- Rules For Jacks Or Better Poker
- Rules For Jacks Or Better Trips To Win
- Rules For Jacks Game
- Rules For Jacks Or Better Video Poker
Contents
Introduction and Alternative Names
Jack: You win the trick which has the jack of the trump suit. Game: You get the most game points in the round. All 10s are worth 10, all aces are worth 4, all kings are worth 3, all queens are worth 2, and all jacks are worth 1. Other cards aren’t worth anything. Each player in turn bids or passes; bidding always starts at two. Sit across from the other player, if playing with only one other person, or sit in a circle. If playing alone just to practice, sit wherever you like. Toss all ten jacks in front of you, within the circle or between you and the other player. Aim to keep the jacks fairly close to you, yet spread apart enough to grab them individually.
Crazy Eights is a game for two or more players, in which the object is to get rid of the cards in your hand onto a discard pile by matching the number or suit of the previous discard.
There is a huge number of variations of this game, and many alternative names. Itis sometimes called Crates, Switch, Swedish Rummy, Last One or Rockaway. In Germany it is Mau-Mau; in Switzerland it is Tschausepp; in the Netherlands it is Pesten. Some British players call it Black Jack, which is unfortunate as it can lead to confusion with the well-known American banking card game Blackjack.
Basic Game
The basic game of Crazy Eights uses a standard 52 card pack, or two such packs shuffled together if there are a lot of players. The dealer deals (singly) five cards to each player (seven each if there are only two players). The remainder of the pack is stacked face down on the table as a stock from which cards will be drawn. The top card of the stock is turned face up and placed beside the stock to start the discard pile.
Starting with the player to dealer's left, and continuing clockwise, each player in turn must either play a legal card face up on top of the discard pile, or draw a card from the undealt stock. The following plays are legal.
- If the top card of the discard pile is not an Eight, you may play any card which matches the rank or suit of the previous card (for example if the top card was the king of hearts you could play any king or any heart).
- An Eight may be played on any card, and the player of the Eight must nominate a suit.
- If an Eight is on top of the pile, you must play either another Eight or any card of the suit nominated by the person who played the Eight.
If an Eight is turned up by the dealer as the first card of the play pile, it is treated as though the dealer had played it. The dealer looks at his or her hand and nominates a suit, and the first player must play a card of that suit or another Eight.
A player who has only one card left in their hand must alert the other players by saying 'last card'. A player who fails to do this before the next player takes their turn must draw two cards from the top of the stock as a penalty.
The first player who gets rid of all their cards wins, and the other players score penalty points according to the cards they have left in their hands - 50 for an eight, 10 for a picture, and spot cards at face value (one point for an ace, two for a two and so on).
If the stock pile is exhausted, the played cards, except for the last card, are shuffled and stacked face down to make a new stock and the game continues.
Special Cards
Apart from the Eights, usually there are other cards that have special effects when played. Typical rules are as follows.
- Skip
- When a Queen is played, the next player in rotation misses a turn, and the turn passes to the following player. In a two-player game the opponent is skipped and the same player plays again.
- Reverse direction
- When an Ace is played, the direction of play reverses, becoming anticlockwise if it had been clockwise, or vice versa. In a two-player game an Ace has no effect.
- Draw cards
- When a Two is played the next player must either draw two cards or play another Two (an Eight cannot be played in this case). If several Twos have been played by consecutive players, the next player must either play another Two or draw two cards for each two in the sequence. The penalty cards cannot be played in the same turn - after the penalty cards have been drawn, the turn passes to the following player, who can continue with any card of the same suit as the last Two, or another Two or an Eight to change suit.
If one of these special cards is turned up as the first card of the play pile, it is treated as though the dealer had played it. If the turned up card is an Ace, play begins anticlockwise and the player to dealer's right has the first turn. If the turned up card is a Two the first player must play another Two or draw two cards. If the first card is a Queen, the first player is the the player two places to the left of the dealer.
