About Crazy Eights
Crazy Eights is a shedding card game: match the top card of the pile by suit or by rank, use eights as wild cards, and be the first to empty your hand. You play one on one against the computer with a standard deck.
How to play
- A standard 52-card deck is used. You and the computer are each dealt 7 cards, and one card is turned face up to start the pile. The starting card is never an eight.
- On your turn, play one card that matches the current suit or the rank of the top card.
- Eights are wild and can be played on anything. When you play an eight, you choose the new suit to follow.
- If you cannot or do not want to play, click the deck to draw one card. If that card can be played, your turn continues so you can play it; otherwise your turn ends.
- When the deck runs out, the pile apart from its top card is shuffled to form a new deck. If there are no cards left to draw at all, you pass.
- The first player to get rid of all their cards wins. No other cards have special effects, and there are no penalty points. The Wins counter tracks your wins.
Controls
- Click or tap a card in your hand to play it. Playable cards are raised and outlined.
- Click the Draw pile to take a card.
- After playing an eight, pick the new suit from the four buttons that appear.
- The Suit to play indicator next to the pile always shows the suit that must be followed, which matters after an eight.
Tips and strategy
- Save your eights. They are your escape when nothing else fits, and they are the safest last card to go out with.
- When you play an eight, name the suit you hold the most of, so you have follow-up plays.
- Change suits by rank when it helps. If you are short of hearts, playing the 7 of clubs on the 7 of hearts switches the suit without using an eight.
- Keep an eye on the computer's card count above the pile. When it is down to one or two cards, try to switch to a suit it may be missing.
- The computer also saves its eights and always names the suit it holds most of, so after it plays an eight, assume it has more of that suit.
Background
Crazy Eights belongs to a large family of shedding games, in which players race to get rid of their cards by matching suit or rank. It has been a popular family card game in English-speaking countries since at least the middle of the twentieth century and goes by many local names. The commercial game Uno, first released in 1971, is built on the same match-the-colour-or-number idea with a specially printed deck.
Questions
- How does the computer play?
- It plays the first matching card in its hand that is not an eight, uses an eight only when nothing else fits, and then names the suit it holds the most of. If it cannot play, it draws one card.
- Do twos, jacks or queens do anything special?
- No. In this version only eights are special. Every other card simply matches by suit or rank.
- Can I draw even if I have a playable card?
- Yes. Drawing is always allowed on your turn. If the drawn card cannot be played, your turn ends.