This article features the top 4 ways technology is being used to improve card games.

When playing cards first arrived in Europe in the 1370s, they immediately became the center of a popular pastime that provided a new means for families, friends, and even rivals to interact and compete. Over the years, thousands of different game variations have been devised that give players the chance to test their strategic thinking, memory skills, patience, mental math, and decision-making abilities.

With games such as Spider Solitaire, Poker, and Klondike still being played by millions worldwide, it's safe to say that card games are still as popular as ever, and it's difficult to overlook the impact they have had on our culture and society as a whole.

With that said, we live in the year 2022, which means that people are demanding more than what a simple deck of 52 cards can offer. After all, with huge advancements in technology, players are now accustomed to 4K HD graphics on their console devices and massively multiplayer online games with leaderboards full of thousands of competitors.

Fortunately, technology is bringing card games along for the ride, as developers introduce new ways for us to enjoy variations of centuries-old games, as well as a slew of innovative ideas that give the genre new life. On that note, here are four ways that technology is being used to improve card games and enhance the experience for players.

Virtual reality

As more tech firms enter the virtual reality space, such as Facebook (Oculus), HTC, and Sony, more money is being invested than ever before to produce new and innovative games. As a result, you can now put on your VR headset and play card games in a virtual landscape with players from all around the world – right from the comfort of your own home.

Tabletop Simulator, for example, provides a platform for you to play almost any card or board game you want. Participants can build tabletop games with no predefined victory or failure conditions in a multiplayer physics sandbox. This means you can set up the game however you want, with your creativity and imagination being the only limiting factor.

If you want to spice things up, even more, you could play Cards & Tankards, VR's first social collectible card game. This immersive virtual strategy game allows players to meet up in a bar and play a variety of different card-based strategy games, with the goal of collecting as many cards as possible while beating your opponents.

Mobile gaming

In the early to mid-90s, Magic The Gathering and Pokémon took the world by storm, completely revolutionizing the idea of what a card game could be. Instead of simply sitting down to play cards with a standard deck, game designers came up with unique TCG (trading card game) and CCG (collectible card game) systems that brought a new element to the gameplay. As you know, this was an instant success.

As it turns out, many of the most popular titles on the iOS and Google Play Store are often variations of these popular CCG and TCG games. Take GWENT (The Witcher) Card Game, for example. This immensely popular mobile app functions as a hybrid between the TCG and CCG genres. Players must grow a collectible arsenal of spells and special abilities before beating their opponents with superior strategy, all of which is done from your mobile device.

There are hundreds of more examples of games like this and many of the popular classics such as Solitaire, Rummy, Hearts, and Cribbage have all received a digital makeover before being optimized for mobile play.

Online competition

These days, online gaming is one of the biggest and fastest-growing sectors in the entertainment industry. So much so that it's not uncommon for online lobbies to experience millions of active users playing the same game simultaneously. One of the card games that has been a trailblazer in this space is Hearthstone, which is the most popular and well-known online card game in the world.

In 2022, Hearthstone had more than 3.5 million people play the game across all platforms. One of the main reasons for its popularity is its focus on online play. Players can build custom decks and then battle against other players around the world in both Casual and Ranked lobbies. The matchmaking system ensures that players are always matched against players of a similar level, creating a perfect platform for fair yet intense competition. Furthermore, Hearthstone offers a colossal prize pool of $3m for their World Championship tournament, attracting attention from every corner of the globe.

NFTs

Last, but not least, we have NFTs (non-fungible tokens). While NFTs are one of the more controversial technological inventions over the past few years, they have various useful applications to the gaming world, particularly card games. In short, NFTs give players complete control over their in-game assets, such as cards and other collectibles. This is made possible thanks to the unique identifying properties of NFTs, which means that individuals can verify that they are the true owner of a particular item.

In many ways, this brings a "realness" to virtual card games, since NFTs give them an inherent value due to their individuality. And because the people who possess the in-game items can prove their ownership, they are free to trade and sell them on secondary markets. This gives players a way to earn money while they play (play-to-earn), which is an extremely exciting concept spreading throughout the gaming world.

Where do we go from here?

Card games have come a long way from their humble beginnings. Over the past few years, technological advancements have completely transformed what is possible when playing and interacting with one another online. With the advent of virtual reality and NFTs, it looks like card games will continue to go through even more evolutions in the coming years, which is exciting news for lovers of these games around the world.