Almost everyone likes to play card games and has a memory or two of past games that might have even gotten out of hand.
Older adults are no different! Plus, card games are a great activity for seniors and the elderly because they are a low-impact activity that seniors with limited mobility or health problems can play.
Many people find that playing cards keeps the mind busy and gives the fingers a little gentle practice. If reading the cards is hard, large-print decks are easy to find.
So, what are some fun easy card games for older adults to play? Below I’ve listed games that seniors can play alone or with a group, plus a few suggestions for seniors with dementia or Alzheimer’s. For someone with dementia or Alzheimer’s, I also looked at the QUOKKA phrase-matching card game for dementia, which has two difficulty levels.
People of any age can play any of these and have a great time doing it.
Why Should Seniors Play Games?
Games aren’t just a fun way to pass the time.
Card games give the mind a good workout, with memory, focus and planning all in play. Simple games can help keep people living with dementia engaged and involved.
The social side of card games can also be a welcome outlet. Groups that meet regularly give people a sense of community and belonging.
Too often, seniors become isolated because of changes in their physical health or the loss of their social groups. But learning new games with family and friends can provide senior citizens with much needed socialization while also exercising their cognitive abilities.
If you or a family member enjoys the challenge and bonding that comes with a good card game, you might be asking yourself, “what are some fun card games that I can play with my loved one?”
If your loved one is a bingo fan, I also put together a list of bingo gifts for seniors that make a fun present.
Below are a few ideas to help you out.
Family Strategy Game Cheat Sheet
If card night is turning into a family game night, this free cheat sheet helps. It lists games that work for players decades apart in age.
Making Cards Easier on Sore Hands
Stiff fingers and a weaker grip are some of the most common reasons people give up a card game they love. You don’t have to: two simple tools take care of the hardest parts, shuffling and holding your hand.
Shuffling is usually the first part to get hard, especially with the two decks canasta takes. The Lotus card shuffler takes one or two decks at once, and a fingertip resting on its touch sensor starts each pass, with no button to press.
Playing Card Holders
If arthritis or a weak grip makes holding a hand of cards tiring, a holder keeps the cards upright so you can play longer. It won’t help with dealing, so someone else may still need to do that part.
The one below is a rotating tray for canasta: it holds both decks, so every player can draw and discard without reaching across the table.
Single Player Card Games for Seniors
If you’re looking for a fun, easy-to-play card game that can be enjoyed by seniors or elders, look no further than Solitaire! There are many different Solitaire card games available, each with its own unique rules and gameplay.
Some of the more popular Solitaire card games for seniors include Wish, Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, and Clock.
All of these games are simple to learn and can be played in short bursts without feeling too tedious. So if you’re looking for a relaxing way for a loved one to take a break during the day, Solitaire is an option worth exploring!
Wish Solitaire
To play Wish solitaire, take a standard deck of cards and remove all of the cards that are 6 and under leaving a deck of 32 cards. Next, deal the cards face down into 8 piles (you will have 8 piles of 4 cards).
Turn the top card in each stack face up. Remove any pairs of cards that match regardless of suit then turn the top cards in those stacks face up. The goal is to clear the board by matching cards of the same number until you have no cards remaining.
Klondike Solitaire
Klondike solitaire is the version of solitaire you probably grew up playing. You use a standard 52-card deck, and the goal is to move every card onto four home piles, one for each suit, in order from Ace to King.
You win when all 52 cards have made it to the home piles!
The cards are dealt into stacks of cards that continually increase as you move right. You alternate the colors of the cards building stacks until you can clear them to the 4 home positions.
Spider Solitaire
If standard solitaire starts to feel too easy, give spider solitaire a try. It’s played with 2 decks of cards, and the goal is to build 8 runs of the same suit in order from King down to Ace.
This adds a much more challenging dimension to classic solitaire.
FreeCell Solitaire
FreeCell solitaire is a bit easier to play than standard solitaire for a few reasons. First, all the cards are dealt face up, so you get to see where all your cards are at once. Also, there are 4 “free cells” at the top of the board where you get to park cards that keep you from making progress in the game.
There are a few extra rules to FreeCell but these rules make the game easier to win too!
Clock Solitaire
This variation of the solitaire card game is more about luck than skill but is still quite fun to play. You start by dealing out a single deck of 52 cards into 13 piles. Place 1 pile in each of the hour positions until the stacks resemble a clock. The thirteenth pile goes in the center of your “clock”.
Starting with the center pile, you turn the top card face up and move it to the corresponding position on your clock. Then, you turn over the card in that position. Repeat until you have (hopefully) turned all your cards face up.
You can see more detailed rules for each of these games at the Bicycle Card website. You can also play many solitaire games online. There are many versions of solitaire that seniors can play on the internet and some are even free.
If you’d like to learn more about some different games that seniors and the elderly can play alone, check out this guide.
