Crazy Eights is a card game played all over the world. The game is known by other names including Crates, Switch, Swedish Rummy, Last One or Rockaway. Let's play with these simple steps.
Step
Method 1 of 3: Setting Crazy Eights
Step 1. Know the goal of the game
To win the game, you must spend all the cards in your hand by matching them to the suit or number of the top card in the discard pile.
Step 2. Shuffle the cards
Use the standard 52-card set if there are five players or less. If you are playing with more than five players, combine two sets of cards.
Step 3. Select a city
If there are three or more players, each player gets five cards. If there are only two players, each player gets seven cards.
Step 4. Place the remaining cards in the center of the playing area, face down
This pile is called the stock pile. Open the top card and place it on the side (open) to start the discard pile. If the card is an 8, insert the card back into the deck, and open another card.
Method 2 of 3: Playing Crazy Eights
Step 1. Have the player to the left of the dealer start the first turn
The player must place the appropriate card into the discard pile. If he is unable to do so, then he must draw a card from the stock pile until he gets a playable card. If the stock pile runs out, shuffle the discard pile and continue picking up cards. The appropriate cards that can be played to the discard pile are:
If the top card in the discard pile is not an eight, you can play any card that matches that number or suit. For example, if the top card from the discard pile is a seven of hearts, then the player can play another seven or any card of a heart, for example a King of hearts or two of hearts
Step 2. Know that if a player places an eight, this card is a free hand
The player who places an eight must declare a change to what suit he wants. The next player must either play a card of that declared suit or play another eight. If he is unable to do so, he follows the usual rules and is obliged to take a card.
Strategy tip: If you have an eight but can play any other, hold on to the eight and play as the last card, as you can always play an eight on any other card
Step 3. Continue playing in a circular pattern until one of the players runs out of cards
He's the winner!
Method 3 of 3: Variations on Crazy Eights
Step 1. Know that there are many variations of Crazy Eights
Feel free to add your own rules to the ground rules.
Step 2. Change the way players are allowed to draw cards
In the basic way of playing, a player can take cards from the stock pile even though he has cards in his hand that he can play.
- Make it a rule so that if a player has a playable card, he must play it.
- Make it a rule so that if a player takes a card from the stock pile that matches the card, that player can play it right away instead of waiting for his turn again.
- Make it a rule so that players can only take a certain maximum number of cards from the stock pile during each turn. If you still can't (or won't) play the cards that have been drawn, then the turn moves to the next player.
Step 3. Make it harder for a player to spend his last card
Make it a rule so that if a player has only one card left, he must tell the other players about this. If he doesn't, then he must draw two cards.
Step 4. Make the game more difficult by setting rules for other cards
These rules make the game similar to the UNO game. Assign a number or picture card to be a "skip next player's turn", a "reverse order" card and a "take two cards" card.
