The 60-Second Beginner Guide
Crazy Eights is the classic game that Uno was based on! Your goal is simple: be the first person to get rid of all your cards. If the card in the middle is a 4 of Clubs, you have to play either a Club, or a 4. If you don't have one, you have to keep drawing cards from the deck until you find one! The best part is the Number 8 cards. They are wild! You can drop an 8 at any time to completely change the suit to whatever you want, messing up the next player!
1. Setup
- 1Each player is dealt 5 cards (or 7 if playing with only 2 players).
- 2The remaining deck is placed face-down in the center to form the draw pile.
- 3The top card of the draw pile is flipped face-up next to it to start the discard pile.
2. How to Play
On your turn, you must play one card from your hand face-up onto the discard pile.
The card you play MUST match the top card of the discard pile by either SUIT (e.g., play any Heart on a 6 of Hearts) or by RANK (e.g., play any 6 on a 6 of Hearts).
If you cannot play a matching card, you MUST draw cards from the face-down pile one by one until you find a card you can play.
The Magic Eights: An 8 of any suit is a Wild Card! You can play it at any time, on any card. When you play an 8, you get to dictate what the new suit is, and the next player must match that new suit.
Scoring
- •When a player empties their hand, the round ends.
- •The winner gets points based on the cards remaining in all of the opponents' hands.
- •Eights are worth a massive 50 points. Face cards (J, Q, K) are 10 points. All other cards are face value (Aces are 1).
Winning Conditions
- ✓The first player to completely empty their hand wins the round.
- ✓The game is usually played over several rounds until one player reaches a target score (like 100 or 500) and is declared the grand champion.