Most mornings, I roll out of bed, grab my phone, and open a pack of Pokemon. Over the past month, I’ve grown tired of the routine of booting up Pokemon TCG Pocket, a mobile adaptation of the popular card game, and catching everything as well as video games and show encouragement. I’ve now blown through dozens of booster packs, chasing the thrill of filling my digital library with rare holographic and full-art cards. I know I am not alone in this craze. My group chat is full of friends sharing their booster pack rewards, and my social media feeds often consist of a few screenshots of someone howling. That’s not all I saw.
Everywhere I looked this year, some sort of card game was killing it, dominating conversations and minds. Balatro has captivated gamers since the beginning of the year and has never let go. My favorite part of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth isn’t dating Tifa or watching Nomura and company continue to reinterpret the mythology of FF7. It was a quick break from the bloated open world to duel in the game Queen’s Blood, a territory-based card game within a sprawling RPG, and I wasn’t the only one who loved it. Everyone I know now plays Magic: The Gathering, and after many fascinating crossovers and friends’ bids, I do too. And by the end of the year, Pokemon TCG Pocket had become a part of our daily lives, allowing us to chase the thrill of filling our digital library with our favorite creatures.
The point is that 2024 is a big bet on card games. We’re all in, so to speak, and it’s very interesting to wonder why this trend has become so active in recent years. These games vary in complexity and mechanics, but are there some basic characteristics that unite all these examples and make sense of the amazing year they’ve had?
First of all, many of us have been longing for something simpler, and I think most of the aforementioned games certainly fit that need. Balatro, as its tagline suggests, is Solitaire with poker, a combination of one of the oldest genres and one of the most widely played games of all time. Strip away the multipliers, infectious music, and booster packs (purchased with in-game money, not microtransactions) and it’s a deceptively simple concept. Generate winning hands like straights and flushes while meeting increasingly absurd requirements and total points. . There are certainly mechanical and aesthetic flourishes that complicate matters, such as the presence of a game-changing Joker and a roguelike framework that appears to allow for endless play, but in reality it’s a game you can blankly play for hours. It’s as easy to understand as 1, 2, and 3.
Boasting somewhat easy-to-understand rule sets and formats, many of these games can be played on autopilot. I recognize the flush and can quickly finish a round with Balatro in a crowded airport without even thinking about it. Pokemon TCG Pocket actually includes an auto-battle feature for younger kids rather than duels. Queen’s Blood becomes a much more complex game if you follow the quest line all the way through, but is otherwise a very simple game about conquering terrain and increasing your numbers. It’s refreshing to take a break from the world-ending plot, menu after menu, and consequential decisions and get back to something more relaxing, and these card games often did that. This has been the case with Triple Triad and Gwent as with many recent examples, and the fact that this trend has continued for so long suggests that players clearly have a preference for them.
But when there’s an undeniable level of complexity, like Magic: The Gathering or the high level play of the aforementioned games, there’s something completely different about it that keeps players engaged, and I think that’s definitely true for me. I know that. .
Card games have a social aspect that should not be ignored. The main reason I’ve become interested in them lately is because everyone around me is doing something with them. Many of my closest friends have bought Pokemon booster packs and been collecting them for months or even years. My roommate started inviting friends over to play a Commander-type game of Magic: The Gathering for hours at our dining room table. For months I watched from the outside as people fell madly in love with Balatro’s mix of poker and roguelike mechanics, devoted themselves to runs consisting of ridiculous power-ups and multipliers, and forged challenges to issue others.
As someone who tends to play games alone, or at least with a select few, I saw my colleagues and friends adopting these card games and building new rituals with each other, and I wanted to participate in the sense of community they were building. consolation. I wanted to enjoy the fun of cool new rare card art with others. I wanted to try something new in a space full of trustworthy people. I wanted to be where the people were, and if that meant sitting in person around a table and learning the complex rules of a new game, then so be it. Heck, even this very experience I’m detailing was adapted into a game called TCG Card Shop Simulator, and that game was a huge success, proving I’m not alone in wanting these communal spaces that card games can do so uniquely well. I did it. upbringing.
I learned to love card games more than middle school lunchtime. I collected a lot of cards growing up, but never really cared about learning their rules and functions. The first time I developed a real appetite for card games was when I regularly played Yu-Gi-Oh at lunchtime. He and his youth spent their days playing solitaire. And yet, they were cut off from the story of Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, or any of the huge RPGs that were games at the time. Nonetheless, it gave me the opportunity to sit down and really connect with people. Years later, I’m picking them up again for the same reason, and I wonder if others are too.
The most interesting thing is that this card craze isn’t going anywhere. Slay the Spire 2 is coming soon, and if the first game is any indication, it’s going to be one of the biggest games of 2025. Balatro spent the year adding collections of cards themed to other games, and dubbed this crossover “Friends of Jimbo.” ,’ and I’m sure there will be more to come. Riot Games recently announced that it’s expanding its League of Legends transmedia efforts into the trading card realm, and we’re sure more is in the works. It’s hard to deny that card games, whether digital or physical, have been a huge success this year and are poised to continue their success next season.
Best results for 2024:
