Games / Card Games for Two
Card games for two
Some card games are best with exactly one rival. These are ours: two-player solitaire races and classics you can play with another person on one phone, tablet or computer, and two-handed games against a computer player when you're on your own.
Play another person
Pass and play on one device · 3 games
10 minSavesUpdraft Duel
Duel solitaireTwo balloon pilots get the same deal and race to empty their ballast. Share the sky piles, toss cards onto your rival and catch updrafts. Play the computer or pass and play.
Two-handed games against the computer
When you're on your own · 4 games
Two-player solitaire
Solitaire is usually a game for one, but there's an old family of card games where two players each build their own layout and race to empty a pile first, sharing the piles in the middle. We have two of them.
Updraft Duel is our own two-player solitaire. Each pilot has a ballast pile of 10 cards, four ropes that build down in any suit and a draw pile, and both of you build up the same eight sky piles from Ace to King in suit. Empty your ballast first and you win. You can toss a card onto your rival's ballast to slow them down, and by default you both get the mirror deal: exactly the same cards, so nobody can blame the shuffle.
Play in Turns, or pick Race and both play at the same moment on one screen, which works best on a tablet. A flight takes about two to six minutes.
Spite and Malice
Spite Street is the classic race to empty a 20-card pay-off pile, building shared piles from Ace to Queen with Kings wild. It's slower and sneakier than a solitaire race: every card you play might be the one your opponent needed. Pass and Play hides each hand between turns so two people can share one device. Our Spite and Malice online page has the full rules.
Cribbage with a friend
Cribbage Cabin is two-player cribbage with a walnut board and every fifteen counted for you. Pass one phone back and forth, or tap Play a friend, share a four-letter room code and play on your own devices. Each of you sees only your own cards, and nobody needs an account.
Two-handed games against the computer
- Gin Garden: draw, discard and build melds, then knock or go gin against a friendly rival. Matches run to 100 points.
- Canasta Casita: choose the head to head game, with 15 cards each, two draws a turn and two canastas to go out. See Canasta online.
- Speed Slap: race the computer to play every card one higher or one lower. Fast hands win.
- Monsoon Rummy: a two-player table of 13 card rummy with one deck and a printed joker. See 13 card rummy.
Which one to pick
| If you want | Try |
|---|---|
| A quick race on one tablet | Updraft Duel in Race tempo |
| A slow, sneaky game at the kitchen table | Spite Street |
| To play someone in another room | Cribbage Cabin with a room code |
| A classic rummy on your own | Gin Garden |
| A three-minute speed race | Speed Slap |
Questions
Can you play solitaire with two players?
Yes. In Updraft Duel each player has a small solitaire of their own and you share eight piles in the middle, racing to empty your ballast first. Spite and Malice works in a similar way, with pay-off piles and shared middle piles.
Can two people play these games on one phone?
Yes. Updraft Duel, Spite Street and Cribbage Cabin all have a two-player mode on one device. Spite Street and Cribbage Cabin hide each hand between turns.
Can I play a card game with a friend on a different device?
Yes. In Cribbage Cabin one of you hosts and shares a room code or link, and the other joins from any phone, tablet or computer.
Which two-player card games can I play alone?
All of them. Every game on this page has computer players, from gentle beginners to sharp experts.
Do I need to download anything?
No. Every game here runs in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer, and none of them needs an account to play.