Crazy Eights

What you need & setup

1. Shuffle the 52-card deck and deal 5 cards to each player (7 each when only two are playing).
2. Place the rest of the deck face down in the middle as the draw pile.
3. Flip the top card of the draw pile face up beside it to start the discard pile.
4. If that first card is an eight, bury it back in the deck and flip a new one.
5. The player to the dealer's left goes first, and play moves clockwise.

Turn sequence

1. Look at the top card of the discard pile.
2. Play one card from your hand that matches it by suit or by rank — on the 6♥, you may play any heart or any 6.
3. Or play an eight on anything, then announce the suit the next player must follow.
4. If you cannot (or choose not to) play, draw one card from the draw pile; in the classic rule you keep drawing until you can play.
5. When you play your second-to-last card, tell everyone you are down to one card if your table uses that rule.
6. The round ends the instant a player plays their final card.

Matching by suit or rank

On your turn you must cover the top discard with a card that matches its suit or its rank. If the top card is the 6♥, you can play any heart (like the K♥) or any six (like the 6♣).

Only one card is played per turn in the basic game. Choose it with care — the suit you leave on top is what the next player must deal with.

If the top card is an eight, you must match the suit that was called, not the eight's printed suit.

Eights are wild

An eight can be played on any card at any time. When you play one, you name any of the four suits, and the next player must play that suit (or another eight).

This makes eights the most powerful cards in the game. A well-timed eight can rescue a stuck hand or steer the game into a suit only you hold.

In standard scoring an eight left in your hand costs 50 points, so an unused eight at the end of a round is expensive.

When you cannot play

If nothing in your hand matches, draw from the draw pile. Under the classic rule you keep drawing until you draw a playable card, which you may play immediately.

Many families soften this to draw one card, then pass if it does not help. Agree which version you are using before the first deal.

If the draw pile empties, shuffle the discard pile — all but its top card — face down to form a fresh draw pile and continue.

Ending a round and scoring

The first player to play their last card wins the round immediately. Everyone else counts the cards left in their hands.

Standard values: each eight is 50, each face card (K, Q, J) is 10, Aces are 1, and other cards count their face value. The winner scores the total of all opponents' leftover cards.

Play several rounds to a target such as 100 points for a short game (or 50 times the number of players, a traditional target), and the first to reach it wins overall.

Scoring & how the game ends

• The round winner scores the total value of cards left in all opponents' hands.
• Card values: eights = 50, face cards (K, Q, J) = 10, Aces = 1, number cards = face value.
• Play to an agreed target score across rounds — 100 points makes a quick game; a traditional target is 50 points per player.
• For a no-math version, simply play a set number of rounds and count wins.

Winning: Win a round by being the first to play your final card; win the game by being first to reach the agreed point target.

Common variations

These are genuine regional and house-rule differences — none of them is “the one true way” to play. Agree with your table before starting.

• Draw one vs. draw until playable

  The classic rule has stuck players draw until they find a playable card; the gentler common variant is to draw a single card and pass if it does not help.

  Common: Both widespread; the single-draw version is common at family tables and in children's games.

• Special-card house rules

  Popular add-ons borrowed into many house games: 2s force the next player to draw two, Queens (or Jacks) skip the next player, and Aces reverse direction.

  Common: Very common house rules; the fully-loaded version is close to the game often called Crazy Eights Countdown or Mau-Mau.

• Announce last card

  Players must say 'last card' (or knock the table) when down to one card; forgetting costs a penalty draw of one or two cards if caught.

  Common: Common everywhere, mirroring the same rule families use in UNO.

• Multiple of a rank

  If you hold several cards of the matching rank, you may play them all at once — e.g., dropping 6♣ 6♦ 6♠ together on the 6♥.

  Common: Frequent house rule that speeds up bigger games.

A little history

Crazy Eights appears to have grown popular in the United States around the mid-20th century, though matching games of this family are older and its precise origin is unclear.

It is widely considered the traditional ancestor of the commercial game UNO, which uses the same match-and-shed core idea.