How to Play Crazy Eights Like a Pro
If you’re looking to expand your card gaming repertoire, you’ll want to learn how to play Crazy Eights with this guide. Here, we’ll provide everything you need to know about this exciting and nuanced game, giving yourself the upper hand at the tables.
What Should You Know to Learn How to Play Crazy Eights?
Crazy Eights is an exciting and fast-paced card game, and one that is easy to learn with our instructions. If you’ve ever wondered how to play Crazy Eights, you’ve come to the perfect place. In the following article, we’ll walk you through the step-by-step process of playing Crazy Eights.
Here, readers will find a guide to the rules and setup of Crazy Eights. If you’re interested in taking things to the next level, be sure check out the top online casinos in Canada.
The Crazy Eights Setup
Like many card games, Crazy Eights requires a standard 52-card deck, which must be shuffled thoroughly. Next up, beginning with the player on the left of the dealer, 5 cards are dealt to each player one at a time. If there are only two players each are dealt 7 cards. The remaining cards are then set face-down to form the draw pile, with the top card placed face-up to begin the discard pile.
The Aim of The Game
The objective of Crazy Eights is to be the first player to get a determined number of points, which is established before the game commences. A common guideline is to play 50 points for each player in the game. For instance, if there are four players, there would be a 200 point objective, or for five players, 250 and so on.
Gameplay and Format
For the uninitiated, a good starting reference for Crazy Eights gameplay is Uno. The game commences with the player to the dealer’s left. Players must place cards on top of one another, according to their suit or numerical value.
As an example of a Crazy Eights play, if the top card on the discard pile is a 5 of hearts, players can play any card which is also a 5, or any card in the suit of hearts. It’s worth committing the rules to memory because, while you don’t need to how slot machines work when you play them, you do need to know how to play this card game in order to win.
However, players can also play an 8 at any time – hence the name Crazy Eights, which allows them to re-establish the suit in play. You can find many other card games on our list of safe online casinos.
If a player can’t play a card, that player must draw from the draw pile until they can play. Certain variations allow players to draw up to 3 cards, and this must be established prior to play. If a player still can’t play a card after drawing the maximum number of cards, their turn is skipped. When a player successfully plays their last card, the round ends, and points are awarded.
Special Card Values
An essential thing to understand when learning how to play Crazy Eights is the importance of special cards, which impact gameplay. As we’ve mentioned prior, the 8 card is considered a wild card and can be played at any time, letting the player change the suit.
This can be used to strategically disrupt other players’ plans, or to eliminate an intimidating high-value card from play. Other special cards, such as Skip, Reverse, and Draw Two, are not used in the basic version of Crazy Eights, but are included in certain variations of the game.
Scoring Dynamics
Once a round ends, each player counts the points in their opponents’ hands. In Crazy Eights, cards feature the following point values: 8s are worth 50 points, face cards (Jacks, Queens, and Kings) are each worth 10 points, and all other cards are worth their face value, i.e. 2 or 3.
The winner of a given round then accumulates all of the point cards from other players’ hands, adding them to their own score tally. The game continues until one player reaches the predetermined number of points to win the game – for instance, 250 in a 5 player match. American players who are ready to dive in and start playing are invited to explore the online casinos in the USA.
Additional Rules and Variations
As you’ve seen here, the basic rules of Crazy Eights are quite straightforward. However, there are variations of the game that have additional rules and alterations to gameplay. For example, certain versions let players put down multiple cards of the same rank at once.
In other variations, the rules can change when an 8 is played, and special card dynamics like Skip, Reverse, and Draw Two can be included. Again – think Uno. These potential variables are exactly why it’s important to establish the specific rules and variations before starting the game, to guarantee that all players are on the same page.
How to Play Crazy Eights FAQs
In this guide, we’ve provided absolutely everything for you to learn how to play Crazy Eights. For readers who are looking to brush up on the game’s mechanics, we’ve provided simplified answers to FAQ’s below.
1️⃣ How to play Crazy Eights?
Crazy Eights is an extremely simple game with basic mechanics. It follows a clockwise dealing of typically 5 cards to each player, with players placing cards atop one another of either the same numeric or suit value. Check out more about the format of Crazy Eights here.
2️⃣ Who wins in Crazy Eights?
The objective in Crazy Eight is similar to Uno, in that players seek to have the least number of cards in order to win a given round. The game is ended when a player earns a pre-determined number of total points. There are mitigating factors however, that also must be kept in mind.
3️⃣ What are the basic Crazy Eights card values?
There are three fundamental categories of card values which are featured in Crazy Eights. According to the scoring rules of Crazy Eight face cards like Kings and Queens are worth 10 points, and everything else is worth its numerical face value.
4️⃣ Are there card value outliers in Crazy Eights?
In addition to face cards and numerical cards, there is a major outlier card in every Crazy Eights variation. The largest of these, 8 cards of any suit are valued at 50 points each. There's more to be learned about special card values in Crazy Eights, so take the time to study them.
5️⃣ What to keep in mind when you play Crazy Eights?
While Crazy Eights is a very simple game, there are some possibilities to consider. One, there are multiple variations of of the game, which can include special cards such as Reverse, Draw Two and Skip. You should learn the rules and variations of Crazy Eights before starting to play.