The A–Z of cards · Letter M
30 card games beginning with M, from Mau Mau to Magic: The Gathering, with the players, deck and difficulty for each. Nine of them you can play right here.
The most popular card games that start with M are Magic: The Gathering, Monopoly Deal, Munchkin, Mille Bornes, Mau Mau, Mao and Memory. Need one for Scattergories? “Mau Mau” or “Memory” are answers everyone will accept.
Free M card games that run in your browser, on desktop or phone. Our own Mau Mau and Memory are ad-free; the solitaire games come from HTMLGames.
No ads
Match the suit or rank, dodge the 7s and shout “Mau” before your last card.
No ads
Flip two cards, remember where they were and clear the board in as few moves as you can.
Slide cards into the gaps until every row runs from 2 to King in one suit.
A TriPeaks game: clear the mountain with cards one higher or lower than the open card.
Colourful TriPeaks with bonus cards. Clear the layout and build your magic castle.
Pair cards and coins that add up to 11 to take apart a Maya pyramid.
Mahjong solitaire rules with playing cards: match two identical free cards.
Drag matching cards together to merge them into higher values, 2048-style.
Turn over the cards and find every matching pair of pictures.
Every entry is a card in our deck. Classics for a regular deck, solitaire, national favourites, modern boxed games and trading card games.
Showing 30 of 30 card games that start with M
No special cards needed. Grab a standard deck and you are ready to play.
2–5 players32 or 52 cardsEasy
The German shedding game that inspired Crazy Eights–style games around the world. Match the suit or rank of the top card; 7s make the next player draw two, 8s skip them and Jacks are wild. Say “Mau” on your last card or take a penalty.
Play Mau Mau online3–8 players52 cardsMedium
A shedding game where the rules are a secret. New players learn only by getting penalised, and each winner adds a new hidden rule. Chaotic, hilarious and a staple of college dorms.
2–6 players52 cardsEasy
Poland’s cousin of Mau Mau with more action cards: 2s and 3s force the next player to draw, 4s skip a turn, Jacks demand a rank and Aces change the suit. Announce “Makao” when you are down to one card.
Also called Concentration, Pelmanism or Matching Pairs
1+ playersAny deckEasy
Lay every card face down, then flip two at a time looking for matching pairs. Keep the pair and go again if they match. A perfect first card game for young kids, and a sneaky brain workout for everyone else.
Play Memory onlineAlso called Boodle or Newmarket
3–8 players52 cards + 4 “boodle” cardsEasy
A betting game of the Stops family. Players place chips on four boodle cards, then play cards in ascending runs of one suit. Whoever plays the card matching a boodle collects the chips on it. Don’t confuse it with Michigan Rummy, a pot-based mix of rummy and poker.
4–7 players52 cardsEasy
Everyone gets seven cards and passes one face down to the left each round, trying to collect seven cards of a single suit. The first to do it shouts “My ship sails!” Fast, simple and great with kids.
Also known as Werewolf
6–20+ playersPlaying cards for rolesEasy
A social deduction party game created in 1986 at Moscow State University. Deal playing cards to assign secret roles, then the town debates and votes to find the mafia hiding among them before it is too late.
Also called Flip Stud
2–8 players52 cardsMedium
A five-card stud poker variant where every card arrives face down and you choose which one to flip up, so you control what the table sees. A favourite of home poker nights.
Patience games for when you are on your own.
Also called Gaps, Spaces or Blue Moon
1 player52 cardsEasy
Deal all 52 cards in four rows of 13, then take out the Aces to leave four gaps. Fill each gap with the next card up in the same suit as the card on its left, aiming to line up every suit from 2 to King. Most versions allow a couple of reshuffles when you get stuck.
Play Montana online1 player52 cardsEasy
Deal a 5×5 grid and remove pairs of the same rank that touch, including diagonally. Close up the gaps, fill from the stock and keep going until every card is paired off.
1 playerTwo 52-card decksHard
A demanding two-deck patience. Build all eight foundations from Ace to King by suit, dealing a fresh row of eight cards whenever you are stuck. Once the stock runs out you may “waive” one card at a time to free a blocked column.
National favourites, mostly trick-taking games, often played with regional decks.
3 players (2 & 4 variants)32-card deckHard
The national card game of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. A rich trick-taking game where a King and Queen of the same suit form a “marriage” worth bonus points.
4 players, 2 teams32-card deckMedium
A partnership trick-taking game popular in Belgium and France. The ten (the “manille”) is the highest card in each suit, followed by the Ace.
4 players, 2 teams36-card deckHard
Finland’s classic trick-taking game. Partners ask each other for King–Queen pairs, and declaring a pair sets the trump suit for the rest of the hand.
5 players52 cards + JokerHard
A Korean bidding and trick-taking game. The winning bidder secretly picks a partner by naming a card, and the Ace of Spades (the “Mighty”) beats everything.
