Crazy Eights: match the suit, match the rank, and the 8 changes everything

About Crazy Eights

Two to four players, every player for themselves, with a standard 52-card deck. Everyone gets five cards (seven when it's just two of you), and the first card off the deck starts the discard pile (never an 8). On your turn, play a card that matches the top card by suit or by rank. Eights are wild: play one anytime and name the suit the next player has to follow. If nothing matches, draw from the deck until you can play — you can also choose to draw instead. When the deck runs out, there's no reshuffle: if you can't play, you pass, and if everyone passes in a row, the game is blocked and the player with the fewest points in hand scores the difference from each of the others. The first to empty their hand scores the cards left in everyone else's: 8s are worth 50; kings, queens, jacks and 10s are worth 10; aces are worth 1; everything else, face value. Whoever opens the table picks the rules. Classic: only the 8 is special. With action cards: a 2 makes the next player draw 2 (2s stack, and whoever draws loses their turn), a queen skips the next player and an ace reverses direction (with two players, the ace does nothing). Games go to 50 points per player: 100 with two players, 150 with three, 200 with four. Each player picks the deck design they see, from the four in the Kingdom's collection. The table lives on the site, so you don't all need to be online at once: the game tells you when it's your turn, and anyone who opens the link after the game starts can watch. There's text chat, and the rematch happens right there at the same table.

In Selminha's words

“Crazy Eights is the card game a lot of us learned first: it's quick, everyone gets it in one round, and somebody is always saving an 8 for the perfect moment. I wanted our own table for it, with bots for when you're short a player and action cards for anyone who likes a little chaos.”

How to play Crazy Eights

1. Tap OPEN A TABLE, pick the rules (classic or action cards) and your deck, enter your name and COPY the link. Send it to up to three people, or tap ADD A BOT on the open seats.
2. Once at least two are seated, the host taps START THE GAME (empty seats sit that match out). Everyone gets five cards, or seven when it's just two of you, and the first card off the deck starts the pile.
3. On your turn, the cards you can play light up: tap a card to pick it and tap it again to play, or drag it onto the table. Played an 8? Name the suit in the box. If nothing matches, tap the deck or DRAW; with the deck gone and nothing to play, tap PASS.
4. With action cards, when a 2 lands on you, the button turns into DRAW 2 (or more, if they stacked): draw, or play a 2 of your own and pass it on. A queen skips the next player and an ace reverses direction; an arrow above the deck shows which way play is going.
5. When someone empties their hand (or the game is blocked), a box shows what's left in each hand, how many points the winner scores and the standings; any player taps NEXT ROUND. Chat sits in the right column (on a phone, behind the chat button). P or Esc opens the menu (the table keeps going); M turns the sound on and off.

Full rules for Crazy Eights
More games to play with friends online

The basic rules

The deck

52 cards, no jokers. Five cards each (seven with two players); the first card off the deck starts the pile, and if it's an 8 it goes back into the middle of the deck.

Your turn

Play a card that matches the top card by suit or by rank. Play always moves on to the next player in the same direction.

The 8

Goes on top of anything. Whoever plays it names the suit, and the next player has to follow that suit or play another 8.

Drawing and passing

If nothing matches, draw from the deck until you can play (you can also choose to draw instead). When the deck runs out, there's no reshuffle: if you can't play, you pass.

A blocked game

If everyone passes in a row, the round ends: the player with the fewest points in hand scores the difference from each of the others.

Scoring

Going out

The first to empty their hand scores the points left in everyone else's.

Card values

8s are worth 50; kings, queens, jacks and 10s are worth 10; aces are worth 1; everything else, face value.

The game

The first to reach 50 points per player wins: 100 with two players, 150 with three, 200 with four.

Controls on phone and computer

Computer

Tap or click a card to pick it and again to play it, or drag it onto the table · tap the deck or DRAW to draw · after an 8, name the suit in the box · ← → move along your cards, ↑ jumps to the buttons and ↓ back to your cards, Enter picks and plays · P or Esc opens the menu · M sound · F full screen · gamepad: d-pad moves along the cards and the buttons, A or X plays, Start menu, Back sound.

Touch

On phones the game is played upright; on tablets it follows the device, portrait or landscape, and never asks you to rotate. Your hand sits large at the bottom (in two rows when it gets big) and the cards you can play light up; DRAW, PASS and RESIGN sit right above them. Invite with the COPY button and paste the link wherever you like (a text, a group chat…).

Action cards

The 2

The next player draws 2 and loses their turn — unless they play a 2 of their own, and then the draw stacks up for the player after them.

The queen

Skips the next player.

The ace

Reverses direction. With two players, it does nothing.

The host's choices

The rules

Classic (only the 8 is special) or action cards (the 2, the queen and the ace too), for the whole game.

Who plays

Two to four: the host starts whenever they like, with whoever is seated, people or bots.