The unprecedented events of 2020 and 2021 had some unexpected consequences in different parts of the world. There was a crochet craze in the USA, Italy invented a new game called balcony tennis and as for Australia – well, down under, the bunker mentality carried right on down to households and playing cards experienced a revival.
The interesting thing, however, is that just like Zoom has continued to go from strength to strength as a way to avoid meeting clients, colleague or elderly relatives in person, so the playing cards are remaining central to Australian life in the “new normal.” Mathematician, author and card games whiz John McLeod has spent some time researching just what it is they have been playing. Here are some of his discoveries. 
Five Hundred remains the classic Australian fall back
Whatever other card games we might touch upon, there is always Five Hundred. Almost every respondent at least mentioned it, although the game is practically unknown outside Australia.
The four-player game uses a 43-card deck. The twos, threes and black fours are removed from a standard deck and a joker is added. Each player is dealt 10 cards, with the remaining three left face down in the kitty. There is then a round of whist-style bidding on how many contracts will be won. Each bidder must bid more than the last, or can no-bid. The highest bidder can call trumps or can call “no trumps”
Before the first trick, each player picks up the three kitty cards and discards three cards. It is permissible to return one, two or all three of the same kitty cards if desired. The other interesting factor is the joker. In a trumps game, it is the top trump. In a no trumps game, the player holding it can dictate its suit.
Crazy Eights is Swedish Rummy in Australia
Second most popular is Swedish Rummy. Known as Crazy Eights in the rest of the world, each player is dealt five cards from a standard deck. The remainder are placed in the stockpile, with the top card placed face up beside it. The objective is to be first to get rid of all your cards.
The player can do this by placing a card that matches either suit or value on top of the upturned card. So if it is the ten of heart, the player can place a ten or a heart. If there is no matching card, the player must take one up from the stockpile.
When an eight is played, the player gets to nominate the suit of his choice for the next player. There are other special cards too, depending on the variation you play, but these are the basic classic rules.
Poker has garnered new interest in the online casino age
Anyone who has watched a movie like The Sting or Casino Royale can’t help but be fascinated by poker. It is one of those games where most people have a rough idea of the rules but are a little unsure on the exact details of how betting works and so on.
We won’t go into those details here, but the point is that when people found themselves with an abundance of spare time, it was a great opportunity to learn. The prevalence of online casinos also made it easy to find practice games like video poker and three card poker at the best online casinos in Australia.
Texas Holdem remains the most popular version of poker, and some Australian players used their time off to really study the game and get to know its intricacies. It’s a great experience to go through as a family and once it’s done, it opens up a world of opportunity for you. That might lead to a game with the pros when the WSOP comes to town or just games for matchsticks with family around the kitchen table.
There we have the top three card games in Australia today. Other popular games included Hearts, Euchre and Australian Patience.
