Crazy Eights Game Rules
Crazy Eights is a card game that is best for two players, but can be played with up to seven. It belongs to a family of games called "stops." Games in the stops family all have procedures that can stop a player from taking a turn if he can't play a certain card in a sequence. Crazy Eights also goes by the name of Eights and Swedish Rummy.
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Preliminaries
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Crazy Eights uses a standard deck of 52 playing cards. When more than five people are playing, the game requires two decks shuffled together.
After the cards are shuffled, a dealer (chosen by any method the players agree on) deals the cards one at a time to the other players. If two people are playing, each player gets seven cards. Otherwise, everyone gets five cards.
When all of the cards are dealt, the dealer puts the rest of the cards face down in the middle of the table. The face-down cards form the stock. The dealer then turns the top card face up beside the stock. This face-up card is called the starter. Players will play cards on top of it, turning it into the starter pile.
Play
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The play starts with the person to the dealer's left and moves clockwise from player to player. Each player takes his turn by either drawing a card from the stock and then playing a card, or by playing a card immediately to the starter pile. The card played has to match the top card of the starter pile by suit or rank. For instance, if someone plays a three of spades to the top of the starter pile, the next player can play either a three or any spades card.
If a player has no matching cards, she has to draw cards from the stock until she can play a proper card. When the stock is depleted, a player without a playable card has to pass.
Eights are wild cards that can be played on any card showing on the starter pile. When a player plays an eight, he announces what suit he wants the eight to be. For instance, a player might play an eight of clubs on a four of diamonds. When he puts the eight down, he might decide that the eight will count as a spade, and the next player then has to either play a spade or another eight.
The play ends when one person has gotten rid of all her cards. She scores points for all the cards the other players have remaining in their hands.
Scoring
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Each eight is worth 50 points. Face cards give the winner 10 points each. The other cards give the winner whatever numerical value shows on it, with aces counting as one point. Crazy Eights is played in rounds, with play continuing until someone reaches 100 points.
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