Card Games for Couples: 20 Games for Two, From Fun to Flirty

A deck of cards is one of the easiest date nights there is. It costs nothing, fits in a pocket, and gives you an excuse to sit close, trash-talk a little, and laugh. These 20 card games for couples start with proper two-player classics, move through games that get you talking, and finish with flirty and kinky ways to raise the stakes.

Everything works with one ordinary deck. The flirty and kinky games further down are for two consenting adults, in private: agree your limits and a safeword first, and skip anything freely.

Classic two-player card games

Good card games for two, no stakes required. Each one also works with the flirty twists later on.

1. Gin rummy

Deal ten cards each. On your turn, draw from the deck or the discard pile, then discard one. You’re trying to build sets (three or four of the same number) and runs (three or more in a row, same suit). When your leftover cards add up to ten points or less, you can “knock” and end the hand; match everything and you’ve got gin, worth a bonus. First to 100 wins. It’s the perfect slow game for an evening with a glass of wine.

2. Cribbage

A two-player favorite with its own scoring board (a pencil and paper work fine). Each of you gets six cards and puts two into the dealer’s “crib”. You take turns laying cards and counting toward 31, scoring for fifteens, pairs and runs, then score your hands and the crib. First to 121 wins. It takes a game or two to click, and then it’s addictive.

3. Speed

Fast, loud and very competitive. Each of you holds five cards with a draw pile beside you, and two cards are flipped face up in the middle. You both play at the same time, no turns, laying any card one higher or one lower than either middle card and refilling your hand as you go. First to get rid of all their cards wins. Expect slapped hands and accusations.

4. Spit

Speed’s messier cousin. Each of you lays out a row of solitaire-style piles and races to play cards one up or one down onto two center piles. When you’re both stuck, you each “spit” a new card into the middle. At the end of a round, whoever slaps the smaller center pile first picks it up. Run out of cards entirely and you win.

5. War with stakes

Split the deck, flip your top cards at the same time, and the higher card takes both. A tie means war: three cards face down, one face up, winner takes the lot. It needs no skill, which makes it perfect for stakes: play to the first to win five wars, and the loser does the dishes, picks up takeout, or runs the bath.

6. Egyptian ratscrew

Deal out the whole deck face down. Take turns flipping your top card onto the middle pile. When someone plays a face card or ace, the other has a few chances to answer with a face card of their own, or the pile goes to the person who played it. Anyone can slap the pile to win it when two cards of the same number land on top of each other. Keep your hands ready.

7. Two-player spades (honeymoon bridge)

A trick-taking game for two. Instead of a normal deal, you take turns drawing from the deck: keep the top card or discard it and take the next one, until you each hold 13. Then bid how many tricks you’ll win and play them out, with spades as trumps. Hit your bid to score. If you like strategy, this is the one.

8. Crazy eights

Deal seven cards each and flip one face up. Take turns matching the top card by suit or number. Eights are wild: play one and name any suit. Can’t play? Draw. First to empty their hand wins. Easy enough to learn in a minute, which makes it the best warm-up before adding stakes.

Conversation and connection card games

Card games that get you talking instead of keeping score.

9. DIY question deck

Each of you writes ten questions on index cards, shuffle them together, and take turns drawing and answering. Mix sweet (“What’s your favorite memory of us?”), silly and deep. Steal from our sexy questions to ask your partner and would you rather questions for couples if you need a start.

10. Suits as topics

Give each suit a topic: hearts for love and us, diamonds for dreams and plans, clubs for fun and silly stories, spades for the deep stuff. The number sets how deep you go: low cards for easy answers, high cards for real ones. Draw a card and answer something in that suit, then swap.

11. Two truths and a lie

Draw a card. On red, tell your partner two true things and one lie about your past; on black, about your fantasies. They guess the lie. A right guess wins the card, and whoever has more cards at the end chooses what you do next.

You’ll find plenty of ready-made couples’ conversation decks in shops too, from first-date questions to deep relationship prompts. They’re a nice extra, but homemade questions tend to land closer to home.

Flirty and spicy card games

Now for the stakes. Our sex card game has ten more ways to play with an ordinary deck, including suits for body parts and strip blackjack; these are five more, built on the classics above.

12. Strip gin rummy

Play gin rummy, but every point counts. The loser of each hand removes one item of clothing for every ten points they lose by, winner’s choice. A gin means two items. Once someone’s naked, each lost hand costs a dare. Rather skip the scoring? The Strip pack in our truth or dare game deals stripteases and slow undressing, from flirty to kinky.

13. Loser gives a massage

Play any of the classics. The loser of each hand owes a massage: one minute for every card left in their hand, or every point they lost by. The winner chooses where, and how far the massage wanders. Keep the oil on the bedside table.

14. Crazy eights, crazy rules

Play crazy eights, but every eight you lay sets a new rule until the next eight is played: “no hands”, “kiss me every turn”, “lose your shirt”, “you can only whisper”. By the end of the game, the rules have usually taken over.

15. Speed for kisses

Play speed. Every time you lay a card, you can steal a kiss from your partner, anywhere they’re not guarding. The winner of the round decides what the loser does for the next five minutes. Chaotic, sexy and very fast.

16. Favor poker

Play simple five-card draw. Instead of chips, you bet favors written on slips of paper: “breakfast in bed”, “a slow striptease”, “going down on you for as long as you like”, “my best foreplay, your pick of where”. The winner keeps the slips to cash in tonight or later in the week.

Kinky card games

For when you’d like the deck to hand over a little control. Our BDSM games for couples has 22 more, and our printable truth or dare cards come with a kinky level you can shuffle into any deck.

17. Winner takes control

Play a hand of gin rummy or crazy eights. The winner is in charge for ten minutes: what you do, how you do it, and when. Then deal again. A gentle first taste of dominance and submission with a built-in end point.

18. Hold the card

Your partner holds a playing card between their lips while you tease them, slowly, for two minutes. If they drop it, they owe you a forfeit from the deck: red for a spank, black for an order. Swap and see who lasts longer.

19. Rules face down

Deal five cards face down and write a rule on a sticky note for each: “ask before you touch”, “eyes on me”, “hands behind your back”, “say please”. Turn one over every half hour. Breaking a rule costs a spank or a pause, as agreed. Our guide to BDSM rules and protocols has more ideas.

20. Ratscrew for spanks

Play egyptian ratscrew. Every pile your partner wins from you costs one spank; a slap on the wrong card costs two. Keep them to the fleshy part of the buttocks, and let the receiver call softer or harder.

Which card game should you play tonight?

• Lazy evening in: gin rummy, cribbage or two-player spades.
• Loud and silly: speed, spit or egyptian ratscrew.
• Talking and closeness: the DIY question deck or suits as topics.
• Already flirting: strip gin rummy or loser gives a massage.
• Feeling bold: winner takes control, or anything from our sex games for couples and foreplay games.

Check in after the spicy rounds

A quick “still good?” mid-game keeps a forfeit feeling hot, not pressured, and no card overrides a no. Afterward, cuddle, have some water and talk about which games you’d play again. That’s aftercare, and it’s worth doing even after a silly game. Not sure where each other’s limits are? Fill in our yes/no/maybe list separately first, or browse the list of kinks together for ideas to write into your own deck.