Crazy Eights is the classic shedding game behind many modern “match the card” games. Play a card that matches the suit or the rank of the top card, or drop an eight and name a new suit. The first player with an empty hand wins the hand and collects the points still held by everyone else. You play against one, two or three computer opponents.
How to play
Deal. With two players each gets 7 cards, with three or four players 5 cards. The rest is the draw pile and its top card is turned over to start the discard pile. If that card is an eight it is set aside and the eights go back into the draw pile once a different card is showing.
Your turn. Play one card that matches the top card’s suit or its rank. An eight can be played on anything; after playing it you choose the suit the next player must follow. Tap a card in your hand to play it. Cards you can play are raised and framed.
Drawing. If you cannot play, or do not want to, draw one card from the pile. If you now hold a playable card you may play it or pass; if nothing fits, your turn ends on its own. You draw at most one card per turn.
Empty pile. When the draw pile runs out, the discard pile is shuffled (except its top card) and becomes the new draw pile. If only the top card is left, nobody can draw and passing is allowed. If every player passes in a row the hand is blocked: the lowest hand wins and scores the difference against each other hand.
Scoring. The player who goes out scores the cards left in the other hands: every eight counts 50, jacks, queens and kings 10, aces 1, and other cards their face value. In a match the first player to reach 100 points wins. Choose “One hand” in the menu for a single hand instead.
Power cards (optional). Turn on power cards in the menu to add three twists: a 2 makes the next player draw two cards and lose their turn, a queen skips the next player and an ace reverses the direction of play. With two players the ace and the queen simply give you another turn.
Hint. The Hint button shows the move the computer would make, after an optional short ad. Your game is saved on your device after every move, so you can close the page and continue later from the menu.
Strategy
- Hold your eights. An eight is worth 50 points against you if someone else goes out, but it is also the only card that can rescue a stuck turn. Play it when nothing else fits, or to finish the hand.
- When you can choose between suits, switch to the suit you hold most of. You will have a legal card next turn and force others to draw.
- Shed tens and face cards early while the pile is still easy to follow. Low cards cost little if you lose the hand.
- Watch the hand sizes of the other players. When the player after you is down to one or two cards, change the suit to one that has already shown up a lot on the discard pile, so they are less likely to hold it.
- With power cards on, save your 2s and queens for the moment a neighbour is about to go out.
- In our tests the computer opponent, which follows these ideas, wins about four hands in five against a player who picks random legal moves, and about one hand in three against three opponents who always play the first legal card.
