Card Games Books

Gave this as a gift to my brother who is a masterful chef. He enjoyed it. Good gift idea for those who cook.

This game is fun, but can go on for a long time to the difficulty of some of the questions!

Saw this at xmas time and thought it would be a fun gift for a family member. I was worried that the questions would not be challenging enough being that the person is a consumate foodie, as is another family member who would be present during the holiday. We played the game and even they couldn't answer all the questions!
Game is designed really well, good variety of questions even for the novice foodie and I like how you can play a short game or a long game.
Good fun!

Had a lot of laughs over the game after Christmas dinner (gift to my daughter - a foodie)

I recently attend a weekend cooking school where we played both Foodie Fight and the Trival Pursuit Game dedicated to food. Foodie Fight was much more fun, more interesting questions, better catagories and just the right difficulty. The school was attended by "foodies" and some new to cooking and all enjoyed the game. It's a winner!

This is generally a good book in english version thought there are more other version in germany and french.
I have enrolled the course in Jan 08 with the Author from this website, [...]

But until now, 23 Jun 08, I have not yet started with the lessons due to the busy schedule of the author. I am excited hoping that the course could be starting soon.

This book has so much information on the Lenormand system. It is fascinating! Well worth the money!

I love this book! This book gives the Lenormand cards from the p.o.v. of a priest of Umbanda and Quimbanda. In addition to meanings of the cards and combinations, he offers advice on additional actions one may take to protect you from or enhance the message divined. Very practical for spiritual use. He gives Afro-Brazilian spirit correspondences, oil and bath recipes, and a chapter on working with the Gypsy spirits to use these cards. I agree with the reviewer that said it was short on the actual mechanics of reading a spread, but that was the problem with Sylvie Steinbach's book too. However, there is enough information given to work it out for yourself with little effort. I recommend this book.

Finally, a book to not only help with the Lenormand card readings, but to include help for the reader! I was very impressed with this book! The outline allowed for a beginner to do a detailed reading, and for a skilled reader, more information to do a very detailed reading! VERY IMPRESSIVE! The extra information on focus,baths, and how to avoid reader's burnout was a plus! I have recommended this book to many tarot readers & will continue to recommend this book to my students. An instant classic!

This is currently the only book available for the Lenormand Cards in English - and its quite detailed! I am not sure about the other review, but this book gives enough information to pick up the cards and do a detailed reading. The author has given all possible combinations - and explains that if you want to read these cards then you have to look at the interpretation of each combination. He even lists different meanings as to health issues, love and romance, work and employment and shows how the meaning of the combination changes depending on the questions asked.

What makes this book truly valuable though are additional information and hints as to how to avoid burn-out as a reader and how to take care of yourself if you are a professional fortune teller. I have already had one telephone reading with the author and was very impressed about the detailed information he gave me!

This book is excellent and I can't wait for the course that is mentioned in the back of the book to become available!

Brilliant concept. It didn't work for my wife, though; she just didn't get it and didn't want to. I've tried to bring it out a few times since, but just can't generate interest. My conclusion on the game is this: If you enjoy beauty and brilliance in-and-of-themselves, you'll probably like the game. If you think there should be a purpose to beauty and brilliance, then it may not fly for you.

This game is another hit from game designer Keith Baker (of Eberron fame). You play a particular ill-fated family and the object of the game (in very simple terms) is to heap as much good luck and happiness on your opponents and heap as much misfortune on your own in order to win the game. Its allows flexibility of play and lots of creativity and imagination for a card game.

bravo!

I was introduced to Gloom under `out of the ordinary' circumstances. I play in a LARP (Live Action Role-Playing) game and a Player showed me the game Out Of Character. Once I got the hang of the game, I was hooked - especially since the game completely fits the genre and type of characters we play in the LARP. Now when I show up to game LARP and there's not too much going on In-Character, my friends will all sit and play Gloom. For sure a comical way of looking at the macabre side of life and blasé existence imagined in a world of darkness. As for calling it a children's game? Depending upon the level of imagination, the game could throw any kid into depression if the game isn't supervised by an adult. Otherwise, this is a fun game and I'd highly suggest it for anyone who like to have fun at others expense.

