Family & party
Pairs
A pub card game with a triangular deck. Take a card or fold, and do not be the one who draws a pair; the deck is small, the tension is not.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)Card Games That Start With P
Looking for a card game beginning with P? Here are 24 of them — from Poker (Texas Hold'em) and President to Paperback and Point Salad — with player counts, play times and a quick summary of how each one works.
- Games listed
- 24
- Traditional
- 13
- Two-player only
- 3
- Last checked
- 18 October 2026
Quick answer
There are 24 card games in this list that start with P. The best known are Poker (Texas Hold'em), President, Paperback and Point Salad. Scroll for the full list, or use the filters to narrow it down.
All 24 card games starting with P
Sorted alphabetically. Filter by type, or search by name, mechanic or theme.
Traditional
Palace
A shedding game with a memory twist. Play cards onto the pile and pick the whole thing up if you cannot beat it; the first player to empty both their hand and their face-down stock wins.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Hobby
Palm Island
A solo card game you hold in one hand. Flip and rotate cards to gather resources and build up your island, without ever putting the deck down — designed for queues and commutes.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Hobby
Paperback
A deck-building word game. Buy letter cards to make better words, and use the words you spell to buy more cards; the engine you build is your vocabulary.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Hobby
Parade
A quiet card game with an Alice in Wonderland theme. Play a card to the end of the parade line and take cards you do not want; the scoring punishes whichever colour you collected most.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Traditional
Paskahousu
A Finnish shedding game with a sting. Play equal or higher cards and avoid being left with the lowest card at the end; the loser is the one still holding it, and the name is not polite.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Traditional
Pesten
The Dutch version of Crazy Eights, and the one Dutch children grow up with. Match suit or rank, use special cards to skip or make others draw, and announce your last card before you play it.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Family & party
Phase 10
A rummy-style game with ten phases. Complete the phase printed on your card — a run, a set, a colour — before moving on; the deck is small and the luck is large.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Traditional
Pinochle
A trick-taking game with melds and a 48-card deck. Score points for combinations in your hand, then win tricks for more; the bid decides who carries all the risk.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Traditional
Piquet
A two-player French classic from the sixteenth century. Build melds, then win tricks; the scoring is arcane, the play is sharp, and it rewards players who count every card.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Family & party
Pit
A trading game with a bell. Everyone shouts for the commodities they need, swapping cards until someone corners a market and rings the bell. Loud, fast and merciless.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Traditional
Pitch
An American trick-taking game with a bidding phase. Bid points, name trump and try to make your contract; high, low and jack are worth extra, and going set is expensive.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Hobby
Pixel Tactics
A two-player tactical card game on a 3x3 grid. Every card can be a leader, a unit or an order, so the same deck plays completely differently depending on how you deploy it.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Hobby
Point Salad
A drafting game where every card is worth points in a different way. Take two cards or a scoring card each turn, and build the salad that scores best when the deck runs out.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Hobby
Poison
A Knizia card game about brewing potions. Add cards to the cauldrons and try not to take the poisoned ones; the numbers are small but the decisions are sharp.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Hobby
Pokémon TCG
The card game behind the cartoon. Build a 60-card deck, evolve your Pokémon and knock out six prize cards before your opponent; the collecting is half the hobby.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Traditional
Poker (Texas Hold'em)
The world's most played card game. Two hole cards, five community cards and four betting rounds; the best hand wins, but the best bluff often wins more.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Traditional
Pontoon
The British version of blackjack. Draw cards to get as close to 21 as possible, and remember that a five-card hand wins automatically; the dealer's rules are the house edge.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Hobby
Port Royal
A pirate card game of push-your-luck and contracts. Draw cards from the harbour, stop before you bust, and hire crew to complete expeditions; the table decides when to push.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Traditional
Preferans
Russia's classic three-player game. Bid for the right to name trump and take tricks, and remember that the bidder plays alone against the other two for the whole hand.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Traditional
President
The shedding game with a social ladder. Play higher cards to take the lead and finish first to become President; the loser deals and gets the worst chair next round.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Traditional
Prší
The Czech take on Crazy Eights. Match suit or rank, use sevens to make the next player draw, and shout 'prší' when you are down to your last card.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Traditional
Pusoy Dos
The Filipino climbing game played with 13 cards. Play poker hands — singles, pairs, straights — each higher than the last, and empty your hand first; the 2s are the highest singles.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)
Traditional
Pyramid (solitaire)
A patience game shaped like a pyramid. Pair cards that add to 13 to remove them, and work your way up to the peak; the stock gives you one more chance at the cards you need.
Rules & background (opens in a new tab)No games match that search. Try a game name, a mechanic like “trick-taking”, or clear the filters.
What counts as a card game starting with P?
We count a game if it is played primarily with cards and its common English name begins with P. That covers three very different families: traditional games with regional rule sets rather than a single publisher, modern hobby card games sold with a rulebook, and family and party games where the deck is the whole game.
We leave out board games that happen to contain cards, tile games, and video games — with rare exceptions for digital card games that play exactly like their tabletop equivalent. Expansions are listed under their base game rather than as separate entries.
Card games starting with P: common questions
How many card games start with the letter P?
This list covers 24 card games whose common English name begins with P. The true number depends on how you count — regional variants alone would push it much higher — so we only list games with a published rule set and a name in real use.
What is the most popular card game that starts with P?
Poker, by a wide margin — Texas Hold'em alone is played in every casino and every home game. President is the most played of the casual P games, and Pinochle the most played of the old ones.
What is the best P card game for a party?
President for a rowdy table, Pit for a very rowdy table, and Pairs for something calmer that still works with eight people.
What is the easiest card game starting with P?
President. The rules fit on a card, the hierarchy is intuitive, and children pick it up in one hand. Phase 10 is the next step up if you want something longer.
Is Pontoon the same as blackjack?
Almost. Pontoon is the British version of blackjack, with a few house rules of its own — the biggest being that a five-card hand wins automatically regardless of its total.
Which P card games are best for two players?
For exactly two players, start with Piquet, Pixel Tactics and Pokémon TCG. All of them are designed for two, so there are no house rules to negotiate before the first hand.