Most card games are written for a table full of people. With one grown-up and one kid you need games where nobody waits, where the little one can really win, and where losing takes three minutes, not twenty. These are the ones that work with just the two of you, sorted by age.
Card games for 4 year olds → Card games for 5 year olds → No deck? Play one right now on this phone: Pipsqueaks, a two-player game, free, no account →A standard deck
Split the deck in two. Both of you flip your top card at the same time. Higher card takes both. A tie is a war: three cards face down, one face up, higher one takes the lot.
With two: Nobody waits, which is the whole problem with War in a group. Take the picture cards out for a four or five year old so every flip is a number they can count.
A standard deck
Deal seven each and spread the rest face down. Ask for a card you already hold. If they have it, they hand it over and you ask again. If not, you go fish and their turn starts.
With two: It moves fast because every ask is aimed at the one other hand. Under six, collect pairs instead of sets of four and play with hands face up until they get it.
Any deck with pairs
Lay the cards face down in rows. Flip two. A match, keep them and go again. No match, turn them back where they were.
With two: Use half the deck for a kid under six, the whole thing for a kid who has started beating you. And they will.
A standard deck
Deal the whole deck out. Take turns flipping a card onto the middle. When a jack turns up, the first hand on it takes the pile. Run out of cards and you can still slap your way back in.
With two: Every jack is a race between two hands, so keep yours honest and a little slow. Good for a kid who needs to move.
A standard deck
Each of you gets ten cards face down in two rows of five. Draw from the pile. An ace goes in spot 1, a two in spot 2, up to ten; kings are wild and jacks and queens are junk. Put the card in its spot and flip the one that was there, and keep going until you draw junk. First to fill all ten wins the round and plays with nine next time, down to one.
With two: The best two-player card game for a six year old, and it teaches the numbers one to ten without anyone noticing. Start with five spots each if ten is too many.
A standard deck
Deal seven each and flip one card to start a pile. Play a card that matches the top one by number or suit. Eights are wild: play one and name the suit. Can't play, draw until you can. First one out of cards wins.
With two: This is the game UNO came from, and with just two the suits matter more, so it feels like real strategy fast. Six and up.
A standard deck
Deal the whole deck. Take turns flipping the top card onto the middle. When a jack, queen, king or ace appears, the other player has to pay one, two, three or four cards onto the pile. If a picture card turns up while they pay, the debt flips back to you. Whoever runs out of cards loses.
With two: No decisions at all, which is exactly why a six year old can win it against you fair and square. Games can run long; call it at ten minutes.
A standard deck
Same as above, but you need all four of a number before you can put them down. The hands get big, so a card holder helps.
With two: By seven most kids can hold a real hand and remember what you asked for two turns ago, which is the point.
A standard deck
Each player gets twenty cards: five in hand, the rest in a face-down stock. Two cards go face down in the middle with a pile of five beside each. Both flip a middle card and race, with no turns, to play cards one higher or one lower onto either middle pile, refilling your hand from your stock. When nobody can move, flip the next two from the side piles. First to play out all twenty wins.
With two: Speed only works with two, and it is the game a nine year old will ask for again. Aces go both ways: on a king or a two.
A standard deck, jokers in
Six cards each, face down in two rows of three. Flip any two. On your turn, draw from the stock or the discard pile and swap it for one of your six, or throw it away. Two of the same number in a column cancel to zero. When someone flips all six, the other player gets one more turn. Lowest total wins: kings are zero, aces one, jokers minus two.
With two: Quiet and a little sneaky, with real decisions every turn. Nine rounds is a full game; three is plenty on a school night.
A standard deck
Seven cards each, the rest in the middle with four cards face up around it. Build down on those piles in alternating colors, red on black. Kings start new piles in the corners, and a whole pile can move onto another if it fits. First out wins.
With two: It is solitaire you play against each other. If your kid already likes Klondike on a tablet, this is the table version.
Ages 6+, 2 to 6 players
Four cards face down, you've seen two of them, and the game is swapping for lower ones without letting on. The best two-player boxed card game for early grade school.
See it on the maker's siteAges 8+, 2 to 5 players
Wake queens with kings, steal them with knights, put them back to sleep with potions. Made up by a six year old, which shows in the best way.
See it on the maker's siteAges 7+, 2 to 10 players
The one you already know, and it is better with two than most people think: Skip and Reverse both just give you another turn.
See it on the maker's siteAges 8+, 2 to 5 players
Pick a card, pass the rest, and try to build the best plate. With two you pass hands back and forth, so you can plan a little.
See it on the maker's siteSome nights you want the phone out of the room. So Pipsqueaks also comes as a deck you print at home, made for your kid: the buddy they pick on the box, their name on every card back, and a binder page with the cards they've found. Same critters and rules as the phone game: 60 cards in four decks, 3 helper cards, a picture rules page they can follow and one page of rules for you. Games take about ten minutes, and it is built for two.
Made by a dad who plays cards with his kids. Play Pipsqueaks