A deck of playing cards contains a lot of math just waiting to be explored. Every card has a number value, most have numbers on them, and all have symbols (hearts, diamonds, spades, clubs) that can be counted and correspond to the number on the card. Kids like playing cards and know many games from home, and they all use math! The first card game most kids learn is War. In that simple game, you compare numbers and determine which is higher or lower. You can’t get more “mathy” than that. Or maybe you can? Check out these math card games for use in your classroom.
Jump to:
- Math Card Games for Preschool and Early Elementary
- Math Card Games for Upper Elementary and Middle School
Math Card Game for Preschool and Early Elementary
Make 10
Math Skills: Making 10, addition within 10, adding 2 or 3 numbers
Remove the face cards from the deck. Deal out three cards to each player, and lay the rest in a pile face down. Each player looks at the cards in their hands to see if they can add 2 or all 3 of them to make a total of exactly 10. (Examples: 2 + 8 = 10; 3 + 2 + 5 = 10.) Players can discard one card in each round and pick up a new one until they have a combination that makes 10. Once they do that, they win the round.
More Than / Less Than
Math Skill: Comparing numbers
Deal out cards so each player has half the deck. Players take turns being the leader and calling out either “More than” or “Less than.” Each player then takes the card from the top of their pile and turn it over. Whatever the rule was for that round is applied to the two cards. Whoever has the card that meets that rule wins both cards. The player with the most cards at the end of the deck is the winner.
“Sum” Are Odd and “Sum” Are Even
Math Skills: Odds and evens, adding small numbers
Shuffle the deck and place it between two partners. The first player declares “Odd” or “Even.” Players then each draw a card, and add the two cards together and decide if the sum is even or odd. If the lead player was right, they keep both cards. Otherwise, the other player keeps the cards. Play continues until one player has all the cards, with players taking turns calling odd or even for each round.
3 in a Row
Math Skills: Numerical order, number lines
A player takes a card from the top of the deck, which becomes their lead card. They continue to pull cards looking to create three in a row from their lead card. They can count forward, backward, or both. Keep drawing and discarding until one player has 3 in a row.
Example: If the first card is 7, the player needs to draw a 6 or an 8 to add to their row. If they draw a 6, they place it to the left of the 7. Now they need either an 8 or a 5 to complete their row.
Guess My Pattern
Math Skills: Pattern rules, logic
Each player takes a deck of cards and on their desks creates a pattern of at least eight cards. It could be a number pattern, a color pattern, a suit pattern, or any combination of those elements. Students then write their rule down on a piece of paper and turn it over. When everyone is ready, players walk around the room looking at each other’s patterns and trying to guess the rule.
Number Card Bingo
Math Skills: Number recognition
Appoint one student as the caller and give them a full deck of cards. Other players lay out a 4 x 4 bingo card with a total of 16 cards. The caller pulls a card and says what it is while showing it to the class. Players look at their bingo card and if they have the same number (doesn’t have to be the same suit), they turn that card over. Once you have four cards in a row turned down in any direction, that’s a bingo!
Full-Team Concentration
Math Skills: Matching, number recognition
Gather students around on the carpet. Split them into teams and have them sit in a group. Lay out all 52 cards in a deck face down in rows on the carpet. Players on each team take turns flipping two cards over. If the cards have the same value, the team keeps the cards. If they don’t, the cards get flipped back over in the same spaces. Play until every card is gone. Teams count their cards to see who won. Make sure teams let all players on the team take turns flipping cards over, although all can consult on each flip.
I Spy the Cards
Math Skills: Arithmetic, number recognition
Deal out 20 cards face up, and choose one player to be “I.” That player chooses one or more cards, and offers clues to the other players until someone guesses the correct card or cards.
Example 1: “I spy a card that’s even, and greater than 3.” One player points to 6, which happens to be the card “I” was thinking of, so that player wins the round.
Example 2: “I spy two cards that add up to 15.” One player points to a 7 and an 8, but “I” says those aren’t the right cards. The next player guesses a 9 and a 6, which are the cards “I” was thinking of, so they win the round.
You Can Count on Me
Math Skill: Counting on
Players place the deck face down between them. The first player flips a card up. Then they roll a pair of dice and count on from the flipped card with the number generated by the dice. If they’re correct, they keep the card, and it’s the next player’s turn.
