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50 free Card Game trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
43 free Card game trivia questions with answers. Card games are a thousand years old and still being invented, and this quiz shuffles the whole history. It starts with the deck itself: Tang dynasty woodblocks, the Mamluk decks that reached Spain, the French suits, why the joker exists and why the ace of spades is so ornate. Then the classics: Hoyle's whist, Vanderbilt's bridge, Montevideo's canasta, cribbage's noddy roots, Alsatian euchre, gin rummy, hearts, spades and pinochle. The modern era follows: Thorp's card counting and the MIT team, Wes Cherry's Windows Solitaire and FreeCell, Uno from a Cincinnati suburb, Richard Garfield's Magic and the half-million-dollar Black Lotus, Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!'s billions of cards, Cards Against Humanity, Exploding Kittens' eight-minute Kickstarter, Skip-Bo, Phase 10, hanafuda and the dead man's hand. Easy questions suit family game night; harder ones will test bridge clubs and TCG collectors. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the games, and the source line appears under each question after you answer.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Playing cards were most likely invented in which country, around the 9th century?
China
The Tang dynasty's woodblock printing made them possible.
Q 02Cards probably reached Europe via which Egyptian dynasty's decks?
The Mamluks
The earliest European mention is a 1371 Catalan rhyme dictionary, so Spain likely got them first.
Q 03The French suits of hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades emerged in roughly which year?
1480
'Clubs' and 'spades' come from the Latin/German symbols even though the French pips are clovers and pikes.
Q 04The joker was created in the United States during the Civil War as a trump card for which game?
Euchre
It was known as the Best Bower.
Q 05Why does the ace of spades traditionally carry an ornate design?
17th-century laws required it to bear the printer's insignia
James I and Queen Anne imposed the rule, and the card is also called Old Frizzle and the Death Card.
Q 06Who is called 'the father of card counting' for his 1962 book Beat the Dealer?
Edward Thorp
The Hi-Lo system counts tens and aces as minus one and 2 to 6 as plus one.
Q 07The MIT Blackjack Team's exploits inspired which best-selling book by Ben Mezrich?
Bringing Down the House
The team started in late 1979 and the book became the film 21.
Q 08Modern contract bridge resulted from scoring innovations to auction bridge by which yachting millionaire?
Harold Stirling Vanderbilt
One legend says British soldiers named the earlier game after Istanbul's Galata Bridge.
Q 09Canasta was devised in 1939 in which city?
Montevideo
An attorney and an architect wanted a game as engaging as bridge but faster; the name means 'basket'.
Q 10Cribbage descends from which old English card game?
Noddy
Its distinctive board, pegs and crib set it apart, along with points for cards totalling 15.
Q 11The Midwest's favourite trick-taking game most likely derives from an old game from which region?
Alsace
The game was called Jucker or Juckerspiel; euchre remains huge in Michigan and the Midwest.
Q 12In the US and Canada, the plain word 'Solitaire' usually refers to which specific game?
Klondike
Its tableau is triangular, building up in sequence and packing down.
Q 13Who programmed the original Microsoft Solitaire?
Wes Cherry
Susan Kare, of Macintosh icon fame, designed its cards.
Q 14FreeCell was originally created as a computer game by whom?
Q 21Cards Against Humanity began with a campaign on which platform in 2011?
Kickstarter
It is often compared to Apples to Apples.
Q 22Exploding Kittens' crowdfunding campaign sought $10,000; how quickly did it hit the goal?
Eight minutes
It was designed by The Oatmeal's Matthew Inman with Elan Lee and Shane Small.
Q 23Skip-Bo is a commercial version of which traditional card game?
Spite and Malice
That game descends from Russian Bank and ultimately Double Klondike.
Q 24Phase 10 was created in which year?
Paul Alfille
It later shipped with Windows and became famous for its numbered deals.
Q 15Uno was created in 1971 by Merle Robbins in a suburb of which city?
Cincinnati
Reading, Ohio; Mattel bought International Games in 1992.
Q 16Who created Magic: The Gathering?
Richard Garfield
By February 2023 it had about fifty million players and made Hasbro $1 billion a year.
Q 17How much annual revenue did Hasbro say Magic generated in fiscal 2022?
$1bn
Wizards of the Coast is Hasbro's subsidiary.
Q 18Roughly how much did two copies of the Magic card Black Lotus each sell for in the early 2020s?
$500,000
It is the game's most famous card.
Q 19Which company developed the Pokémon Trading Card Game?
Creatures Inc.
It launched in Japan in 1996.
Q 20Guinness named which trading card game the world's top-selling in 2009, with over 22 billion cards sold?
Yu-Gi-Oh!
Konami publishes it, based on Kazuki Takahashi's manga.
1982
Kenneth Johnson designed it.
Q 25Crazy Eights belongs to a family of games that also includes Mau-Mau, Switch and which modern hit?
Uno
All are shedding games where eights are wild.
Q 26Punto banco, chemin de fer and banque are the three popular variants of which casino game?
Baccarat
Punto banco dominates casinos today; James Bond played chemin de fer in the novels.
Q 27Tarot games are known by what name in their original Italian?
Tarocchi
They are Tarock in German.
Q 28In Korea, hanafuda cards are known as what?
Hwatu
The Korean 'flower battle' cards are plastic and swap the November and December suits.
Q 29Which two games are commonly played with hanafuda?
Koi-Koi and Hachi-Hachi
The 48-card deck has twelve flower suits, one per month.
Q 30The United States Playing Card Company was established in 1867 under what name?
Russell, Morgan & Co.
It was refounded in Cincinnati in 1885 and makes Bicycle, Bee and Aviator cards.