If the last card played by the winner happens to be a special card, the special effect is ignored. For example the card on top of the play pile is the 10 and the next player's only remaining card is the 2. The player plays the 2 and immediately wins. The hands are scored as they are - no one has to draw cards as a result of the 2.
Variations
Crazy Eights is one of the easiest games to modify by adding variations. In particular the roles of the special cards are often changed, for example using a different card, such Jack instead of Queen to cause the next player to skip a turn, or Four instead of Ace to reverse direction. Sometimes there will be additional special cards with other effects - for example it may be agreed that the Queen of Spades requires the next player to draw 5 cards. The result is that almost every group of players has their own house rules, and it would be rare to find two groups that play exactly the same way.
Deal
The number of cards dealt to each player initially may vary. For example some begin with eight cards each.
Drawing Cards
In the normal game, you may always use your turn to draw a card. However, some people play that you may only draw if you are unable to play - if you can play you must.
Some allow the drawn card to be played immediately if it is a legal play.
Some allow more than one card to be drawn - either up to a fixed number of cards, after which if you still cannot (or will not) play the turn passes to the next player. Others require you to continue drawing until either you can play or the deck is exhausted.
Changing Suit
The special card that changes suit is nearly always the Eight, at least in places where the game is called Crazy Eights. In many countries and regions the equivalent game goes by other names and a different card may be used to change suit - for example in the British game Switch it is often the Ace, and some other variants use the Jack or the Seven.
Some play that you can only play an Eight that matches the previous card's suit or rank.
Some play that you can play an Eight at any time but when playing an Eight you do not nominate a suit. The next player must simply match the suit of the Eight you played or play another eight.
One correspondent (Szu Kay Wong) gives the rule an Eight can be played on any card, but the player can only nominate a different suit if the Eight matches the rank or suit of the previous card. Some players use jacks or aces rather than eights as the cards which have the power to change suit.
Multiple Equal Cards
Some allow a player holding two or more equal ranked cards to play them all at once, provided that the first of them is a legal play. If they are special cards all the special effects take place. For example if the top card of the play pile is the 5, the next player could play 9, 9 and 9 in that order, and the next player would have to play a 9 or a heart. If the equal cards are special cards all the special effects take place. For example if an Ace reverses direction, playing two Aces together will reverse it twice, leaving the direction of play unchanged. If a Queen skips the next player, a pair of Queens will skip two players (in a two-player game that would be your opponent's turn and your own next turn, leaving your opponent to play next). If a Two requires the next player to pick up twos cards, a pair of Twos will require the next player to pick up 4 cards (or play another Two).
Last Card
![For For](https://cdnassets.hw.net/b8/b8/3186966140c49ee4299823853a07/plunkett-safescaffolding-lead.jpg)
Some groups have a special word that must be said by a player when they have just one card left. On the other hand, some groups do not require a player with one card to warn the other players.
End of Stock Pile
When the stock pile is exhausted, the rules given in most books to not envisage shuffling the play pile to make a new stock. Instead they specify that play continues without drawing. A player who cannot or does not wish to play just passes. If all pass, the game is blocked. Play stops and everyone scores for the cards remaining in their hands. I think that in practice this version of the game is rarely played.
Crazy Eights Countdown
This variant has become popular in North America. Each player begins the game with a score of 8, and eight cards are dealt to each player. When a player gets rid of all their cards, this does not end the play. Instead, the player subtracts 1 from their score, and is immediately dealt a new hand of cards equal in size to their new score. The other players keep the cards that they have and the play continues. The winner of the game is the first player who reduces their score to zero.
Each player's current score determines the rank of the card that is wild for them. So at the start of the game everyone has Eight as their wild card, and the game is like normal Crazy Eights. But later in the game it is possible for each player to have their own, different rank of wild card, which can be played on any card and allows the player to nominate the suit to be played next. Each time a player runs out of cards, their wild card changes, first from Eight to Seven, then Six and so on down to Ace. When a player with a score of 1 and Ace as wild card runs out of cards, their score becomes 0 and they win the game.
The changing wild card introduces several new situations and players need to agree how to resolve these. The following rules are suggested.
