last card in each row should be faced upward.

Create a pile for the remaining cards. Then, take turns creating a descending sequence by moving the cards already arranged in each row into their respective places. If that’s not an option, pick a card from the pile. Continue on until the seven piles become the final four piles, starting with a King and an Ace.

Once you’ve built a proper sequence from king to ace, place that in one of your four piles. A winner is chosen based on Double Solitaire or Points Solitaire Tiles. With Double Solitaire, the winner is the player who played the most cards, even if the game is not finished. The player with the fewest remaining cards gets points when a round is won or the game ends.

With Points Solitaire Tiles, the winner has to win two times or have the most points after three games. This one is slightly different because players choose a “scoring” color and only place tiles with their color choice (i.e., one player plays with red cards while the other plays with black cards).

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Whether you’re a beginner or an expert in all four, these games will make time fly by. Best of all, they’re fairly easy to learn. Is your favorite card game not listed? Which one is your favorite?