Bicycle StandardPrice: About $5, roughly.
Our house deck
The deck most people picture. Poker size, standard faces, shuffles well. If you buy one deck, make it this.
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Everything we recommend, in one place: ten decks for ten kinds of table, dice and game gear, and ten books for when you want more games. Each one is chosen for a reason, and each page says when to skip it.
Ten decks, ten kinds of table
Decks
A deck is the one thing nearly every game needs, and the thing your hands touch every minute you play. We keep one house deck for everything, then add the specialists: plastic for spills, jumbo index for tired eyes, bridge size for big hands, and a few to give away.
Bicycle Jumbo IndexPrice: About $6, roughly. Easiest to read
Waddingtons No. 1Price: About $8, roughly. The British classic
theory11 MonarchsPrice: About $40, roughly. The one to give
Piatnik 100% Plastic, bridge sizePrice: About $15, roughly. Perfect for bridge
Fournier Nº 818Price: About $8, roughly. For poker and blackjack
Bicycle Canasta GamesPrice: About $12, roughly. Made for Canasta
Bicycle PrestigePrice: About $25, roughly. Our house deck in plastic
Bicycle Invisible DeckPrice: About $10, roughly. For magic tricks
Not sure which deck?
Plastic or paper, poker or bridge size, one deck or two: the buying guide answers it in five minutes.
Read the guide →Roll, count, peg
Dice and game gear
Dice games need almost nothing, and that is their charm. These are the simplest versions that work: a plain set of twelve, ready-to-play boxes with the cup and the score pad, a wooden classic, and a board for counting Cribbage.
Farkle dice game in a cupPrice: About $12, roughly.
Farkle, ready to play
Six dice, a cup and a score pad in one box. The easiest way to get a table rolling tonight.
FarkleGifts
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16 mm six-sided dice, set of 12Price: About $8, roughly. Dice for most dice games
Yahtzee ClassicPrice: About $12, roughly. Yahtzee, the classic box
Bunco for a party
Left Right Center gamePrice: About $10, roughly. Left Right Center, boxed
Liar's Dice set with 5 cupsPrice: About $25, roughly. Liar's Dice for a full table
WE Games 3-track boardPrice: About $20, roughly. For counting at Cribbage
Poker chip set with case, 500 chipsPrice: About $30, roughly. For betting at poker night
Which dice?
Size, weight, edges and how many: the dice guide answers it in five minutes.
Read the guide →Your next hundred games are on a shelf
Books
Pips gets you playing in minutes. These ten books are what comes after: the encyclopedias that settle arguments and the world compendium, a friendly starter, a book for children, one for solitaire, one for the dice and the odds, and one each for Poker and Bridge. Chosen for different readers, each with its reason and its caveat.
David ParlettPrice: About $15, roughly.
The world reference
More than 250 games from all over the world, each in a page or two: the goal, the deal, the play and where it comes from. It is where you go when you want to play something nobody at the table has heard of.
Curious playersAnyone past the basics
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Barry RigalPrice: About $15, roughly. The gentle start
Clear rules for the classics
Gail MacCollPrice: About $15, roughly. For young players
Albert H. Morehead and othersPrice: About $15, roughly. For playing alone
The A to Z encyclopedia
For the poker table
The step up to Bridge
Reiner KniziaPrice: About $15, roughly. The dice book
The card history classic
Which book first?
Brand new: Card Games For Dummies. Curious about everything: the Penguin book. Arguing about a rule: Hoyle's.
Start with the beginner pick →