Talk:Crazy Eights

Is Uno really an extreme version of Crazy Eights? I played Crazy Eights as a kid, long before I head of Uno. Uno just looks like just a commercialized version of Crazy Eights, in the same way that Guestures is just a commercialized version of Charades.--65.25.240.107 00:13, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

If not a merge from Macau (game) then maybe a link? I'm not sure; the rules on the Macau article seem specific and different, though the concept is the same. Decision? Tamarkot 01:45, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

Is Spoons really an extreme version of Crazy Eights? I mean, they're similar insofar as your objective is to get rid of all your cards, but that's about it. At least, that's the case with the versions I played. wdaher 12:16, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

If Macau gets a separate page I think Black Jack should have one too, living in Britain I have never heard of Crazy Eights but have played countless variations on Black Jack, which seems to be similar in concept but with completely basic rules, e.g runs are essential to all Black Jack games I have played, but look optional in the article. Games like these evolve very quickly and a game played by one group of people can have very different rules to that played by another group in a similar geographical area, separate small articles is pointless, but then the Crazy Eights article has to expanded to fully include the broad classes of games, the 'original', Black Jack and Macau plus any others.Sam Hayes 23:00, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

the (SE)london version
Uses >2 players one deck. Each player is dealt 5 or 7 cards. A single card is dealt face up to produce a discard pile (may or may not be active- see below.) Cards must be discarded on the pile they must either be of the ssame suit or same value, chains may be produced eg. 5,6,7 so long as they are the same suit. When a player is about to finish he must say "Last card(s)" on his preceeding go, or else when he finishs he must pick up a card.

Special "powers"
Rules can be changed to use environment before a game.
 * Ace - Maybe placed on any suit and/or card, changes suit, if used in a sequence it acts without special features.
 * 2 - next player picks up 2, unless the use a 2 (Read on for more exceptions.)
 * 3-7 - Normal cards.
 * 8 - skips players 1 card skips next player 2 cards will skip 2 players etc.
 * Black jack - pick up 5/7 (the numer of cards dealt at the begining).
 * Red Jack -Blocks a Black jack "attack". If "jacks-on-twos" then it may also be used to block a 2's "attack".
 * Queen - The queen must be covered by another card, as "protection" else a card must be picked up form the pile. If "Queens a whore" is played any card may cover a queen (usually must be off teh same suit). If the "Queens respectable" then it must be a king (or jack) of the same suit.
 * King - Revearses order of play.

An average variant
This is a variant as I used to play it in South England. I'm writing a webapp version of BlackJack and these are the rules I'm applying


 * Start with 7 cards each, and one card face up on the discard pile, non-active
 * No pair strings allowed
 * Ace is another go - you can put down another card that matches the ace's suit, otherwise draw a card
 * Eight is change suit - it must match suit with the discard, but you can put any card of yours on top
 * Jokers are included in the pack, they act as a wildcard, matching any card on the discard, and allowing you to put any card of yours on top (on decks that use Red Joker and Black Joker, you must match the colour)
 * Two is pickup 2, Black Jack is pickup 5. You can only place one at a time. A Red Jack cancels either.

Crazy Crazy 8's, NC beach version
2's draw 2 or play a 2, worth 20pts 3's skip, worth 20 pts 4's reverse, worth 20pts 8's change suit, worth 50pts face cards worth 10pts all other numbered cards worth number value (eg 6 is 6 pts, ace is 1pt)

Lowest score after the final round (13) wins. First round deals 7, then round 2 has 6, and so on down to dealing 1, then you go back up dealing 2 in round 8, and finish with 7 in the final round 13. When someone goes out you total your points in your hand and add it to your running tally. You must announce last card. If you don't and someone notices and says 'last card' you may not play on your next turn, you must draw. The more people you have, the more decks you use. Deal passes each round to the left. Deal left, cut right. It is customary to hold up the incorrect number of fingers when someone asks how many to deal. On round 7 everyone announces last card after the deal of 1 card is down, else they must draw. Play begins with all cards face down in a pile, and top card is turned over. 2's, 3's, and 4's are 'live' so normally the person to the left begins play off of that card, but a 3 will skip them or a 4 will reverse it etc. A string of 2's in a row is called the two-two train.

Question on "draw cards" section
An IP-based user posed the following question in the "draw cards" section: This part is really confusing. Can somebody explain it more clearly?

I've moved the comment here and notified the user, and left it in comment form in the article where it was placed.

--Quintote (talk) 04:17, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

I made some changes
I've tidied up this article a bit, and here's what's changed, just in case someone questions any of it:

"Crazy Eights" is the original game (reference: The Penguin Book of Card Games, David Parlett) and all this stuff about twos making you draw two, Aces skipping etc. is contamination from the game UNO. It's fine to list common variants of the game, but the article was very unclear about the difference between the basic game and its variants. Among other changes, I transferred the stuff about having to call "last card" to the variants section, deleted some bits in "Variants" that referred to the same rule twice, clarified some rules, and deleted a line about it being "usual" that both Aces and fours are skip cards -- "Citation needed", as they say.

Also deleted the strategy section, which was very short and only applied to a particular sub-variant. Really, there's almost nothing to say about strategy for this game, and what there is is very difficult to say because there are so many variants, but if anyone wants to give it a shot? 91.107.138.44 (talk) 14:30, 4 November 2008 (UTC)


 * It's unclear whether these variants of Crazy Eights came from Uno or whether Uno used incorporated these rules when creating their version of the game. It would be interesting to find this out.--RLent (talk) 21:33, 20 May 2010 (UTC)
 * we used to play a version of this at school called "splodge", roughly the same time as UNO was invented, so I don't think we were influenced by that as we were in the UK. the rules I remember are: reverse direction, miss a go, change suit, and pick up 2, though I can't remember which cards did what as I've played so many different versions over the years. one rule we did have however was that you had to call "splodge" when playing your next to last card, and "chippy" when laying your last card - the forfeit being to pick up a card. we also introduced a "hesitation" rule where if you hesitated (a consensus was needed to rule on this) you missed your go and picked up a card - it made for a fast game! 2A00:23C6:6C85:4601:3D20:FBFA:177A:3F5A (talk) 19:23, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

an obscure point
There's a point that has not been covered in the article. What happens when the discard pile begins with an 8? That is, the topmost card that the dealer reveals, is an 8? The rank to be lead is obviously 8 but since nobody has played that 8, it is not clear to me what becomes the suit to be lead? Please somebody explain what is done in this situation.--Alijsh (talk) 06:07, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

Hi Alijsh, the way my family has always played it, if the topmost card is an eight, it is void and immediately covered up by the next card in the deck. Players mourn the loss of one of the possible 8's.--Cfeyrer (talk) 18:08, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

how do you win this game?
The main description for this game does not provide an explicit explanation of the conditions for winning the game. In addition there is no explanation of how the information in the Scoring section relates to the preceding explanation. Could somebody in the know please explain how one wins, and how the point-based scoring fits in? Cricobr (talk) 17:20, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

Joker? Problem in the Lead
The lead says that "a standard 52-card deck" or "104 cards" are used to play the game. But the paragraph that follows says that "a joker can be blocked with any ace", suggesting that 54 or 108 cards are used. Considering all the variants this game has, I would not call this a contradiction, but it is still confusing. I suggest either clarifying when jokers are used or omitting the last paragraph from the lead. -- Marie Paradox (talk) 13:37, 22 June 2018 (UTC)


 * I've deleted the line about jokers. I assume it was someone trying to add one of a million unremarkable house rules, and in the wrong place. --Lord Belbury (talk) 11:54, 23 August 2018 (UTC)