Rules for Playing the Crazy Eights Card Game
For Two to Ten Children to Adults With a Regular 52 Card Deck
Aug 15, 2009
The game of Crazy Eights is played by adults and children and is a great card game for medium sized groups of two to ten people, though it works best with three to six. Crazy Eights is played by following the lead of the player before you and following either suit or card value. The game of UNO, by Mattel is based on the card game Crazy Eights and other versions of the card game include Bartok, Crates, and Last One.
The Deck and Deal for Crazy Eights
The game is played using a 52-card deck or with two decks if six or more people are playing. The cards should be dealt starting with the person on the dealer's left until five cards have been dealt to each person. Seven cards should be dealt if only two people are playing. The remaining cards are placed face down in the middle of the table to form the pick up pile. The top card from that pile is turned over and placed next to the pick up pile to form the discard pile, and is the card that will start the game.
Crazy Eights Card Game Play
The person on the dealer's left starts the play by placing one of the cards from his hand on top of the discard pile. He must do this following one of these two rules: 1) the card must match the discard either by value or suit, 2) the card is an eight of any suit. If the card is an eight of any suit, the player can change the suit of play to any suit he wishes. So if the top card of the discard pile is a seven of clubs, the player must play a seven or a club, or if he chooses he can play an eight of any suit and announce what suit he would like the next card to be played in. If he announces spades, the next card played must be a spade or another eight, changing the suit again.
If the player doesn't have a matching valued card or a matching suit card and does not have or want to play an eight, he must them pick up a card from the pick up pile and continue picking up until he can play a card. It is possible for the player to pick up several cards in this manner. For this reason, there are some who put a maximum on the number of cards that must be picked up if the player does not have matching cards. So if the player does not have a card and must pick up, it can be determined before the start of play that he would only have to pick up three cards before passing his turn to the next player.
Ending the Crazy Eights Hand and Scoring
The play ends when one of the players has no more remaining cards to play. Scoring is done by adding up all the cards left in the other players' hands. This score is a penalty score. The cards 2 through 9 are valued at five points, the cards 10, J, Q, and K are valued at 10, the Aces are worth 15 and the 8 cards are worth 50 points each. The game ends when one of the player has a score that equals or exceeds a predetermined score such as 500.
Other card games that are great for three or more players are Liverpool Rummy, 3-13, and Sergeant Major. There are many card games that are good for two players as well.
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