National Parks are open and camping has seen an explosion in popularity during the pandemic.
Now is the perfect time to pack up your van with your hiking and fishing gear and head out into nature. Before you hit the road, plan ahead and bring some activities along to enjoy in the great outdoors. Roasting marshmallows, singing campfire songs, and stargazing is what most of us picture for a perfect camping night but you never know when a sudden rainstorm could set back your plans. Thankfully, there’s a foolproof way to keep even large camping groups busy—card games.
Candyman
Candyman is a game where cards are used to assign secret roles for six or more players at best. It’s possible to play without keeping score but a scoring guide is nice for playing multiple rounds. Take one Ace, one King, and enough numerical cards to match the number of cards with the players.
The one who draws the Ace is the Candyman, whose aim is to sell candy to as many Buyers as possible. The other players who draw numerical cards will be Buyers. To sell candy, the Candyman makes eye contact with a Buyer and winks at them—when a Buyer successfully gets candy, they must shout “Sold!”.
The Cop, or player who draws the King, has to expose the Candyman. To make an accusation, the cop points at the alleged Candyman and yells “Busted!”. The round ends when the Candyman is apprehended.
Texas Hold’em Poker
If you want some real competitive play then poker is a very good option, especially if you are with a large group. The world’s most popular poker game, Texas Hold’em can work for as many as 10 players, according to Poker.org’s guide to the rules. The goal is to make the best five-card hand using a combination of two hole cards and five community cards. The pre-flop betting round begins after each player receives their two hole cards facing down. The dealer then puts the first three of five community cards on the table, also known as the flop, which is followed by the flop betting round.
Another community card, or the turn, hits the board—followed by the turn betting round. Lastly, the river or the fifth community card is dealt, which begins the final betting round. Then all remaining players show their cards, and the player with the best five-card hand wins.
If you don’t have poker chips don’t worry as you can use anything small as long as there is enough. You don’t have to play for money either, and can instead make things interesting by allowing the overall winner to be free of camping chores.
Slapjack
In our article on camping tables, we highlight how a sturdy table is useful for your bbq filled plates or a camp stove—but it’s also perfect for a good round of Slapjack. Using a deck with no jokers, deal the cards evenly. Have players arrange their cards into a neat pile facing down. Each player quickly places the top card from their stack onto the center of the table.
When a Jack is played, the first player to slap the card wins the pile underneath. The player with the most cards at the end wins. Considerable enumerates rules you can implement to make your game more interesting.
For example, if a player incorrectly slaps the pile, they may lose their cards, or pay a penalty card. Do note that this game tends to get rowdy, unlike Candyman and poker, so try to keep the noise to a minimum so as not to disturb other campers.
Cheat
After deciding if the Ace is low or high, deal out the cards. Each player puts down two cards face down in the center and can choose to announce their actual cards, or bluff. Each player must place at least one card that is either one higher or lower than the previous card’s rank.
If they can’t fulfill that condition, they will be forced to lie. When another player decides to call them out, they can yell “cheat!”, and either the bluffer or the player who mistakenly called out must take all the center cards. The player who gets rid of all their cards last loses the game.
These games are extremely easy to learn and will earn your group multiple rounds of laughter. With a single deck, you can have endless fun.
