What you need
A standard 52-card deck for 2 to 5 players. With 6 or more, shuffle two decks together. Pen and paper only if you want to keep score over several rounds.
Crazy Eights is the ancestor of UNO and goes by many names: Switch and Black Jack in Britain, Mau-Mau in Germany, Pesten in the Netherlands.
Setup
Deal 5 cards to each player, one at a time (7 each if only two are playing). Put the rest face down as the stock. Turn the top card of the stock face up next to it to start the discard pile. If that first card is an eight, bury it in the stock and turn the next one.
How to play
The player to the dealer’s left starts and play goes clockwise. On your turn you must do one of two things:
- Play a card face up on the discard pile. It must match the top card in suit or in rank. On the queen of clubs you may play any club or any queen.
- Draw from the stock. Under the Bicycle rules you keep drawing until you can play; many families (and pagat.com’s basic rules) let you draw one card and then stop, whether you can play it or not. Agree before you start.
Eights are wild. You may play an eight on anything, and you then name a suit. The next player must play a card of that suit or another eight.
When you are down to one card, say “last card” (or “Crazy Eights”). A player who forgets before the next player moves draws two cards as a penalty. Not every group uses this rule, but it is a good one.
If the stock runs out, shuffle the discard pile except its top card to make a new stock. (The older book rule is that nobody draws any more and anyone who cannot play passes; if everyone passes, the round is blocked and scored as it stands.)
Scoring and winning
The first player to get rid of all their cards wins the round and scores the cards left in everyone else’s hand:
- each eight: 50 points
- each king, queen, jack or 10: 10 points
- each ace: 1 point
- other cards: face value
Play several rounds and stop when someone reaches an agreed target, often 100 points for two players or 50 points per player at the table. Highest score wins. A single round is fine for children.
Common variants
Almost every family adds “action” cards. The most common set, which turns the game into something close to UNO:
- Queen = skip. The next player misses a turn.
- Ace = reverse. Play changes direction (no effect with two players).
- Two = draw two. The next player draws two cards or plays another two, in which case the player after them draws four, and so on.
Other variants seen often:
- Play several cards of the same rank in one turn, as long as the first one is legal.
- Crazy Eights Countdown. Everyone starts at 8 and is dealt 8 cards. When you empty your hand your score drops by one and you get a new hand of that size; your wild card is now the rank matching your score (7s, then 6s and so on). First to zero wins.
- Draw only when you cannot play. Some groups forbid drawing when you hold a playable card.
Tips for first games
- Save your eights. They are worth 50 points against you if you are caught with them, but they also get you out of trouble when the suit changes.
- Keep count of the suits you hold. When you play an eight, name the suit you hold most of.
- With young children, drop the scoring and play single rounds: first out wins.
Frequently asked questions
Can you play an eight on an eight? Yes. An eight can be played on any card, including another eight, and the player of the new eight names the suit.
Do you have to play a card if you can? In the basic rules, no: you may draw instead. Some groups forbid drawing when you hold a playable card. Decide before dealing.
What if the first card turned over is an eight? Bicycle’s rule is to bury it and turn another card. Pagat.com treats it as if the dealer played it, and the dealer names a suit. Either works.
Is Crazy Eights the same as UNO? Very close. UNO is a commercial version with its own deck; the matching rule, wild cards, skips, reverses and draw-twos all come from Crazy Eights.