Large Print Playing Cards
Jumbo-index cards have bigger numbers and suits in the corners, so a game of solitaire is easier to read for someone with weak vision. They help with reading the cards, not with handling them, so they won’t do much if sore hands are the main trouble.
Simple Card Games for Seniors and Dementia / Alzheimer’s Patients
Here are a few popular card games that are easy to play and learn. Yes, many of these games are played with children, but the games we played as kids are often the best card games for elderly people with dementia because the rules are simple.
Plus, they may remember playing these as a child themselves which could spark a memory!
Snap or SlapJack
Snap is a fairly simple game that is easy to play, even for someone who has trouble with memory or concentration.
Snap can be played with any deck of cards laying around the house. The cards are split between the players who turn them over in a pile in the center.
If two cards in a row are the same number, the players race to slam their hands down on it to get the entire pile. The player with the most cards at the end wins.
Just a word of warning here, be careful when you slam your hands down or someone could get hurt. If anyone bruises easily or takes a blood thinner, agree on a gentle tap instead of a slap.
Crazy Eights
Crazy eights is a fun, simple game that can be played with 2 – 7 players, but if you have more than 5 players, you’ll need 2 decks of cards.
Each player gets dealt 5 cards (or 7 if you only have 2 players) and the rest of the deck is set face down on the table.
The top card of the deck is turned face up to start a discard pile, and players discard by matching the suit or rank of the top card on that pile.
If you can’t match the card, you draw from the deck until you can.
The object of the game is to be the first player to get rid of all your cards. You can also play an 8 card at any time (hence the name) and declare what suit you’d like the next player to match.
Old Maid
This is another simple card game dating back to the Victorian age.
If you’re playing with a standard deck, remove one of the cards so that its pair is “unmatchable.” The point of the game is to get as many pairs of cards in your hand as possible, and not be stuck with the unmatched “old maid” card at the end. Due to the name, the most common card to discard is a queen.
The way it works is you deal out all the cards starting with the player to the left of the dealer. Players then go through their cards and place any pairs they have (by rank) face up.
Then, starting with the dealer, each player offers the player to the left of them their hand face down, and that player draws a card of their choice and adds it to their deck.
If it makes a pair in their hand, they place it face up with their others. The process continues until one person is stuck with the unmatchable card.
Go Fish
Go Fish is a fun card game that many people remember from their childhood. The goal of this simple card game is to pair up cards in your hand and be the first person to use all your cards.
If you don’t have any matches in the remaining cards in your hand, you can ask another player for it. If they don’t have it, you draw another card from the deck adding the number of cards in your hand.
This great game is also a memory exercise of sorts because remembering what cards other players have asked for is part of the strategy. Matching skills are also exercised when playing Go Fish.
Learn more about the best games for seniors with dementia here.
Matching Games for Dementia
A tile matching game made for memory loss, with simple rules, gives a caregiver something to put on the table right away. It works best when the difficulty suits where the person is today, so be ready to set it aside if it feels too hard or too easy.
More Challenging Group Card Games for Seniors
These fun card games are a bit more difficult than the ones above but they are some of the best ways for seniors to spend quality time with family or socialize with their peer group.
Rummy
Rummy can be played with 2-6 players. It involves drawing and discarding cards trying to get either a meld (3 cards of the same rank) or a run (which is 3 or more cards of one suit in sequence).
Cards can be drawn from the deck or from the discard pile.
The point of the game is to run out of cards, with all the cards put down in melds or runs, in combinations that make higher points than your opponent has. Rummy has a number of variations, including Gin Rummy and is a very popular game among the older generations.
You can learn the complete rules and different game variations of rummy here.
Bridge
There are many varieties of bridge, so it can be adapted to your seniors’ preferences or even to their limitations if needed. In the basic version of bridge, players work in teams of two, bid on how many tricks (rounds of play) they think they can win, and then try to win them by playing the highest card in the suit that was led.
There are a number of complicated rules to this game, and it may take beginners some time to understand, but once they do, it can be fun and highly competitive.
Spades
Spades is played by four people in two teams, with partners sitting across the table from each other. It plays a lot like bridge without the steep learning curve, so most people can pick it up in an evening.
Each player is dealt 13 cards and bids how many tricks (rounds of play) they think they can win, and spades always beat the other suits. Your team scores when you take at least as many tricks as you bid together, and loses points when you fall short.
I think it’s one of the best games on this list for a little friendly competition with friends and family. Bidding big and pulling it off with your partner feels great, and so does the good-natured ribbing when the other team comes up short.
You can even play spades online anytime against computer opponents whenever you need a card game fix. If you’d like to brush up first, here are the complete rules of spades.
Every hand uses the whole deck, so there’s plenty of shuffling. If that’s hard on your hands, an automatic card shuffler does it for you in a couple of seconds.
