The best "À la carte🇩🇪" award card games 2025

Just One is a cooperative party game that combines elements of mystery and creativity. Players work together to guess as many words as possible, using unique clues provided by their teammates.

SCOUT is an innovative card game that blends elements of hand management and ladder-climbing mechanics. The unique twist in this game is the dual-indexed cards and the restriction on rearranging your hand, creating a challenging and strategic gameplay experience.

Codenames is a captivating and popular party game that involves clever wordplay and deduction. Two teams compete, each led by a spymaster who knows the secret identities of 25 agents, represented by cards bearing single-word codenames like "disease," "Germany," or even "carrot." The objective is for each team to be the first to correctly identify all their agents based on clues given by their spymaster, while avoiding the dangerous assassin.

The Crew: Mission Deep Sea is a cooperative trick-taking card game that embarks players on an underwater expedition to discover the lost continent of Mu. Building on the foundations of its predecessor, The Crew, this game combines the familiar mechanics of trick-taking with unique cooperative elements and a compelling thematic narrative.

7 Wonders Duel takes the essence of the classic 7 Wonders and refines it for an intense two-player experience. It retains the thematic elements of building a civilization through acquiring various types of cards, but it introduces unique mechanics suited for a duel.

In the bustling city of Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, you find yourself in a fierce competition as one of the two most powerful traders. However, being a prominent trader isn't enough; the ultimate goal is to earn two coveted "seals of excellence" to secure an invitation to the Maharaja's prestigious court. To outshine your direct competitor, you'll need to demonstrate superior trading skills by buying, exchanging, and selling goods at advantageous prices, all while carefully managing your valuable camel herds.

In Love Letter, you must compete with other suitors to deliver a romantic letter to Princess Annette, who has secluded herself in the palace.

Top Ten is a lively party game that challenges players to creatively rank responses based on humorous or bizarre scenarios. Each player’s task is to align their answer with a secret number they are assigned, ranging from worst (1) to best (10), according to the theme provided by the round's chief. The game combines elements of comedy, strategy, and social deduction as players try to guess and assign the correct rankings to each other's answers.

The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine is a cooperative trick-taking game that takes players on an adventurous space journey, filled with challenges and strategic gameplay.

Sea Salt & Paper is a set collection card game that combines strategic decision-making with the excitement of timing your moves just right. Similar to Rummy in gameplay, it involves collecting sets of cards to score points, while also navigating the timing of when to end the round for optimal advantage.

No Thanks! is a straightforward and captivating card game that offers a blend of strategy and luck. The game's simplicity makes it appealing and accessible to a wide range of players.

Point Salad is a dynamic and engaging card drafting game that is suitable for players of all ages. It stands out for its simplicity and the vast array of scoring strategies it offers.

Lost Cities is a two-player card game focused on building profitable archaeological expeditions. Part of the Kosmos two-player series, it features a deck with cards ranked 2–10 in various colors, including a new sixth color added in 2019. The game also employs "handshake" cards as multipliers for scoring.

Hanamikoji is a strategic card game set in the historical context of Geisha culture in Japan. The game immerses players in the role of patrons who are competing to gain the favor of seven renowned Geishas by collecting items related to their art and performances.

Skull King is an exciting and competitive trick-taking game that adds unique twists to the traditional format found in games like Oh Hell!, Wizard, Euchre, and Spades.

Can you remember a few things? It sounds simple, but it’s a challenge! Players give each other gifts and try to recall who gave them what and which gift they have in front of them. If they can’t remember, they must bluff to avoid a penalty point.

6 nimmt!, also known as Take 5, Category 5 and other names, is a card game focused on scoring as few points as possible. It combines elements of strategy, prediction, and a bit of luck.

Fantasy Realms immerses players in the role of rulers striving to build the most powerful realm. This card game is all about strategic combinations and choices, with every decision shaping the strength and nature of your realm.

