Introduction:

Pairs was released by Cheapass Games in 2014, and now it has a home at Crab Fragment Labs. You can still buy some versions of Pairs from Greater Than Games. (We recommend the Deluxe Edition). And you can also buy several different decks from DriveThruCards, linked below.

Newest Decks:

We have been steadily adding to the collection at DriveThruCards, mostly with updated versions of pre-existing decks. But the newest deck is indeed all-new. The Book of Ugly Things, a collection of 55 nightmare creatures from the margins of Gothic Manuscripts, imagined through the miracle of generative art. Now you can play all your favorite Pairs games with creatures like the unpleasant Creek Sankle, the truly horrifying Kapultequene, and the verging-on-cute Cornbelly. The Book of Ugly Things feels like what you’d get if a sinister medieval computer invented Pokémon, which isn’t all that far from the truth.

The Basic Game:

The Deck: The Pairs deck contains 55 cards numbered 1 to 10. Each card appears a number of times equal to its rank. In other words, there is one card numbered 1, two cards numbered 2, and so on, up to ten cards numbered 10. You can easily build your own deck using cards from three poker decks.

To Start: To begin each round, deal each player one card face up. The lowest card will go first.

Each Turn: On your turn, you must decide whether to take a card, or to fold. If you take a card, you are hoping not to get a pair. If you don’t, you are safe. If you do get a pair, you lose the round, and you must keep one of those cards for points (points are bad). So for example, if you get a pair of 8s, you keep one of those 8 cards.

If you fold, you also gets you points, but you can take the lowest card on the table. This is often better than drawing to a hand of high cards.

Winning: The game has just one loser, the first player to reach a target score. For example, with four players, the losing score is 16 points. The loser pays a predetermined penalty, such as telling a joke or making a silly noise. Then shuffle up and play again.

There are a few more details, like what to do when the deck runs out, and there are dozens of other games using the same deck. You can find them in the 2018 Deluxe Edition rulebook, and other docs, below.

Pairs Decks on DriveThruCards: You can buy some of your favorite Pairs decks print-on-demand from DriveThruCards. These decks are made on casino-quality playing card stock, and packaged in clever one-piece tuck boxes. We continue to add new decks to this list, so please check back, and let us know if there’s a deck you’d like to see.

• The Book of Ugly Things: 55 Nightmarish creatures from the margins of Gothic manuscripts

• Deadfall: A fantasy creature deck by Bill McGuire, made for the Deadfall game.

• Fruit Deck (Deluxe) - Andrew Kolb’s interpretation of the basic Fruit deck, from the Deluxe edition

• Fruit Deck (Original) - The first basic clip-art fruit deck, still one of the best!

• Goddesses of Cuisine - A deck of gorgeous pinup art, by Echo Chernik

• Las Vegas - A stylish Rat-Pack era deck designed by Andrew Kolb

• Leaf Deck - A nicely subdued deck of tree illustrations by Phil Foglio

• Lord of the Fries - Ten zombies slingin’ fast food, from Lord of the Fries, with art by Brian Snoddy

• Lucky Mansion - 55 photos of the murderers and the mansion, based on Kill Doctor Lucky

• Pirate Pairs - A hilarious deck of cartoon pirates, drawn by Brett Bean

• Shallow Ones - A cute-as-heck baby Cthulhu deck, drawn by John Kovalic

• Trolls Deck - Absurd and evil little internet trolls decorate this very special Pairs deck

• More decks coming soon!

Individual Pairs Games: We are laying out all the games in the collection in a new digest format, starting with the “Game Trade” set from 2018. These games are linked individually here:

• Autumn Leaves, A discarding game for 3 to 6 players

• Burnout, A bidding game for 2 players. Watch the video here

• Captain’s Orders, A piratey bluffing game for 4 to 8 players

• Cursed Hand, A spooky bluffing game for 2 to 6 players

• Deadfall: A sharp little bluffing game for 2 to 6 players. Watch the video here

• Lunch Rush, A silly sandwich-making game for 2 to 7 players

• Pickup, A classic collecting game for 2 to 6 players

• The Feast, a game of conversational eloquence for 3 to 8 players

• More games coming soon, but see also the older docs below.

Videos:

• How to Play Pairs 2024 video explaining Pairs and Continuous Pairs

• How to Play Burnout featuring Andrew Kolb’s Las Vegas deck

• Hot to Play Deadfall, the bluffing game with its very own art deck

• Port and Starboard featuring the Dread Crew of Oddwood (2015)

• How to Play Pairs (Old) The video from the 2014 Kickstarter campaign

Print and Play:

• 2018 Deluxe Edition Rules (PDF - The core rules and the first 30 variant games)

• Game Trade Games (.zip - Twelve games from Game Trade Magazine, 2018)

• Print Your Own Deck with the original Pairs art

• Generic Card Backs for any poker-sized deck

Greater Than Games:

• Buy the Deluxe Edition from Greater Than Games

• Explore Other Games at Greater Than Games

More to Come:

• New Decks: Awesome new artwork, and many obscure decks rediscovered!

• Updated Game Rules All the Pairs variants, consolidated into one format

• New Videos Explaining our favorite Pairs games.

As you can imagine, that’s going to be a lot of work. We hope you’ll enjoy rediscovering Pairs along with us; there are some great games in this collection.