Example: The player flips over a card showing 9 and then rolls a 3. Staring with 9, the player counts up 3 more, saying, “10 – 11 – 12.”
Beat the Dealer
Math Skills: Place value, comparing numbers, logic
Remove the face cards for this game. The dealer draws three cards from a deck, then arranges them so the digits create the largest possible number. Then they deal 3 cards to the other players, who arrange their cards in an attempt to make a number bigger than the dealer’s. Whoever wins gets a point.
Example: The dealer draws 5, 8, and 7. They arrange them to form 875. Another player receives the cards 1, 3, and 9, and arranges them to make 931, winning the hand.
Secret Card
Math Skills: Comparing numbers, mathematical reasoning
Each player gets a set of cards with one each of 1 (ace) through 10. The first player chooses a card from their deck and lays it face down. This is the Secret Card. The second player tries to guess what the card is by laying down what they believe is the same card. The lead player gives feedback, saying one of three things: correct, too high, or too low. Based on this, the player lays down another card to guess again, repeating until they get the Secret Card. Count how many cards (guesses) it took, and record the number. Switch roles and play again. Whoever plays the least number of cards in a round wins that round.
This Is Sort of Fun
Math Skills: Sorting, pattern rules, logic and reasoning
Players sort a deck of cards into groups so that each group has a clear sorting attribute. They could choose colors, odds and evens, factors of a certain number, primes and non-primes, or any other rule they like. Invite other players to try to guess the attributes of each group.
Safe!
Math Skills: Odds and evens, logic and reasoning
For the purpose of this game, face cards are worth 10. Player one starts drawing cards from the top of the deck. They keep going as long as they pick even numbers (this includes all face cards), but if they draw an odd number, they have to place all the cards they’ve picked up into a discard pile. At any time, the player can decide to stop drawing cards and say “Safe.” Those cards are theirs to keep for the rest of the game. The other players take their turns, continuing until all the cards are claimed or discarded. The player with the most cards wins.
Skip-Count to 50
Math Skills: Skip counting, repeated addition
Here’s a good game to practice skip counting by 5s and 10s. You’ll need multiple decks of cards (at least three, but more is better). Two players take turns pulling cards from the deck. Every time they pull a 5 or a 10, they keep it and begin a count to 50. Other cards are put in the discard pile. As they collect 5’s and 10’s, they count up. The first person to 50 wins.
Teacher Tip: You can practice skip counting by other numbers using the same game format!
Math Card Games for Upper Elementary and Middle School
Fraction War
You can build and compare fractions with this math card game. Remove face cards from the deck. Each player needs a pencil. The object of the game is to create the largest fraction. Players put the pencil down on the desk and draw a card. They place it above the pencil if they want it to be the numerator and below the pencil for the denominator. Once placed, it can’t be moved. Players take turns pulling cards from the deck and placing them. When all four cards are placed, the resulting fractions are compared and the largest wins.
Before you begin, decide if fractions can be improper or not. If not, and an improper fraction is created, the player loses that round.
Clock Solitaire
Shuffle the cards and deal them out into 13 face-down piles for this math card game. Now take 12 of the piles and arrange them into a circle, like a clock. The 13th pile goes into the middle of the clock. There will be four cards in each pile. Turn up the top card of the middle pile. If it is a 3, it belongs in the 3 o’clock pile. Slip the card under that pile face up. Then flip over the top card from that pile and put it under the pile where it belongs. Keep doing this. When you get to the last face-down cards, the numbers on the clock will appear. But watch out for the kings: If all four of them reach the center before the other piles are complete, the game ends and it’s time to deal out another clock.
Round Up
Players take turns picking two cards each from the deck. They lay their two cards down, side by side, with the first card in the tens place and the second card in the ones place. So if you picked a 3 and a 9, your number is 39. Now you round to the nearest 10, which gives you a score of 40. Your partner pulls a 7 and then a 2. Their number is 72. They round down to 70, but they still have a higher score than you so they win the round. Keep score until the deck is completed, and then compare. You can play this with or without face cards. If you play with face cards and a face card or a 10 card is placed in the ones place, you need to consider it as 10 ones.