Poker
If your seniors prefer a game that’s more about strategy, luck, and lying, poker may be what they’re looking for. In poker, the cards themselves are almost less important than the ability to read other peoples’ reactions, strategize and bluff your way to victory.
There are also lots of variations and additional rules that can be put into place to add interest to the game. Betting is part of the fun, but chips, pennies or candy keep the stakes friendly without risking real money.
Blackjack
Blackjack is a fairly simple game that almost everyone knows. The dealer deals out the cards and each of them are worth a certain number of points.
The players try to get the points of the cards in their hand as close as possible to 21 without going over. They need to get closer to 21 than the dealer, or get 21 points with the initial two cards given to them, to win the game.
This is another game that can involve some betting, just to add some stakes to the game.
Cribbage
Cribbage is a very complex game that requires a game board as well as playing cards. This game could be out of reach for someone who has trouble with memory or concentration.
Cribbage is played with 2 to 4 players. The rules and procedures change depending on how many people are involved, but the point of the game is to get 121 points.
The score is kept by pegs which are put into the game board. Each card gets a certain number of points alone and even more points when it is in certain combinations.
This is another game that can involve some betting, just to add some stakes to the game.
Canasta
Canasta was very popular during the 1950s, so many older players have probably played before. It is usually played with an even number of players with two players acting as partners.
The main goal is to try to collect 3 or more cards of the same rank. These are called melds. Each meld gives the player a certain number of points. When the game ends, the partners with the most points are the winners.
There are different versions of this game, and it can be played with only two players, but canasta is more fun and challenging in teams. This game not only encourages teamwork, it also involves strategic thinking and scoring, and can be a good way to create close bonds, as well as some friendly rivalry.
Pinochle
Pinochle requires a special deck of 48 cards or one that has the irrelevant cards removed. This game can be played with 2-4 players.
In Pinochle, each card has a certain value and the point of the game is to create combinations of cards that get the highest number of points. This game can be fast paced and requires that one of the participants keeps score of the points accrued during each round.
If you are the one keeping score, a scorecard holder made for golf works at the card table too, keeping the score sheet and pencil together.
Best of all, many people already know this game and won’t have to learn a new set of rules before enjoying it.
Other Games Ideas for Older People
Card games are an excellent way for seniors to exercise their brains while having fun. But they aren’t the only way!
Here are some other fun games that can keep the mind busy, give the hands something to do, and lift the mood.
Word Games and Word Puzzles
Word games and word puzzles are great ways to stay entertained and mentally active. Some favorites include crosswords, anagrams, and Scrabble, and they can be enjoyed alone or in groups.
You can even provide a senior you love with a monthly delivery of puzzle books to their home via this puzzle book subscription service.
Jigsaw Puzzles
There are many different types of puzzles that can be enjoyed by seniors, including jigsaw puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles can be a great way for seniors to keep their minds active and engaged, and they can also provide some fun and relaxation.
Some of the best jigsaw puzzles for seniors include those that are challenging but still manageable, as well as those that are simple but provide a lot of enjoyment. Many seniors find large piece jigsaw puzzles easier to work.
Board Games
There are many great board games for seniors that can be enjoyed together. Some of the best choices include: Monopoly, Clue, Sorry!, Scrabble, and Yahtzee. These games are easy to learn and can be enjoyed by everyone in the family.
I have a separate guide to board games for seniors that you can read by clicking here.
Video Games
Video games are a great way for seniors to stay active and entertained. There are many different types of video games that seniors can enjoy, from action and adventure games to puzzle games.
Some popular video games for seniors include Mario Party 10, The Sims 4, Wii Sports, and Animal Crossing. Mario Party 10 and Wii Sports were made for older Nintendo consoles that are no longer sold new, so check which system your loved one has before buying.
Family Strategy Game Cheat Sheet
If card night is turning into a family game night, this free cheat sheet helps. It lists games that work for players decades apart in age.
Final Thoughts
Many people grow more isolated when friends and family members who once gave them social activity become unavailable. Some also lose interest in the activities that once gave them connection and fulfillment, which can make it even harder to stay in touch with others.
Finding new ways to connect can make a real difference in how happy and fulfilled someone feels. Easy card games or board games, and the groups that play them, are a great way to build those bonds and have fun while doing it!
Do you have another card game that is fun to play with seniors? If so, please let me know in the comments below!
Good article. I am looking for a game to play with fairly low functioning seniors for after BINGO and TRIVIA. I would love it to be with regular cards from two decks. Has to be pretty remedial for a group of about 12. Nothing too complicated or they bail on us. If you can think of anything new…. thanks
I really appreciate your hard work as the information you shared in your post is amazing and helpful to me.
Are you looking for a game for fun, scribble io is a great way for you and your friends to pass the time with a unique game experience and innovative game atmosphere.