We flipped every day at my elementary school in New Jersey. We had recess every day after lunch while the nuns and other teachers had their lunch and we spent most of that time with cards one way or another. The 'games' I remember:
Leaners.. Two, three or four cards (one from each players stack) were leaded up against the wall and the guy who knocked down the last card took everything.
Closest to the wall...just as it sounds, everyone took one shot, winner take all.
Tops...everyone flipped towards the wall in turn until one guy had his card land on top of another card. Even a tiny piece of one card on another card's border was a winner.
Colors or teams..everyone shuffled their stack and held them upside down. You took turns slamming (think old domino players) the top card on the sidewalk in a stack until someone's card matched the color (or team if that's what the then-current Topps set necessitated) of the previous card. That guy got 'em all. This was my least favorite way to flip as it took no 'skill'.
Our preferred spot, along the ramp on the west side of St. Mary's School is still exactly as I remember it. St. Mary's in Nutley is no longer a parochial school but the building still functions as a private, special needs/life skills school.
Lots of great memories of friends in the early 60s.
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