Fun Card Games for an 8 Year Old!

My 8 year old daughter LOVES to play games.  It started way back when she was younger with memory.  A great game for her, because she found something she can always beat Mommy at!  She was drawn to most games, naturally because her parents are also very competitive. Board games, card games, mental games (I spy...) and physical games (basketball) were all fair game for games.  Lately, she really enjoys playing card games though.  Maybe it's because she's realized that I will say yes more often than not to card games, because I love them as well.  Playing cards reminds me of when I used to sit and play double solitaire and cribbage with my Grandfather.  So when she asks, it's usually a YES of course!

Card games are great at this age because:
1.  The rules are usually pretty simple
2.  It teaches children how to take turns.
3.  It teaches them how to develop strategies
4. They don't cost a lot!

Our favorite games

1.  UNO - Besides gold fish and old maid, (preschool games), UNO was the first card game she really learned.  We played...and played...and played this game.  When family would come to visit, I'd tell them "I hope you're ready to play some UNO", because I knew she would ask.  Honestly, though, I didn't mind too much because she would come out to my spot in the living room where I was working, I could put the footrest up, she would grab her bean bag, and we would play right there for a few rounds.  One time my Mom came out to visit, we play a "round" of Uno with the 3 of us.  That game lasted over 2 days!  We had to keep putting it down and coming back to it because nobody could go out!  LOL.  My daughter still talks about that game!

Needless to say, Uno got a little old, and this girl NEEDED some new games in her life.  So I went to the garage to pull out some of my old games.


2.  Skipbo - This game is fun for her.  It didn't take too long for her to get the hang of it, and started to figure out her strategy.  She gets so excited about making certain moves though, so I still give her a little leeway and help her out.  The main objective to the game is to get rid of your stock pile (15, 20 or 30 cards) by creating shared piles in the middle that go from 1-12.  Now she teaches other people to play it whenever she gets a chance!

3.  Phase 10 - This game is a LOOOONNNGGG game when you are first teaching it to an 8 year old.  That being said, she loves it now.  I think she really likes it because she knows how long she'll have my attention for.  She knows that it takes a while, and that she'll get a lot of Mommy time.  Which is fine by me.  Basically it's kind of like Rummy in that you have to make runs, and 3,4 and 5 of a kind.  There are different phases that you have to go through in order.

...and finally..

4. Racko - I remember loving to play this game with my friends when I was younger so I had hoped that my daughter would enjoy it as well.  It was really easy to explain to her and she got the hang of it quickly.  She loved it too!  There's some fun twists and turns in the game that make it exciting and nerve wracking at the same time!  In the game you start by placing your cards in your holder (without seeing the numbers) and then taking turns to make moves to get the numbers in order from lowest to highest.  Like I said its a simple concept, but it's really fun!

If you haven't heard of any of these games you should really check them out.  Even if you don't have kids, I've played all of these games as an adult, with other adults, and we have a blast.  There's something about playing games again that bring you back to your childhood.  It's a great feeling.