Long before television, Christmas evenings were spent around a card table, and some of the games played by Georgian and Victorian families are still the best fun for a mixed group. This list starts with those traditional parlour games, adds a few lively ones that seat a crowd, and ends with two modern family favourites.
An 18th-century English stops game played around a board of eight compartments filled with chips. Play cards in sequence and claim the pots as their cards appear. A bowl of saucers works if you have no board.
A staple of Victorian and Edwardian Christmas parlours: chips go on four 'boodle' cards, players run sequences in suit, and whoever plays a boodle card collects its chips.
The Georgian gambling game Jane Austen gave a whole evening to in Mansfield Park. Turn up trumps, reveal hidden cards and buy and sell the best one as fortunes shift.
An 18th-century parlour game for any number from three up: match the leading card's rank and chant 'Snip!', 'Snap!' and 'Snorum!' as the matches pile up. Silly in the best way.
The British children's classic from 1851: politely ask for Mr Bun the Baker's family members and collect complete households. It uses its own illustrated deck, a lovely stocking filler.
One card each and up to 20 players: swap with your neighbour, block with a King and hope you are not left with the lowest card. Perfect when every relative wants in.
An 18th-century French trading game for three to twelve players and the ancestor of Thirty-One: swap cards with a face-up 'widow' to build the best three-card hand.
A mainstay of British family Christmases and an ancestor of poker: three cards each, one round of betting and the chance to bet blind at half price. Play for sweets or matchsticks.
Invented in Montevideo in 1939 and a worldwide craze by the 1950s: partners build seven-card canastas from two decks and four jokers. Ideal for the slow days after Christmas.
Match the suit or rank, play an 8 to change the suit, and be first to empty your hand. The easy modern game that grandparents and grandchildren can share.
For a traditional evening, start with Newmarket or Speculation and a bowl of sweets as chips. When the whole family gathers, Cuckoo and Snip Snap Snorum seat everyone, and Canasta is there for the long, quiet days between Christmas and New Year.
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Pope Joan, Newmarket, Speculation, Snip Snap Snorum and Commerce were all popular parlour games at Georgian and Victorian Christmases, and Three-Card Brag is still a British Christmas favourite.
What card game can the whole family play at Christmas?
Cuckoo seats up to 20 players, Snip Snap Snorum and Newmarket take three to eight, and Crazy Eights is simple enough for young children and grandparents to play together.
Do these Christmas card games need special equipment?
Most need one standard deck. Pope Joan is traditionally played with a compartment board, Happy Families uses its own illustrated deck, Canasta uses two decks with jokers, and the gambling games need chips, sweets or matchsticks.
Which games make good Christmas presents?
A Happy Families deck or a Pope Joan board makes a lovely traditional present, and a good shuffler or a set of chips suits any card-playing family.
