Perfect Card Games for a Plane Ride

A plane tray is a bad poker table and a good place for a quiet two-player game. You want rules you both remember, a small footprint, and no slapping. One deck in a tuck box fits a seat pocket. These six games work in that space. Leave Speed, Snap, and Egyptian Rat Screw for the living room—they are loud and they scatter cards into the aisle.

What to pack

• One 52-card deck, jokers included if you like a wild card in Crazy Eights
• Poker size for most of these games; bridge size only if you already prefer a narrow fan
• Plastic if there is a drink on the tray. Nylon poker cards wipe clean. Paper is fine on a dry morning flight
• A pencil only if you are scoring Golf or cribbage across several hands

Shuffle before you sit down if the armrest is tight. Our notes on riffle, Hindu, and wash shuffles cover mixes that do not need a huge table. Deal small piles and keep the stock close to the hinge of the tray so a bump does not send the deck to the floor.

1. Crazy Eights

Best default for two people who do not want to relearn rules. Deal 7 cards each. Turn one card up as the starter. On your turn, play a card that matches the suit or the rank of the top card. Eights are wild and let you name the next suit. If you cannot play, draw one. First to empty their hand wins the round; score leftover cards against the loser if you want a match across the flight.

The layout is one stock and one discard pile. That fits a tray even when the person in front reclines.

2. Six-card Golf

Golf is quiet, short, and easy to score on a boarding pass. Deal 6 cards to each player, face down, in a 2×3 grid. Turn any two of your own cards face up. The rest of the deck is the stock; turn one card to start the discard.

On your turn, draw from the stock or take the discard, then either replace one of your grid cards or throw the draw away. You may not put a stock draw straight onto the discard without using it if your house rule says so—agree that before you start. Replaced cards go to the discard. When you think your grid is low, knock. The other player gets one more turn. Then cards flip.

A simple score: number cards at face value, face cards at 10, aces at 1, and a pair in a column scores 0 for that column. Lowest score wins. Play nine holes (nine deals) if the flight is long, or stop after three.

3. War, played slowly

War is the right game when one of you is tired. Split the deck. Each player turns one card; the higher card takes both. A tie means each player plays three cards face down and one face up, and the higher face-up card takes the pile. No talking required, and the only space you need is two cards side by side.

It can run long. If the cabin crew is about to serve a meal, stop at a set time and count cards. The larger stack wins. Do not speed-flip. That is how cards leave the tray.

4. Gin rummy

Gin uses 10-card hands, which is easier to hold in a seat than 13-card Indian rummy. Deal 10 each. The non-dealer may take the face-up card or pass; then players draw and discard, building sets of the same rank and runs of the same suit. Knock when your unmatched cards total 10 or less, or go gin with nothing unmatched. The other player may lay off cards on your sets after a knock.

If you would rather play the Indian rules you already know, a short 13-card hand still works for two, but the fan is wider. The differences between common rummy deals are in 13-card vs 21-card rummy. For a tray, gin or 7-card rummy is the more comfortable cut.

5. Klondike, if you are travelling alone

Solitaire is the honest one-player option. Seven columns, one card face up at the end of each, stock of the rest, and four foundations built by suit from ace to king. Turn the stock one card at a time if you want a longer game, or three at a time if you want it over before descent.

Seven columns need the full tray. Put the foundations in a tight row above them, and pause when the meal tray arrives rather than stacking cards on a napkin.

6. Cribbage, if you both know it

Two-player cribbage was practically designed for travel: 6 cards each, two thrown to the crib, a starter card, then pegging to 31 and a show. The catch is the board. Without one, write running scores on paper. Do not try to teach the full scoring table from scratch at 30,000 feet. If only one of you knows the game, play Crazy Eights or Golf instead.

Games to skip in the air

• Anything with slapping or racing — Snap, Speed, Spit
• Large partnership games — bridge and 21-card rummy need space and a fourth player who is not a stranger in 24A
• Betting games — keep money off the tray; play for the next round of hands, not for cash

One deck is enough for everything on this list. If you fly often enough to retire a pack every couple of months, a short prepaid subscription keeps the next deck in the bag. For more games once you are back at a real table, see card games for family night.