What you need:

Deck of cards (2 decks if there are many people playing)

Object of the game:

Get rid of all the cards in your hand by placing them in the discard pile.

Crazy 8’s card game is a game that’s fun for the entire family. Crazy 8’s has simple rules and can be played with a standard deck of playing cards. There are also plenty of specialty Crazy 8 decks geared towards kids on the market.

Everyone is dealt 5 cards, 7 cards if only two people are playing. The rest of the deck is placed in front of the dealer, and he flips over the top card to create a discard pile. The person to the left of the dealer begins play.

The person draws a card. He must lay down a card of the same suit or the same rank as the discarded card. If the card is the 10 of clubs, he must lay down a club card or a 10 from another suit. When a person plays an 8, they change the current suit to whatever they like. The next card played must be of the suit the person named when playing the 8. Players do not have to play a card if they do not want to and can skip that part of their turn.

The first person to get rid of all of their cards wins the game. Other players must add up the value of the cards left in their hand to get their penalty score. Scoring is 50 points for an 8, 10 points for a picture card, and face value for the rest of the cards.

There are many variations to the basic rules of Crazy 8’s. Some play that you only draw from the deck if you can’t play a card and that you must play a card if you can. Another variation is that if a person does not have a card he can play, he must draw a card one a time until he finds a card he can play and then is allowed to immediately play the drawn card. Players must alert other players when they are down to their last card.

Some variations give special distinction to certain cards. Some like to give special significance to an ace. When the ace is played, it skips the next player or reverses the direction of play. When a two is played, the next player must draw two cards or play two cards.

Crazy 8’s card game has many reincarnations including the card games Bartok, Crates, and Last One.