The top five playing card games in Pennsylvania, according to Google Trends

Matt Benedetto
·4 min read

(WHTM) – Card games can range from poker to Apples to Apples, but playing card games include blackjack, rummy, war, go fish, spades, and golf.

According to Google Trends (12-month span), these are the top five playing card games in Pennsylvania:

  1. Solitaire

  2. Poker

  3. Blackjack

  4. Spades

  5. Rummy

All these games will need a standard 52-card pack, but not all of them need more than one person to play.

Did you know Pennsylvania is home to America’s oldest drive-in theater?

Solitaire

Solitaire is one card game that you can play alone.

According to Bicycle, “The first objective is to release and play into position certain cards to build up each foundation, in sequence and in suit, from the ace through the king. The ultimate objective is to build the whole pack onto the foundations, and if that can be done, the Solitaire game is won.”

For game rules and how to play, click here.

Poker

Poker can be played with a minimum of two players and as high as ten players.

According to Turning Stone, the objective of poker is to “make the best possible five-card hand, using any combination of the player’s two-hole cards and the five community cards. The game is divided into four rounds after which the player wins the pot.”

The pot usually consists of “chips” which are colored and represent money, the chips include:

  • White = $1

  • Red = $5

  • Green = $25

  • Black = $100

  • Purple or Lavender = $500

According to Upswing Poker, the following are the poker hand rankings:

  1. Royal Flush

    • Consists of an Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and a 10 which are all the same suit

  2. Straight Flush

    • Consists of a any straight that is all the same suit

  3. Four-of-a-Kind

    • consists of four cards of equal value along with another card known as a side card

  4. Full House

    • Consists of three cards of one value and two cards of another

  5. Flush

    • Consists of all crads of the same suit

  6. Straight

    • Has 5 cards of consecutive value that are not all the same suit

  7. Three-of-a-Kind

    • 3 cards of the same value and 2 side cards of different values

  8. Two-Pair

    • Consists of two cards of equal value, another two cards of equal value, and one extra card

  9. One-Pair

    • Consists of two cards of the same value, and three extra cards

  10. High Card

    • You have five cards that do not interact with each other to make any of the above hands

Blackjack

Blackjack can be played with multiple people and a dealer, the objective of this game is simple, get as close to or equal to 21 without going over.

To start, the dealer will give you two cards, one will be face up and the other will be face down, the face down card will remain down until the round is over.

Cards values are simple, a two equals a two, a three equals a three, and so on, but a Jack, Queen, and King will equal 11. The only exception is the Ace which can either equal two or eleven.

The goal is to beat the dealer.

Words Pennsylvanians say that are unique to Pennsylvania

Spades

Spades is played with four people with a partnership between two players.

The objective of the Spades, according to Dummies, “is to win as many tricks as possible. However, after each hand is dealt (and before play begins), each of the four players must estimate how many tricks he or she will win. This estimate is called a bid, and your bid can include opting for no tricks or up to 13 tricks.”

Players will set a specific number of points that signify the winner (commonly 500 points).

Players will score ten points per trick bid, plus one point for each overtrick.

Rummy

Rummy can be played with two to six players.

According to Rummy Circle, the objective of rummy is “to arrange the 13 cards in valid sets and sequences. To win the game you need to make minimum 2 sequences, out of which one needs to be pure sequence and rest can be any valid sequence or sets. Without a pure sequence you cannot make a valid rummy declaration.”

There are two combinations for your cards meld, runs and sets.

Runs are consecutive sequences of three or more cards of the same suit while Sets are three or four cads of the same rank.

For more information about how to play rummy, visit the Bicycle website.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27.