Gloom was recommended to me by a slightly bi-polar friend who knew that I appreciated a good card game, to whit, if I purchased the game, he'd play it with me. Anyway, I looked for it and found it was made by Atlas Games (LUNCH MONEY!) so I quickly purchased it. As for how it is for a child's game, I have no idea (and no kids,) but as for a party game instead of Euchre or Hearts, it is a hit. Pros: It mixes humor and pithy dialog with every card, which are plastic (hence not susceptible to party fouls or getting wiped in the dip,) plus it has a smart system of scoring that doesn't get too big for addled (or young, I guess) minds to grasp. It's a good game to get people engaged and any "gamer" will instantly love it's simplicity combined with more complex strategies once the system is grasped. Cons: I don't have the latest expansion! Plus, I think there needs to be more cards for 4-5 player games.

Gloom is a big hit with my 11- and 14-year old daughters and myself. It is best played with people who like to embellish the stories of how such bad things can happen to these pathetic characters. If you like creativity, or promoting creative thinking and storytelling, this game might very well be for you. It is not for people who are easily offended, small children, overly competitive or those without a sense of humor.

When Goren said "complete," he meant it. Between the covers of this book, one will find everything one must know to learn the game and play it competently. For many bridge players, this single volume, can be a complete bridge library. The sections on declarer play and defensive play will be as good 100 years from now as they were the day Goren wrote them.

BUT

One could have questioned "new" on the original publication date. Especially for duplicate players, even the Laws of Contract Bridge have changed. More practically, bidding has evolved quite rapidly since Goren wrote this work, and the bidding ideas he presents were tried and true (that is, shop worn) before publication.

If you are serious about the game, augment Goren with more modern works about bidding. Marty Bergen and Marshal Miles stand tall among those who will show you modern bidding methods at the leading edge. Still, if you can find more useful, well presented, effectively indexed information about the game in any other volume, buy it and clue me in on the treasure.

It covers most parts of the game (conventions, hand playing, defence...), but i found it rather old. Point count is oldfashioned, and that is enough to ruin your buying system... You will find enough useful clues though. Not bad.

I bought this book after I got Contract Bridge for Beginners... This book should be on the shelf of any bridge player! It's not the best book for beginners, but it could be used by a beginner as well as an advanced player. If you are a beginner, you should buy Goren's Contract Bridge for Beginners. It's short and to the point. Bridge Complete expands on many of the items in the beginner's book and offers many new items.

Charles Goren explains basic bridge with clarity like no other. An added bonus is Charley has a sense of humor so you get an occasional smile along with your lessons.

Your first lesson in bridge is "Don't run until you can walk!" How many people have you heard say something like, "maybe I don't know much about bidding, but give me a good hand, and I can play against anybody!" Don't you believe it! Submarine squeezes, dummy reversals, double throw in end plays are very exciting stuff, but 1) they don't come up all that often and 2) you have to visualize all four hands before they work.

Goren starts you out on Chapter I with "The Bidding" just like you would at the table. Each chapter ends with a quiz. Take them and then go back and reread the areas you missed. Until you feel very comfortable with all aspects of bidding, don't go any further. You will never get to play that brilliant hand if you land in the wrong spot. That's what bidding is all about, to get you to that perfect spot where you get a chance to shine and slay your opponents.

When I learned to play bridge as a teenager, Goren's Bridge Complete was my Bible. It has gone through many revisions since, but looking over the latest, I see it still retains all its virtues. I'm not denying this book will take a lot of time, and everything must be read more than once best with a paper and pencil close by, but you will be rewarded. The pleasure you will get from deftly executed bidding and play is ample compensation for the time you have spent. Read and enjoy. I'll see you at the bridge table!
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer

When first learning bridge almost a decade ago, I had Sheinwold's classic book (Five Weeks to Winning Bridge) and this one. This book was by and far the better; furthermore, it has remained a book that is constantly re-readable. Each time through I pick up another fascet of the game from Goren and his editors (since he died).

The bidding system used is what is commonly known as a "two over one game force" which, in my opinion, is a very powerful system. It does take a little bit more study than a purely natural system, but not much.

Although I well recommend this book for any serious beginner, even a complete beginner, my wife found the "Bridge for Dummies" (Eddie Kantar) book more accessible. Of course, she was only learning Bridge because I asked her to play with me... After all, what good is a wife if not a permanent Bridge partner? In any event, I highly recommend the Kantar work as well.

A final word: despite the book's age, it is not at all dated.

