Crazy Eights rules

The goal

Be the first to get rid of all your cards by matching the top card of the discard pile.

Setup

Two to five players, one 52-card deck without jokers.

The deal

Deal five cards each (seven each with two players). The rest is the stock. Turn its top card face up to start the discard pile; if it is an 8, bury it in the stock and turn the next card.

A turn

• Play starts left of the dealer and goes clockwise.
• Play one card that matches the top card by suit or by rank.
• Can’t play? Draw from the stock until you can, then play that card. You may also draw when you could play.
• Stock empty? Keep the top discard, shuffle the rest into a new stock (some tables pass instead).

Special cards

• Every 8 is wild. Play it on anything and name a suit: the next player must play that suit or another 8.
• Down to one card? Say “last card” before the next turn, or draw two.

Scoring

• The player who goes out scores the cards left in everyone else’s hands.
• Each 8: 50. King, queen, jack, 10: 10. Ace: 1. 2 to 9: face value.

Winning

Pass the deal to the left; the first player to reach the agreed target (for example 100 or 500) wins.

House rules

• Special cards. Many tables add powers: a queen makes the next player miss a turn, an ace reverses direction, and a 2 makes the next player draw two unless they play a 2 too. With these rules the game is often called Switch, Mau-Mau or Pesten.
• Draw limit. Instead of drawing until you can play, draw a fixed number of cards (for example one, or up to three) and pass if none of them fits.
• Crazy Eights Countdown. Everyone starts with a score of 8 and eight cards. Each time you empty your hand, your score drops by one and you are dealt that many new cards. Your wild card is the rank of your score (8, then 7, and so on). First to reach zero wins.