Crazy Eights guide

Goal

Be the first to play every card out of your hand.

How to play

• A card is turned up to start the discard pile.
• On your turn play a card matching the top card by suit or by rank.
• Eights are wild: play one at any time and name the suit that must be followed.
• If you cannot play, draw one card - or keep drawing until you can play, if the host turned draw-until-playable on.
• With stacking draw twos on, a two makes the next player draw two, and they can stack a two of their own to pass a bigger penalty along.
• If the stock runs out, the discard pile is reshuffled into it.

Technique

Hold an eight back rather than spending it early - it is the card that rescues you from a suit you cannot follow. Track which suits your opponents have drawn on, and switch to the suit they appear to be short of when you have the choice.

Winning

• Emptying your hand wins the round immediately.
• The winner scores the cards left in every other hand: eights are fifty, face cards ten, Aces one, and everything else its face value.
• The first player to the target score wins - 50, 100 or 200, set in the lobby.