I've been reading cards for nearly 4 years. I started out with rider/waite and have purchased a couple different decks. My daughter purchased this set for me in a "Tarot-to- go" pack (smaller version of cards). I fell in love with them right away and ordered this set. They are very easy to handle and the pictures on them, front are beautifully depicted. The images are so soft and sweet. They also stay very true to the symbolism of the rider/waite.

~I have already done a couple of readings with them and couldn't like them any more than I already do!

These cards are very beautiful and can tell you the story of the card just by looking at them. ... The book is not a guide or learning tool for tarot. It only gives you a brief history of tarot and gives you and describtion and explanation of the cards which comes with the cards in a little book. If you buy the cards it comes with a little book that tells you everything the big book tells you. If you want to learn how to read tarot cards, don't buy this book, but if you want beautiful and easy to remeber cards, this is the way to go!

This set of cards and the accompanying book makes dealing with the tarot easy. The cards are beautiful with plenty of detail to catch the viewers eyes. The book does not talk over your head or under your head. It is especially useful for a new tarot user. Before describing the the divinatory meaning it gives detailed descriptions of the cards. The book also gives a basic outline of the Major Arcena for quick reference. The set also includes a Celtic Cross layout spread sheet for card readings which I found useful in the beginning. This is definately my favorite deck and the brightness of it calls to me.

A very easy to understand book~ great for beginners, and well versed, alike! I enjoyed this book, and learned a great deal from it. The matching Tarot cards are beautiful, and easy to "feel" and read accurately. A wonderful start to new beginnings!! ~~Blessed Be~~~

I have had my Hanson-Roberts deck for at least 12 years now, and I still use it quite frequently. When I bought it, I knew little or nothing about the Tarot, and chose it simply because I liked the illustrations; they have a 'Renaissance' feel to them, and the clear, harmonious colors are lovely. Unless they've changed, the cards are also on the small side, making them easy to shuffle and handle for those of us with smallish or clumsy (or both!) hands. The imagery is strongly based on the Rider-Waite deck, but the illustrations have a charm all their own. A very pretty, appealing deck overall; I would definitely recommend this one for beginners as well as old-timers.

An outstanding bridge book - one of the best ever written for novice to intermediate players on bridge defense. I am certain that my defensive play improved markedly from thorough study of this book. The material is well organized and develops the various techniques effectively with numerous examples, explaining the correct reasoning underlying each. Quizzes in each chapter and the random topic "final exam" make sure the reader has absorbed the material. You'll find yourself retaking the quizzes repeatedly.

Any player below expert level will not be disappointed in this book.

A major contribution to bridge literature. Deals comprehensively with the subject. Written on exactly the right level. 1994 Bridge Book of the Year.

All the basics are covered, with LOTS of examples and non-double dummy problems. It *WILL* take you a while to go through the book, but its well worth it. The book doesn't focus on difficult defense, like the Kelsey Killing Defense at Bridge books. It focuses on general principles, and signaling. A nice touh is a number of different signaling methods are presented at the end of the book. The reader can become familiar with what they may face, and decide what signals to use.


Roots book on Declarer Play is a good beginner/intermediate level book. His book on Conventions is excellent, despite not having all the newest conventions.

A major contribution to bridge literature. Deals comprehensively with the subject. Written on exactly the right level. 1994 Bridge Book of the Year.

There's no question that William Root knows what he's writing about, but I found this book rather dry and uninspiring. Still, it's well organized and formatted with lots of example hands and reading it would certainly be of some value to the improving player.

I'd recommend "Card Play Technique" by Victor Mollo instead.

The "Play Winning Poker In No Time" was great! It has helped me become a card shark at my local bar. Please thank the author for such a great book!

If you follow the advice in "Play Winning Poker In No Time" and play poker you will lose. A tip-off should be the title. Serious players can spend a lifetime attempting to play winning poker and never succeed. In No Time comes complete with huge errors, for example, the author gives her version of the rules of Texas Hold em. "Players win by forming the best five-card hand using their two hole cards and three of the community cards." In fact, a player may use any five-card combination from the board and personal cards. A player may even use all of the boardcards and no personal cards to form a hand (play the board). This means all the chapters in this book on assessing table position, evaluating your starting hand and so forth are flawed. Go ahead and use the book. I look forward to playing against you.

Prior to buying this book, I had always wanted to learn to play Texas Hold-Um but was afraid it would be too difficult to master. I am intimated no more!! This book really broke down the basics of the game in a fast, easy to use way. In fact, I was playing, having fun, and winning a few pots the very day after I finished reading this book. Loved the pull out cheat sheet.