You have finally reached the Temple of Secrets, filled with immense gold treasures. However, you must navigate the treacherous Temple Guardians who hide among the adventurers, seeking to mislead you to protect their riches. It's a fast-paced bluffing game where trust is uncertain, and danger lurks behind every chamber.

Cahoots is a cooperative card game where players work together to meet a series of challenging goals. Each player must strategically contribute to four communal piles by matching either the color or the number of the cards. Communication about the contents of one's hand is not allowed, adding a layer of challenge as players must intuitively cooperate to meet the objectives.

Hero Realms is a captivating, fantasy-themed deck-building game that builds on the mechanics of the highly acclaimed Star Realms. It offers a versatile gaming experience suitable for different player formats and styles.

Engage in the colorful and strategic gameplay of Coloretto, where simplicity meets tactical decision-making. The game revolves around drawing cards to play into rows or claiming entire rows to expand your collection. As the rounds progress, players aim to create extensive sets, but there's a catch – exceeding three colors incurs penalties, adding a layer of strategic depth.

High Society is a competitive auction-style card game designed by Reiner Knizia, where players vie to acquire wealth and status while avoiding financial pitfalls. The game focuses on strategic bidding and careful money management.

The board game known as Diamant or Incan Gold unfolds as an exhilarating press-your-luck experience, offering players a quick and enjoyable journey into mine shafts and jungle paths. As participants flip cards from a deck, the gems discovered are evenly distributed, creating a shared bounty. However, the decision to venture deeper comes with the risk of encountering hazards like scorpions, snakes, poison gas, explosions, and rockfalls.

Schotten Totten is a strategic card game that combines elements of poker with a battle for territory. Players compete to capture boundary stones by creating powerful card formations, with a clever twist on using logic to claim victory.

5-Minute Dungeon is a fast-paced, cooperative, real-time card game that challenges players to escape a dungeon within a five-minute time limit. The game is characterized by its intense pace and the need for quick thinking and effective teamwork.

Spicy is a vibrant bluffing card game that captures the fiery competition among three big cats who, tired of their constant battling for supremacy, decide to engage in a spicy hot eating contest. This setup serves as a backdrop for a game filled with deceit, strategy, and quick thinking, designed for 2-6 players. The game's core mechanic revolves around players announcing their card plays without revealing them, allowing for a high degree of bluffing as cards are played face down.

Mindbug: First Contact is an innovative and strategic duel card game where players summon unique hybrid creatures to battle their opponent. However, the twist lies in the Mindbug cards, which can turn the tide of the game by allowing players to take control of an opponent's creature.

Cockroach Poker is a lighthearted and engaging card game focused on bluffing and reverse set collection. It features various critters like cockroaches, rats, and stink bugs, and the aim is to trick others into collecting these undesirable creatures.

The Mind is a unique card game that combines elements of cooperation, intuition, and silent communication. It is as much an experiment in group dynamics as it is a game.

7 Wonders: Architects invites 2-7 players into a fast-paced race to leave a lasting legacy in the ancient world by constructing an architectural marvel. Each player starts with an unconstructed wonder and embarks on a journey to gather resources, develop their society, and achieve greatness.

In the trick-taking game, players aim to avoid winning tricks as cleverly as possible. All cards are distributed evenly among players, and when a player leads with a card, others must follow suit if possible. If they cannot, they can play any card, leading to potential changes in the trick’s suit. The game continues for multiple rounds until a player reaches the target number of tricks, with the player who has the fewest tricks won declared the victor.

Players purchase artwork for their museum while trying to align with current trends and uncover genuine pieces created by their team. However, the notorious Belratti aims to trick them with fake paintings in their collection.

In 7 Wonders, you step into the role of a leader of one of the seven great cities of the Ancient World. Your objective is to gather resources, establish commercial routes, and assert your military might. The game is not just about managing resources but also about building an architectural wonder that will stand the test of time.

Watergate thrusts players into the historical tug-of-war between the Nixon Administration and a determined journalist from the Washington Post. This game recreates the infamous political scandal, requiring strategic card play and keen decision-making.