- When a wild card is played, the player nominates a suit. The next card played must either be a card of that suit or the player's own wild card.
- Example. My score is 6. I play the 6 and nominate hearts. If the next player's score is 7 that player must either play a heart, or play a wild 7 to nominate a suit, or draw a card. The next player is not allowed to play (for example) the 6 even though the rank is the same as my wild Six.
- When a player's wild card rank also has a special effect, the player nominates a suit and the card also acts as a special effect card as follows.
- Wild / Skip. The next player is skipped and the following player must play the nominated suit or a wild card. For example, suppose that our house rule is that 4 skips the next player, 4 is my wild card, and I play the 4 nominating diamonds. The next player is skipped and the player after that must play a diamond or one of their own wild cards.
- Wild / Reverse. The direction is reversed and the next player in the new direction must play the nominated suit or a wild card. For example, suppose that Aces reverse direction. We are playing clockwise and I play the A nominating spades. The direction reverses to anticlockwise and the player to my right must play a spade or one of their own wild cards.
- Wild / Draw Two. The next player must either draw two cards or play a Two of the nominated suit. For example, the players in order and their scores are A(2), B(5), C(6). Player A plays the 2 nominating clubs. Now B must either play the 2 or draw two cards. If B plays the 2, C must either draw four cards or play any Two (since the 2 was not wild). If B draws 2 cards, C must play a club or a wild 6 or draw a card, since clubs was the suit nominated by A. Another example: player A plays the wild 2 and nominates diamonds. Assuming that we are playing with a single deck, player B is forced to draw two cards, and C will then have to play a diamond or a wild card. Playing with a double deck, B's only legal play to avoid drawing two cards would be the other 2.
Here is a blog post and discussion about Crazy-8-Countdown describing a version in which Jacks skip the next player, Twos make the next player draw two cards or play another Two as usual, and the Queen of Spades makes the next player draw five cards. Multiple cards of equal rank can be played together. No 'reverse direction' card is mentioned. As in normal Crazy Eights, when multiple cards are played in one turn and some or all of them are special cards, the special effects apply even for cards that are covered, but it is the last card played that has to be followed by the next player.
Variant: Some groups allow a card of equal rank to be played on a wild card even if it is not in the called suit. For example a wild 5 is played calling 'diamonds' but the next player plays 5 instead of a diamond, even though 5 is not wild for them. This rule is the most frequent cause of arguments in this game so it is a good idea to agree in advance whether your house rules allow this play or not.
Gordon Lancop's Crazy Eights Countdown app for Android features special cards for Skip, Reverse, Draw Two and Draw Five which can be configured according to the player's preference.
Other variants described on this and other websites
See the following pages on this site:
- Crates, described by Richard Hussong.
- Spoons, described by Bruce McCosar.
- Last One, contributed by Mark Alexander.
- Bartok, in which the rules are modified during the game.
- Mao, in which the rules may not be discussed.
More pages with rules of Crazy Eights variants:
- Jose M. Carrillo-Muniz describes Ocho Locos, a version of Crazy Eights played in Puerto Rico.
- Justin Tuijl's description of Jack Change, another variation (archive copy).
- Jean-François Bustarret's site has rules of Huit Américain in French.
- The site Cribbage.ca has a description of a French Canadian variation known simply as Huit (eight).
- Crazy Eights rules are available on the Card Game Heaven site.
Several Crazy Eights variants contributed by readers are listed in the Invented Games section of this site.
There have been many commercial versions of eights, designed to be played with specially produced packs of cards. Probably the best known of these is Uno, for which there are also many invented variations.
Crazy Eights software and online games
Rules For Jacks Or Better Poker
The collection HOYLE Card Games for Windows or Mac OS X includes a Crazy Eights program, along with many other popular card games.
TrapApps offer online versions of many slightly different Crazy Eights variants: Crazy Eights, Crazy Eights Zimbabwean, Irish Switch, Jacks, Twos and Eights, Last Card, Macao, Macau London, One-Card, Pesten, Puskiyon, Switch, Switch Black Jack and Take Two. Also Crazy Eights Countdown.
