Porchlight › How to play › Crazy Eights
How to play Crazy Eights
A card game for two to four players, each playing for themselves. Match the card on top of the pile, and be the first to empty your hand.
The aim
Be the first to play all your cards. You then score points for every card the other players are still holding. The first player to reach the target score wins.
Setting up
The first dealer is chosen at random, and the deal moves one seat clockwise each hand. With two players, each gets seven cards. With three or four, each gets five.
The remaining cards form the stock. Its top card is turned face up to start the pile. If that card is an eight, it goes back into the stock and another card is turned. The player left of the dealer goes first, and play goes clockwise.
Playing
On your turn, play one card onto the pile. It must match the top card in one of these ways:
- the same suit (or, if the top card is an eight, the suit that was named)
- the same rank, for example a 5 on a 5
- or it can be any eight. Eights are wild: play one and name the suit that must follow.
Drawing. Instead of playing, you may draw from the stock, one card at a time, as many times as you like, even when you have a playable card. Your turn ends when you play a card.
When the stock runs out, the pile, except its top card, is shuffled to make a new stock. If there is nothing left to draw and you have no card you can play, you pass.
Scoring
The player who goes out scores the value of every card left in the other players' hands.
| Card | Points |
|---|---|
| Eight | 50 |
| King, queen or jack | 10 |
| Ace | 1 |
| Other cards | Their number |
A blocked hand. If every player passes in turn, nobody can move and the hand ends. The player with the lowest hand value wins it, scoring the difference between their total and each other player's total, added together. If two players tie for lowest, the one nearest to the dealer's left wins.
Winning
After each hand, if any player has reached the target score, the game ends and the highest score wins.
Table options
| Option | Choices | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Play to | 100, 200 or 300 points | 100 |
| Computer players | Easy, Normal or Hard | Normal |
| Turn timer | Normal, Relaxed (twice as long), Quick (half as long) | Normal |
Ranked games always use the defaults, and can have two to four players.
On Porchlight
The stock and the pile sit in the middle of the table. A suit symbol beside the pile shows the suit to follow.
- Playing. Cards you can legally play are lit. Click one to play it.
- Eights. Click the eight, then click one of the suit buttons that appear. Click the eight again if you change your mind.
- Drawing. Click the stock. You can keep clicking to draw more.
- Passing. A Pass button appears only when there is nothing to draw and nothing you can play.
A "Last card!" tag appears beside any player holding a single card. After a hand, press Next hand. The next hand starts when everyone has pressed it, or after 20 seconds on a Normal timer.
On a Normal timer you have 25 seconds per move. If time runs out, the computer plays for you. If it runs out twice in a row, you're out of the game. In a game of three or four, a computer player takes your seat and you're placed last; in a two-player game, you forfeit. The same happens if you leave, or if your connection drops and you don't come back within about a minute.
Tips
- Keep an eight for when nothing else fits, but don't get caught holding one: it costs 50 points.
- Play from your longest suit, and when you play an eight, name the suit you hold most of.
- When another player is nearly out, get rid of your high cards.
- A player who drew cards on a suit probably has none of it. Naming that suit can slow them down.