I had only played Texas Hold Em a couple of times with the family, so I bought this book before entering my first poker tournament -- mostly to avoid humiliation. I did far better than that. I've finished in the top third (out of 50) and was the last woman standing all three times I've played since reading it.

After watching me play, the Tournament Director said, "I've got to see this book!". After looking through it he said, "No wonder. Everything you need to know to succeed is right here." As a result, my more experienced poker-playing husband even read some key chapters and has been finishing in the money as well.

Playing Winning Poker is an extremely easy read and valuable tips are well reinforced in the margins. I've given copies to several family members and friends, and now they swear by it as well. Thanks for helping us finish in the chips!

Great Book---easy to read and use, great advice, I learned a ton and am ready to hit the table.

If you have patience and a love for detail, this book is for you. Although it is in black and white, you have all the visuals you need to cut paper and transform it into amazing 3D cards. Hooray for the slow quiet arts returning, it is a refreshing change to everything that has to be done immediately often with rushed results and a lack of craftsmanship. All you need is time, scissors or a sharp craft cutting knife and extra paper because you will want to make more. And yes, older children can give it a go also. They should reprint all the books in this series to capture a new audience.

It's a real shame this book is not readily available... it's one of the best books available for the craft of folded paper creations. ***1) will spark your imagination, and reinforce your skills ***2) will give you hours of creative enjoyment. PLUS: the pieces you create from this book will be treasured, and kept by the recipient. ... I cannot recommend it too much to anyone who likes making things with paper!

This was a rather more difficult book than the others by Chatani and by Chatani and Nakazawa, but the designs are exceptionally lovely even to see. I'd recommend the other volumes to start: Pop-up Cards, Paradise of Origamic Architecture, Paper Magic, and White Christmas.

This book is rather hard to read due to the lack of contrasting colors, even though I rated it 4-star. Other than that, it has fabulous designs. Even beginners would find the book satisfying and gratifying.

If you want to send cards that will NEVER be thrown away, try these easy to follow patterns and instructions. There is one pattern that pops out to reveal the word "PEACE". Due to the recent Sept. 11 events, this could be a card used for many years to come. Aloha from Hawaii, Vicki Lynn Soule'

An excellent book that takes the home game where it should go. There is no other book designed to develop the home player's abilities in holdem to be able to walk into a casino and play on a respectable and knowledgeable level. The book is easy to understand and develops advanced topics easily for those new to the game. If you're either playing in a home game or thinking of starting one, this is the ideal book for you.

This book is well written and is one of the few poker books that does not talk down to the average reader.

It addresses home game players as if they are intelligent people, not (just) drunken morons who can only understand poker in terms of one-line catch phrases or the ever present television sound bite. That does not mean there isn't plenty of humor - there is; and the book is fun to read with plenty of examples.

Some recent books about home poker patronize silly homespun poker games, which are fun to play with the kids to teach them pattern recognition and have some good family time, but not with your poker buddies.
This book, then, explains why home players should stop wasting their time always playing the kids games and start playing the real game.

From the poker examples and references of modern entertainment culture to poker situations; to one page on strategy that had references to Clauswitz, Sun Tzu, Lincoln and Washington - plus a joke and a lesson in situational awareness; to how to make your poker nights valuable in both money and self esteem; this is the book that most of us need. It taught me a great deal, from reel to real, but it is also simply a good read.

Finally, it includes the clearest, most thorough explanation of general strategic poker concepts that you've seen in any poker book. For those that enjoy doing and understanding REAL Poker; Don't hesititate - get this book. Heck, if you are like me, you'll more than make up the cost of the book in the first hour of your first real poker night!

In response to Mark's review of this book, Mark doesn't understand REAL poker. Chicago, Baseball, Follow the Queen, and other silly card games may be fun but they are not REAL poker. If you want to play those silly games, you might as well play roulette or craps. REAL poker is about skill. This is the whole point of this book.

As a poker skills book this is a good one. But, it carries a heavy and repeated message that only classic tournament poker games have any value, not games in which chance plays a bigger role, which are disparingly called "kiddie poker". Games with multiple or changeable wild cards are a prime example. Basically that means only hold-'em, Omaha, razz, and straight five card draw or seven card stud are worthwhile games.

