Embracing the Card Gaming Revolution: Our 2024 Strategy

The Rise of Card Games in 2024: A Closer Look at the Phenomenon

As I step out of bed each morning, my phone usually by my side, I often find myself drifting towards the familiar routine of opening Pokémon packs. Over the past month, I’ve been hooked on Pokémon TCG Pocket, the mobile adaptation of the popular card game. Like the Pokémon video games and Show, it encourages me to catch ’em all. I’ve worked my way through dozens of booster packs, chasing the thrill of adding rare holographic and full-art cards to my digital library. I know I’m not alone in this craze; group chats with friends are filled with buddies sharing their booster pack rewards, and social media feeds are often filled with screenshots of someone’s haul. It’s not the only example of a game that’s taken over conversations and minds. Everywhere I looked this year, some kind of card game was dominating the scene.

One of the first to grab a hold of gamers was Balatro, a poker-based card game that never let go. My favorite part of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth wasn’t exploring the open world or continuing to reimagining the FF7 mythos; it was taking a break from the game to play Queen’s Blood, a territory-based card game within the expansive RPG, and I wasn’t the only one who fell in love with it. All my friends are now playing Magic: The Gathering, and after multiple inviting crossovers and requests from friends, I joined them too. By the end of the year, Pokémon TCG Pocket became a part of our daily routine, allowing us to chase the thrill of filling our digital libraries with our favorite creatures.

So, what’s behind this trend? What unifies these games that have picked up so much steam in recent years?

Simpler Times

One possible reason is that we’ve been craving something simpler. Balatro, for example, fits the bill with its tagline, "Solitaire by way of Poker." Strip away the multipliers, music, and booster packs (which are purchased with in-game money, not microtransactions), and it’s a deceptively simple concept: produce winning hands like straights and flushes while meeting increasingly ludicrous demands and score totals. There are, of course, mechanical and aesthetic flourishes that complicate matters, like the presence of game-altering jokers and a roguelike framework that allows for endless play, but at its heart, it’s a game to play idly for hours because, when broken down, it’s as easy to understand as 1, 2, 3.

A Social Phenomenon

For another, there’s a social aspect to card games that shouldn’t be overlooked. The biggest reason I’ve been turned onto them lately is that everyone around me is doing something with them. Many of my closest friends have been buying Pokémon booster packs and collecting them for several months or years now. My roommate started having friends over to play matches of Magic: The Gathering’s Commander format at our dining room table for hours on end. I’ve watched from the outside as people fell madly in love with Balatro’s blend of poker and roguelike mechanics, committed to runs composed of ridiculous power-ups and multipliers, and forged challenges to issue others.

Gathering the Pack

For me, card games offer a way to connect with others. I’m someone who tends to play games in solitude or with a very select few, but I wanted to join my friends in their communal rituals. I wanted to delight in the joy of new rare card art with others. I wanted to try out something new in spaces filled with people I trusted. I wanted to be where the people were, and if that meant huddling around a table in person and learning the convoluted rules of new games, then so be it. Even this experience was adapted to a game called TCG Card Shop Simulator, and it did gangbusters, proving I’m not alone in wanting these communal spaces that card games are so uniquely good at fostering.

The Future is Bright

What’s most exciting is that this card fever isn’t going away. Slay the Spire 2 is on the horizon, and if the first game was any indication, it’s going to be one of the biggest games of 2025. Balatro has added card collections themed around other games, dubbing these crossovers "Friends of Jimbo," and I’m sure there are many more to come. Riot Games has recently announced it’s expanding its League of Legends transmedia push into the realm of trading cards, and I’m sure there’s even more in the works. Whether digitally or physically, it’s hard to deny that card games have enjoyed a great deal of success this year, and it looks primed to spill over into the next.