Don’t Get Busted!
The object of this game is to get as close to 100 as possible and not go over. Players each pick four cards from the deck. They arrange the cards to create addends that when added together will give them the closest possible sum to 100. If I picked a 3, 7, 2, and 9, I would probably create 37 + 29 = 66. I’m tempted to put the 7 or 9 in the tens place, but that would end up sending me over 100 when I add them. Then I’m busted! The player with the closest score to 100 without going over wins. Lots of thinking and adding here.
Same, Same
If you’re looking for math card games students can play individually, try this activity. Give each student a full deck of cards. Have them arrange the cards in sets to show two ways to make the same amount as many times as they can using as many of the cards as they can. For example, they could show 10 by putting out a king in one set and two 5’s in the matching set. You could make 7 with a 3 card and a 4 card in one set and a 5 card and a 2 card in another set. This is a creative-thinking challenge with a lot of addition included.
Positive and Negative
You can practice positive and negative numbers with this game by deeming all red cards as negative numbers and all black cards as positive numbers. Each player chooses two cards and adds them together, remembering that reds are negative and blacks are positive. You can play this with the goal being to create the lowest number possible or the highest number possible. Players compare sums, and whoever meets the game goal wins that round.
Flipping Primes
Prime numbers are unique. Lay cards face down on a desk. Players take turns picking two cards. They can use any operation—addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division—on the two cards in whatever order they want to try to create a prime number. If they create a prime, they keep the cards. If they can’t, the cards get placed back face down again. After 20 minutes, count the cards. Whoever has the most wins.
Beat That Fraction!
Deal out the deck to each player. Players keep cards hidden and fan them out so that only they can see them all. Players look through their cards and pick two that they believe will form the largest fraction they can make. When the dealer says “Go,” players put out their two cards one above the other to form a fraction and say, “Beat that fraction!” Players compare fractions and decide on which is the largest. The player with the largest fraction wins all the cards and puts them in their win pile. The person with the most in their win pile wins the game.
Mind Reader
Form a group of three students. The Mind Reader shuffles the deck of cards and puts it out in front of the two other players. Each one picks a card and does not look at it, but instead holds the card against their foreheads, facing out so the Mind Reader can see them. The Mind Reader then tells them the product of their two cards. If the cards are a 9 and a 3, for example, the product would be 27. Now the other two players go back and forth trying to guess the two cards. Whoever guesses right wins the round and the roles rotate.
Flip 3
Lay 25 cards face down on the desk. Players take turns flipping over three cards. They can use any operation or arrangement to create a true number sentence. For example, if I pick a 3, queen, and a 7, I could set up the number sentence 10 (queen) – 7 = 3. If you can make a number sentence, you keep the cards. If you can’t, you turn them over and put them back in their original spots.
Subtraction Action
All players start with 100 points. They take turns drawing cards from the deck and subtracting that number from their running total (aces = 1, face cards = 10). So if a student starts with 100 and draws a 7, their new total is 93. On their next turn, they draw a king (10), dropping their total to 83. First player to zero wins. (For an extra challenge, the player must reach zero exactly!)
Multiplier
Shuffle the deck and deal out two piles. Players each flip over two cards. They multiply these together and get a product. Players compare products and whoever has the highest product wins that round and keeps all the cards. If a player incorrectly multiplies their cards and an opponent catches the error, that player wins the round automatically. Continue until all the cards have been claimed. The player with the most cards wins!
Absolute Zero
In this game, all red cards are negative numbers and all black cards are positive numbers. Aces = 1 and face cards = 10. The goal is to create a hand that totals exactly zero. Shuffle the deck and deal each player five cards. On each turn, players may draw from the top of the deck or the card showing in the discard pile. When one player forms a hand totaling zero, they win the round. The other players total up their positive cards only and add them to their score. At the end of five rounds, the player with the lowest score wins.
Combo Challenge
The lead player chooses a double-digit target number. Players choose four cards from the deck. They then try to use their four numbers and any operations to get as close to the target number as possible. If you get the target number exactly, your score is 0. If you are one away, your score is 1; two away, your score is 2; and so on. The player with the lowest score is the winner.
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If your students like math card games, try these dice games that teachers and students will love!
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