How to Play Skip-Bo

Skip-Bo is a competitive solitaire type card game for two to six players. It is based on a game some call "Spite and Malice" or "Spit on Your Neighbor." The object of the game is to get rid of all of your cards, while preventing your opponents from discarding their cards first. It is fun for all ages and can be played by anyone ages seven and older. Read on to learn how to play Skip-Bo.

Things You'll Need

• Skip-Bo cards
• Two to six players ages seven and up

Instructions

Get Started

1. Make sure your Skip-Bo deck contains 144 cards and 18 Skip-Bo wild cards for a total of 162 cards in the deck.

2. Shuffle the cards and have each player draw one card. The person with the highest card deals. Non-numerical Skip-Bo cards are wild cards and do not count when selecting a dealer.

3. Deal 30 cards face down to each player when there are two to four players. If there are five or more players, deal 20 cards face down to each player, who then stack the cards face down in a stockpile.

4. Turn over the top card of each stockpile without looking at any of the other cards in the pile and turn the top card over to face up.

5. Place the remaining cards face down in the middle of the table in a draw pile.

6. Make room for four build piles next to the draw pile in the center of the table. These piles must begin with a Skip-Bo or a one card, then add cards sequentially numbered to 12, as play continues around the table. Remove build piles when they reach 12 to start a new one.

7. Allow space in front of each player for four discard piles. Each player will add to these piles at the end of his hand to signal they have finished playing and it is the next player's turn.

Play Skip-Bo

1. Begin play with the person sitting to the left of the dealer. This player draws five cards from the draw pile in the center of the table.

2. Look at the player's top stock pile card. If the player's top card is a Skip-Bo or a 1, he can start a build pile. If the number is higher he can play cards from his hand to help him reach that number. The turn continues until the player turns over a card on his stock pile that he cannot play. The player discards one card from his hand to begin one of four discard piles in front of him and play moves to the next person.

3. Continue play around the table until all players have had a chance to play one hand.

4. Begin each hand by drawing enough cards to have five cards in your hand and end that hand with a discard into one of four discard stacks on the table.

5. Win the game by being the first player to get rid of all the cards in your stockpile.

Tips & Warnings

• Strategy is very important when building discard piles. It is not permissible to play a card from the middle of a discard pile, so be careful not to cover up smaller number cards. For example a pile of 2's should not be covered up with a 10 because the player may need a 2 to build a pile on which the 10 can be played.

• Players should watch their opponent's stockpiles because Skip-Bo is a game of strategy. A player should not add to a build pile just to get rid of some of the cards in his hand or discard piles if that will help his opponent play the top card on his stockpile.

• If the player's top card is a 4 he can play a 1, 2, and 3 from his hand and then play the 4 from his stockpile to continue his hand.

• Only four build piles can be in play at one time.