Why Not a Card Game? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Uno

I thought it would be appropriate to start off with Uno as our first game. The Italian or Spanish word for 'one' is the name of this game. The Skip, Reverse, and Draw Two cards are called 'action cards', since the result of playing them in the game is to cause an action that changes the game or adds more cards to another player's hand. Uno was originally created in 1971.

Answer: Hearts

Unlike its trick-taking counterparts Bridge and Spades, Hearts typically involves evading taking the tricks played in the game to keep one's score as low as possible. Shooting the moon, managing to take every single point in the deck in one hand of Hearts, is the only time in which taking tricks is beneficial, but it is risky since a single failure will shaft anyone who attempts the feat with heaps of points.

Answer: Pinochle

In Pinochle, the combination of the seemingly innocuous pair of queen of spades and jack of diamonds makes up a 'special meld' called a pinochle. Aside from a pinochle or double pinochle, 9s in the suit that is declared trump make up special melds called dix.

The origin of the game, and even the name of the game, are disputed, but German immigrants brought Pinochle to America in the 1800s. The city of Syracuse, New York banned playing Pinochle during World War I due to anti-German sentiment.

Answer: Solitaire

Solitaire refers to any tabletop game playable by oneself. Klondike is one of the most popular variants of solitaire, featuring seven fanned piles with an increasing number of cards in each column. Spider is a version of solitaire requiring two decks of cards, with the purpose of removing all the cards from the tableau to achieve victory. Pyramid Solitaire consists of a top card, a second row of two cards, and so on up to six or seven rows, and a player must match cards that add up to a value of 13. FreeCell is a variation of solitaire in which every card is dealt face up, and few deals in the game are unsolvable, unlike most types of solitaire.

Answer: Cribbage

The distinctive characteristic of cribbage is the board used for scorekeeping. 121 points are needed, and a peg is used to keep score for every point gained. The highest score one can achieve in a single hand of cribbage is 29 points. This rare accomplishment is only possible if a player is dealt three 5s and a jack, with the starter card being a five in the same suit as the jack. Cribbage originated in England centuries ago, and the poet Sir John Suckling is credited with having invented the game.

Answer: Blackjack

The game of blackjack is one of the simplest card games. There are basic strategies based on probabilities to maximize one's chances of beating a dealer without busting. Dealers in casinos are required to play according to a fixed strategy, and the game is such that they are slightly favored over gamblers who wish to play (and do not count cards). If you feel lucky or if you want to take a risk to beat these odds, perhaps blackjack is the game for you.

Answer: Set

The game of Set has pretty much one instruction: find three cards that all have one matching quality or all differ completely. The game is great for logical reasoning, and tests one's ability to focus. The cards in the Set deck each contain a different shape (squiggle, oval, diamond), a different number of shapes (1, 2, or 3), a different shading of the shape (solid, open, or striped), and a different color of the shape (red, purple, or green). With these four characteristics each consisting of three distinct sub-characteristics, there are 1 080 total sets that can be created from the 81 cards in the game.

Answer: Go Fish

The simple goal of Go Fish is to collect more pairs of matching cards than your foe or foes. The player with the most pairs after all cards are matched is the winner. Go Fish is a short, easy game if you are seeking a card game that can be completed quickly.

Answer: Spades

Each successful nil bid awards 100 points in Spades, so only a few would be needed for victory. Spades is similar to Bridge, and might be considered a simplified version of the game. Winning the game becomes a coordinated effort with one's partner to bid precisely to avoid bags, bid aggressively to overcome score deficits, and play deceptively, finessing cards and tricks, to set the other team. Spades was developed in the United States in the 1930s.

Answer: War

War is the simple game described in this question. When the two cards flipped in one round are identical, a 'war' ensues in which three extra cards can be won as a bonus if the fourth card flipped is higher than your opponent's (or opponents'). War is a rare treat (if you are so inclined as to think of it as one) of a card game in which winning is 100% chance.