My personal favorite is Nuclear War and its variants. I have a deck of about 450 cards, consisting of the Nuclear War, Nuclear Escalation, Nuclear Proliferation, and Weapons of Mass Destruction sets combined, plus a full set (plus a few extra) of the "Booster pack" cards, and the countries from both Proliferation and the direct-from-Flying-Buffalo expansion pack.
I run a game of this every year at Marcon in Columbus, Ohio (sometimes on the gaming schedule, sometimes not - if I end up doing panels, I run it as a pickup game, in order to schedule it around the panel duties), and have done so for well over a decade (adding expansion materials as they come). There have been as many as EIGHTEEN players in one game. Memorable events were the Secrets round that took out half of a sixteen-player field before the first card was turned in normal play (and the wise-ass first player started off with a 100 megaton warhead and a Stealth Bomber instead of the propaganda card 99% of players were start with, killing a ninth player off....), and the 200-megaton MX Incident, where the target SURVIVED the equivalent of 20 10-megaton warheads...
Other card games I enjoy are Fluxx and Express (a train card game). I like the SJG Hacker and Illuminati games, but prefer the INWO collectable CCG better than the non-collectable version of Illuminati (the subgenius INWO game expansion set, which can be a stand alone game, is a hoot). I also played Guillotine and Instinct some in the past, but someone stole my Instinct deck before I could play it regularly.
What about the rest of you?
Other than Spellfire, the only soley card-based games I play are blackjack and poker.
Fluxx, certainly...
Chrononauts is another great game... All about time travel and chnging history.
I am definitely a fan of the Non-CCGs. I love Munchkin in all it's forms, as well as Illuminati. Gloom is definitely quite cool and Lunch Money kicks ass. There are tons of good ones out there... the ones from Z-quest games based on the B-movies are also fun. Fluxx is always a hit and not sure if it really counts as a card game but Apples to Apples is the best casual party game out there.
In my gaming group, we often waste some time playing Munchkin or Chez Geek when we don't have anything better to do.
No love for SET, or Lunch Money?
Munchkin all the way! I really haven't played any others to be honest, but I really like Munchkin because I have been able to get my wife to play it and she likes it :) Me likey when me wife plays with me :spank:
Seriously, I'm hoping Munchkin will be a gateway game into RPing for her. Plus it's just downright fun.
My wife got me Loot! for my birthday and it's a lot more fun than I expected. It's actually one of the top games in our group at the moment.
Fluxx is a great game, too. It really fits with my chaotic mind.
In the semi-collectable arena, I've enjoy Nuclear War quite a bit.
Killer Bunnies has gotten some interest from a couple of my pals. It really doesn't do much for me, but they sure seem to like it.
Quote from: ThjalfiLunch Money?
I love
Lunch Money. What's not to love? Schoolgirls brawling with implements of destruction while trashtalking to such a degree that they sound either sociopathic, apocalyptic, or both. :deviousgrin:
Fluxx - nothing like getting an "All you need is love" victory in round one
Apples to apples - fun with gaming friends or just with family gotten a few people hooked on this one
Bonanza - a bean growing game that's lots of fun and really cutthroat
Chez Geek and various sequals - funny but more of a "gotcha" game than I usually care for
I need to find my Chrononauts and the Early America stand alone expantion because I always have fun killing/saving Hitler 5 or 6 times a game.
My card game love goes to Fluxx and Grave Robbers From Outer Space (although I have yet to play the Grave Robbers sequels).
In my GAMA loot I got 3 decks of Villiany!, a card game from HumanHead Studios. Haven't played it yet, but it looks like a lot of fun.
-SJ
Lots of Chez Geek
Family Business (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/170)
Mille Borne (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/590)
Bang! (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3955)
We play card games as an ending to the night after either RPG's or Board games... works well :)
I had totally forgotten about Family Business. It's pretty fun. I love the "aw damn" look on everyone elses faces after the "St Valentine's Day Massacre" card is played. Classic.
I've recently developed an addiction to 3 Dragon Ante.
Hmm. Munchkin, Illuminati (and single-deck INWO), Chez Geek, Apples to Apples, these are all big non-collecatible games I enjoy. I played Aquarius once and found it interesting (a demo), but on the other hand have gotten a bit burned out on Fluxx.
Another fun game, though, is the Hack! Knights of the Dinner Table game. Each player gets a specialized deck for their character, attempting to go through a dungeon and trying to find the Head of Vecna (or somesuch). Part of the fun is being able to play new rules into the game. :)
Illuminati
Lord of the Fries.