Card games come in many forms and have been part of PC gaming for decades.

At their most basic, they’re real-world card games that have been remade for PC. This involves a standard deck of playing cards, 52 cards with numbers, suits, and the royal court cards, with rules drawn from a variety of traditional card games, most famously Solitaire. The most notable version of Solitaire was made to introduce players to the mouse control and graphical user interfaces of the first modern operating systems, but it has since become one of the most played games in the world. Parents everywhere will spend hours rearranging piles of cards, trying to return a shuffled deck into more orderly stacks.

Modern gamers have a different view of card games. They’ll consider collectible card games, or CCGs, as the most relevant PC card game. These once again have their origins in the real world and are based on tabletop games. CCGs are a mixture of collectibles, strategy, and RPGs. They’re usually turn-based, meaning one player makes a turn by selecting their cards, and the other player will counter. CCGs are played in rounds, with the goal of defeating the other cards the opposite player has presented. Cards can represent anything, from units to powers, and players will spend years cultivating their decks to play among friends and in tournaments.

PC gaming versions of CCGs strive to replicate a number of aspects of CCGs. Cards can be collected, either by purchases or in-game transactions. Players will build a digital collection and create decks, essentially teams of cards that they can use in certain games. They’re played in arenas that resemble tabletops, allowing the cards to be drawn and placed. A lot of real-world card games now have digital equivalents.

This allows them to hold tournaments across the world. As a PC game, a lot of the manual aspects of tabletop games can be tracked and automated. Timing, scoring, and rule-keeping by a computer means everything can go strictly according to the game’s rules without players or judges keeping track of them.

Card games have all different kinds of themes. They can play like traditional tabletop games but with the heady atmosphere of a tavern as a backdrop. They can represent a world war, with tactics and cards representing real-world conflicts. Most card games have a fantasy theme but with wildly different stories and events. There are light-hearted battles with wonderfully animated cards and backdrops, and there are dark, murky games where each decision is taken, knowing that something bad is going to occur no matter what.

Yes. Though most computer card games have significant multiplayer components, there are a few that will allow players to play offline or on their own.

Yes. The Epic Games Store sells card games that run on Windows and macOS. You can select the relevant filters in the Browse section of the store.

Though we don’t sell the classic version of Solitaire, there are several games on the Epic Games Store that have created their own interpretation of Solitaire, adding backstories and new mechanics.

Deck-building games require the players to collect and build their collection of cards during each game session.

Generally speaking, deck-building games provide randomized (or shuffled) decks for the player to draw their cards. This makes the games something of a lottery. Players will need to react to the cards, sometimes even discarding a card that had little to no value in their planned strategy or using the cards to purchase other cards.

Deck-building games are suited to continuous play sessions, where the player will strive to head deeper and deeper into the game world, and card battles are set up to provide a challenge to progression. The random abilities provided by cards will ensure that no two playthroughs, or runs, are the same and require skillful reactions and some luck to progress.