4 players, 2 teams40-card Spanish deckMedium
A Basque bluffing game played across Spain. Teams bet over four rounds (Grande, Chica, Pares and Juego) and partners are allowed to pass secret facial signals.
2–4 players97-card tarot deckHard
A Florentine tarot game dating back to the 16th century, played with an expanded deck of trumps that includes the signs of the zodiac and the four elements.
Games sold with their own custom deck. Look for them in game shops.
2–6 playersCustom deckEasy
A French road-race game from 1954. Play distance cards to drive 1,000 kilometres while hitting rivals with flat tyres, accidents and speed limits, and save safety cards for a dramatic coup fourré.
2–5 players110-card deckEasy
The 15-minute card version of Monopoly. Collect three complete property sets first, while charging rent and using action cards like Deal Breaker and Sly Deal to steal from friends.
3–6 playersCustom deckEasy
Steve Jackson Games’ tongue-in-cheek parody of fantasy role-playing, first published in 2001. Kick down doors, fight monsters, grab loot and backstab your friends on the way to level 10.
2–4 playersCards + 2 diceEasy
A Japanese city-building game where you buy establishment cards that pay out when the dice roll their number. Build all your landmarks first to win.
2–5 playersCustom deckMedium
Uwe Rosenberg’s 1999 pizza-making memory game. Players toss ingredients onto a shared pile and must remember what is in it to complete their secret pizza orders.
2–4 playersCard-crafting systemMedium
A deck-building game with a twist: you slide transparent advancements into card sleeves, upgrading the cards you already own instead of only adding new ones.
4+ playersCustom deckEasy
A party game in the style of Celebrity. Teams guess the same famous names over three rounds: first with any clues, then with one word, then with charades only.
Published as Mü & More
3–6 playersCustom deckHard
A cult-favourite trick-taking game from 1995 with an unusual open bidding phase that decides the chief, a partner and two separate trump types for each hand.
2 players (some editions 2–4)Custom deckMedium
Mike Fitzgerald’s series of murder-mystery rummy games, starting with Jack the Ripper. Classic melding gets themed special cards for suspects, alibis and evidence.
1–4 playersLiving card gameMedium
A cooperative game from Fantasy Flight Games (2019). Each player builds a deck around a Marvel hero and teams up to stop villains such as Rhino and Ultron.
Collectible games where you build your own deck from a huge pool of cards.
2+ playersCollectible cardsHard
The original trading card game, designed by Richard Garfield and released by Wizards of the Coast in 1993. Players are rival planeswalkers casting spells and summoning creatures. Still the biggest card game that starts with M.
2 players onlineDigitalEasy to learn
A fast digital collectible card game released in 2022. Build a 12-card deck of Marvel characters and win two of three locations in a match that lasts just a few minutes.
Middle-earth: The Wizards
2+ playersCollectible cardsHard
Iron Crown Enterprises’ 1995 Tolkien card game, now out of print but still played by a dedicated fan community. Each player takes the role of a Wizard racing to defeat Sauron.
No card games match that search. Try another word or pick a different filter.
Stuck on a Scattergories round or choosing tonight’s game? We will draw a random M card game for you. It respects your current filter.
A shortcut through the index, by occasion.
| If you want… | Play | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Something with a regular deck | Mau Mau, Michigan | No special cards, rules fit on a napkin |
| A game for young kids | Memory, My Ship Sails | No reading or maths needed |
| Family game night | Mille Bornes, Monopoly Deal | Easy to teach, plenty of interaction |
| A big party group | Mafia, Monikers, Mao | Scale to 8+ players and lots of laughs |
| Deep strategy | Magic, Mariáš, Mü | Years of depth to explore |
| Playing alone | Montana, Monte Carlo, Marvel Champions | Designed for (or great at) solo play |
The best-known card games that start with M are Magic: The Gathering, Monopoly Deal, Munchkin, Mille Bornes, Mau Mau, Mao and Memory (also called Concentration).
With a standard 52-card deck you can play Mau Mau, Mao, Makao, Memory, Michigan, My Ship Sails, Mexican Stud and the solitaire games Montana, Monte Carlo and Miss Milligan (two decks).
Memory, My Ship Sails, Mau Mau, Mille Bornes and Monopoly Deal are all easy to learn and work well for families with children.
Mau Mau, Mao, Memory, Munchkin and Monopoly Deal are safe Scattergories answers because most players recognise them. Mille Bornes or Mus are good picks if you want an answer nobody else will write down.
Adults who like strategy enjoy Magic: The Gathering, Mus, Mariáš, Mighty and Mü. For party nights, Mafia, Mao and Monikers are the crowd-pleasers.
Yes. You can play 9 of them on this site with no sign-up: Mau Mau and Memory (our own ad-free versions) plus Montana Solitaire, Mountain Solitaire, Magic Castle Solitaire, Maya Pyramid Solitaire, Mahjong Card Solitaire, Merge Cards, Memory Puzzle.