Any traditional or specific game with playing cards is called card game. A card game is played with a pack of cards which are identical in shape and size. Card playing history dates back to the 10th century were Central Asia is supposed to have taken the first effort in introducing card games. But documents show that Chinese put the card games in to effect, trying newer techniques.

From Islamic empire, cards entered Europe with pictures of swords and cup symbols. In Europe these were replaced by representations of Kings and Knights. These Islamic cards also entered Spain. Those were also the days were we had hand painted cards with beautiful representations. There were traditional designs as well as fancy cards.

France gave vent to the idea of simple designs and pictures on the cards and those we use today saw their beginning in France. Thus spades, diamonds and hearts began to be used more on cards. It then began to be used in England and then in America.

About 1800, Americans began using their cards. They invented Joker, the highest card in the game of Euchre.

The first pack of card in Europe comprised of 52 cards in total. This was further enhanced by the idea of adding more cards to the number and thus was born the idea of tarot pack. They contained 78 cards at first and this was extended to 97 and more.

New fashion and techniques came up and newer ideas began to be employed in the cards in a very large scale. As a result numeral cards were replaced by design cards. Till date many transformations happened in the field of cards and it has become a trend to use the latest in the card playing field.

A set of generally accepted rules will be maintained in playing card games and the flexible dealing is done before the actual game starts. There are different types of card games. They are, trick taking games, gambling card games, Solitaire games, Collectible card games, etc.

1. Trick taking games
Card games with a different play structure are called as trick taking games. These games use the concept of a trick, were during each trick each player puts one card from his hand. When everyone finishes playing a card to the trick, they are turned face down and removed from play. One player will have the lead for each trick and other players play according to their physical position.

There are also variations in trick taking games like Positive trick taking games, Exact prediction trick taking games, Final trick games, and more. This also involves Cassino, Hearts, Pinochle, Spades, Seuca, Whist etc.

2. Gambling card games
Gambling games or casino games can be further divided into various sections like beatable and unbeatable casino games. Beatable casino games include poker games, blackjack, video poker and the like. Unbeatable casino games include Baccarat, Craps, Roulette, 3-card poker, 4-card poker, Keno and lot more.

3. Solitaire games
These are single player card games with details varying in character. These involve dealing cards from a shuffled deck in a special arrangement. There are different solitaire games like Ace of the Pile, Calculation, Concentration, FreeCell, Kings in the Corner, etc.

4. Collectible card games
Collectible card games are otherwise known as customizable card games. They are played using specially designed set of cards. They follow a set of rules by which the cards interact. They are distributed as sealed packs with subsets of the available cards. This includes starter set, theme deck and starter deck.

Depending upon the number of people play and the interest of the players in general, the type of card game can be decided. It can also be decided based on the complexity of rules in the card game, how well it suits the present group who play, skill of the players and also the time needed for the game. Whichever type the game is, it is after all a matter of fun at last even though the involvement of money has a role to play in playing cards.