This ignores two facts. Believe it or not, many people actually like to play these games and have no desire to change. And, in many home games, there are players of lower skill who simply would stop playing if they didn't have enough chances to get lucky; and people want to keep these players in for social reasons. They don't mind playing the wildcard games sometimes to do so.

So, if you play for mostly social reasons and/or like poker games with multiple or changeable wildcards (or "Chicago" or...), this book is not for you. It's a lecture on how wrong you are. If you don't play those games, or shudder every time the dealer calls them and want advice on how to change the nature of the poker game you're in, it's a winner.

I've always enjoyed real poker, but too often the following scenario has happened to me: I get together with some people who claim they "really like poker", it's dealer's choice, and the first person calls this game: "seven-card stud, fours, whores, and mustaches wild, high-low, low spade in the whole takes half the pot, and if the ace of spades shows, all bets double". Sigh. Then the next person wants to play something called "guts", which is only vaguely related to poker, and the next person wants to play something called "in-between", which has nothing to do with poker at all. Finally I deal, and I call seven-card stud, no wild cards. Everyone looks bored and disappointed. I point out that this is the only real poker that's been played up until this point. They say "well, we like to *gamble*!" Soon afterwards, I lose interest and leave. They say "I guess you don't really like poker after all..." Sigh.

This is the disease, and _Real Poker Night_ purports to be the cure. The author clearly understands the phenomenon I've described, and makes a very valuable contribution by giving it a pejorative name: "kiddie poker". Now at least I can tell people who claim to like poker that I have no interest in playing "kiddie poker" because it cheapens the real thing. The author also gives detailed instructions for setting up a real poker game, with reasonable games and reasonable limits (it isn't poker unless losing stings a bit). Then he describes basic strategy and tactics both as a whole and for the most common real poker games (primarily Texas Hold'em, seven-card stud, and omaha/8). He doesn't pretend that his book is all you'll ever need to read to become a good player (poker is way too complex for that, fortunately), but he sets you off on the right track.

I'm a cynic, however, and much as I'd like to believe that this book will generate hordes of new real poker players, I know in my heart that it isn't going to happen. The people who "just like to gamble" play kiddie poker for a reason: the real game requires skill, patience and a lot of _work_ to play well, and kiddie poker fans don't want to work hard. So my advice is not to try to convert the kiddie poker players -- they're not interested in real poker. What you need to do is to find other people, like you, who are sick of kiddie poker and want to play the real game. Once you get a group of like-minded people together, this book is a good starting place. The only thing I would have like to have seen added to the book is a bibliography of books to further your study of the game.

Finally, I'd like to point out that the real author of this book is Henry Stephenson, and famed poker author Lou Krieger only wrote the foreword (Amazon puts Krieger's name first, for some reason). Thanks, Mr. Stephenson, and I hope that your book does indeed encourage more people to take up the real game.

Inside you can find gnome (race) and bard (class) and so many new monsters and item cards. 112 cards to improve your fun rating :)

Muchkin is a fun game for lots of personality types. The game states it will be about 45 minutes. But plan on an hour or more for your first game with people not knowing the rules and having to read the card for what to do. This is a fun game to play with a group of friends with good a good sense of humor who have a certain, nerd flair. : ) I highly recommend this game.

This expansion set is an example of the rules of synergy in action. It isn't very many game systems that can get better and better as more and more product is added.

Munchkin, with both expansions, measures in at nearly 400 cards. Despite being almost eight times the size of the standard card deck, it is a very playable game that has gotten better with each addition. The new cards make the game less "fixed" in that you can no longer really anticipate any particular card coming into play during the course of a game. My group has abandoned the equally good, but not supported with expansions, Star Munchkin, to play Munchkin +2+3 exclusively when the evening involves card gaming.

A set of additional cards to the Munchkin set, it can also be played without the basic set. New classess and races, unforunately, aren't balanced, thus being an Orc, a Gnome or a Bard is much better than any other race or class. Nevertheless, the monsters are charming

This 112 card expansion to the Munchkins game add an additional race and class to the game, as well as more loot and even more monsters and curses.

The Gnome is a powerful race which can stand on it's own and the Bard class is provided a variety of cards which increase it's power over time.

The new cards build on the core in a very good way and really flesh out the original Munchkins game. Additionally, these cards easily fit in the original box.

I highly recommend this expansion both because it adds to an already great game, but because it's relatively cheap.