Crazy Eights

Crazy Eights is a shedding-type card game for two to seven players. In a shedding game, the goal is to be the first player to discard all your cards. It is a famous American member of the Eights Group. This group also includes other games like Pig and Spoons. The game is similar to other titles such as Switch, Mau-Mau, or Whot!. Because the rules are so flexible, it serves as a basic pattern for many different games.

To begin a game, players must deal the cards. Each player receives five cards. If only two people are playing, they each receive seven cards. The remaining cards are placed face down in the center. This pile is called the stock pile. The top card of the stock is turned face up. This card becomes the first card in the discard pile. If there are more than five players, you must use two decks. This means you will shuffle 104 cards together.

Gameplay follows a specific sequence of matching and discarding. Players start with the person to the left of the dealer. You must discard a card that matches the rank or the suit of the top card. For example, if the top card is a 6 of clubs, you can play any club. You can also play any 6 of any suit. The number 8 is a special card in this game. You can play any 8 at any time. When you play an 8, you declare a new suit. The next player must follow that suit or play another 8.

If a player cannot make a move, they must draw from the stock. They continue drawing cards until they can make a play. If the stock pile is empty, the player must pass their turn. If the stock pile runs out during play, you can reshuffle the discard pile. You keep all cards except for the top one to form a new stock. Some people play with rules that limit how many cards you can draw. Other players choose to draw from the stock even if they have a playable card.

The game has a deep history and several possible origins. It first appeared as a game called Eights in the 1930s. The specific name Crazy Eights began appearing in the 1940s. This name may come from the United States military designation Section 8. This term referred to the discharge of mentally unstable soldiers. Some historians believe the game may have derived from the German game Mau-Mau. Originally, children played it using leftover cards from the game Euchre.

Scoring is a vital part of winning the game. When one player empties their hand, the round ends. That player collects points from every opponent. The points equal the value of the cards left in the opponents' hands. An 8 is worth 50 points. Court cards are worth 10 points. All other cards are worth their face value. To win the entire game, you must reach a specific point total. This total is the number of players multiplied by 50. Two players need 100 points, while seven players need 350 points.

Players often add variations to change how the game feels. Historian John McLeod calls it easy to modify. Common rules include using Queens to skip a turn. Aces can be used to reverse the direction of play. Some players use twos to force the next person to draw cards. These twos can "stack" if another two is played in response. One popular version is Crazy Eights Countdown. In this version, players try to reduce a score of 8 down to zero. This makes the game a different kind of challenge.