While there are many commercial math games that are worth buying, there are also quite a few good math card games you can play with a deck of standard playing cards. Here are some of my favorites for different concepts.
Addition/Subtraction Math Card Games
Multi Digit For Grades 2 and Up
Oh No! 99! This blog post from Marilyn Burns Math Blog gives not only directions for the game (which came from her book Developing Number Sense) but instructions for modifying from 2nd-6th grade level, and detailed instructions for following up with number talks and math journaling.
Quick Stop: Players draw cards and keep mentally adding their total until reaching 100. Alternatively play until the deck runs out and the player closest to 100 without going over wins. For a twist, leave the jokers in the deck and zero drops your score back to zero. Variations: Start at 100 and subtract. Or multiply your cards until you get to 1000.
Ring Your Neck– This is a game for 2 players. Put 13 cards on the table. Players take turns choosing to pick up 1 or 2 cards. Their score is the number on the 1 card or the sum of the 2 cards. The player who picks up the last card gets 50 bonus points. Play ten rounds and add all scores. Here’s a printable record sheet I found online for this game.
I’m the Greatest- Remove tens and face cards but leave jokers (which will be 0) Each player draws four cards and makes a 2 digit plus 2 digit addition problem using their cards (to increase difficulty use 6 cards for players to make 3 digit plus 3 digit problems). The player with the greatest sum wins the round and all the cards.
Single Digit For Kindergarten/1st (or intervention)
Addition Top It– variation of war for simple addition
Multiplication Math Card Games
Pile It Up– for beginning multiplication. Players roll two dice. The first is how many piles of cards to make; second is how many cards in each pile. Player creates both piles and the total number of cards used is their score (they can count cards at first if necessary, will discover that they are multiplying.)On a player’s turn, they roll the die twice. Their first roll indicates how many piles they must make. Their second roll tells how many cards to place face down in each pile.
Once Through the Deck– solitaire game for practicing facts
Multiplication War– this linked post also gives several variations including Fraction War, Decimal War, etc.
Mixed Operations
Fractions
Largest Fraction – Remove face cards and jokers. Ace will be 1. Each player gets 4 cards and makes the largest possible fraction with one card as numerator and one as denominator. Largest fraction wins all the cards.
Fractions Flip It (multiplying fractions)
Measurement
Metric Ant Paths (measuring and drawing lines with a ruler)
Middle School Math Card Games
Other Resources
Math Coach Corner has a free printable mini booklet “Games To Play With a Deck of Cards” for 3rd-5th graders. It has illustrated instructions for 10 games. I have heard of teachers printing it and giving it to students with a deck of cards as a Christmas gift or for family math night. On this same post she has a link to a longer e-book called Acing Math from the Positive Engagement Project with 69 games for kindergarten-6th grade.