At GameDuell, you can play Crazy Eights online.
Malcolm Bain's shareware Agony for Windows, which plays a Greek variation of Crazy Eights, is available from Card Games Galore.
Best casino in tulsa. You can play Crazy Eights online at CardzMania.com
At Solitaire.com you can play Crazy Eights or the corresponding Dutch game Pesten or German game Mau Mau online against the server.
You can download Laurent Pellenc's Crazy Eights Program for Windows from his page.
Mike's Cards includes a Crazy Eights program for Macintosh and Windows computers.
Games4All have published a Crazy Eights game for Android.
The Crazy Eights Deluxe program is available from Unique Games
PlayOK (formerly known as Kurnik) offers the similar Polish game known as Makao (which is listed at PlayOK/Kurnik as Switch).
Gameslush.com offers an online Crazy Eights game against live opponents or computer players.
At DKM Crazy Eights from the CardSharp suite you can play two-player Crazy Eights online against a computer opponent.
Einar Egilsson has published a free Java Crazy Eights program with which you can play online against one computer opponent.
KNUCKLEBONES
This Jacks game is usually played with sheep's knucklebones. You need a set of five knucklebones to play the game.
There are lots of steps in the game, starting with 'Plains'. The steps get harder as you move through them.
Before you start to do each step, choose your playing piece (your 'taw') by jockeying.
How to Jockey
1. Hold all five jacks in your hand. Throw them up, turn your hand over quickly and catch as many as you can on the back of your hand.
It's easier to catch them if you spread your fingers a little bit.
2. Throw them up again from the back of your hand, turn your hand over quickly and catch as many as you can in your palm.
3. Choose one of the jacks in your hand to be your taw – the one you throw in the air. Put aside the others you caught – they¹re out of the game for now. If you only caught one, that becomes your taw.
4. Continue with the step you¹re doing.
STEPS FOR PLAYING KNUCKEBONES
Rules For Jacks Or Better Trips To Win
Plains
Ones: Jockey to choose your taw. Throw up your taw, quickly pick up one jack from the ground and catch your taw again all with the same hand.
If successful, keep your taw and put the other jack aside. Pick up one jack at a time until all have been picked up. Then go on to Twos. Sweeps allowed.
Twos: Pick up two jacks at a time. Sweeps allowed.
Rules For Jacks Game
(If there are three jacks on the ground, pick up two first and then one. This applies to all steps - the correct number of jacks are picked up first.)
Threes: Pick up three jacks, then one. Sweeps allowed.
Fours: Pick up all four jacks together. Sweeps allowed.
Scatters
![Jacksonville Jacksonville](https://statics.sportskeeda.com/editor/2018/04/39419-1523010826-500.jpg)
Instead of jockeying, scatter the jacks on the ground and pick up a taw without 'tipping' (moving any of the other jacks). Do the same steps as in Plains. No sweeps allowed.
When you get up to Scatter Fours, you can quickly call out 'Dumps', and this lets you dump all five jacks in a pile on the ground instead of scattering them.
Choose a taw from the pile without 'tipping'. Throw up your taw, pick up all four jacks at once, and catch your taw again.
But if another player calls out 'No Dumps' first, you have to scatter the jacks and pick them all up together from where they land. No sweeps allowed.
Friends
Played the same as Scatters, except that one of the other players is allowed to act as a friend, and choose a taw for you which will be easy to pick up without 'tipping'.
Enemies
Played the same as Scatters, except that one of the other players chooses a taw for you which is hard to pick up without 'tipping'.
Dumps
Instead of jockeying, dump the jacks in a pile, choose a taw from the pile without 'tipping', throw it up and pick up the rest all together.
You have to quickly say 'Dumps' as you put them down, otherwise someone else can say 'Breaks' first, then they are allowed to hit the pile and scatter the jacks, making it really hard for you to pick them all up together.
Colour Dumps
This step is played using different coloured jacks. Dump the jacks in a heap on the ground. Choose one for your taw, as in Dumps. The remaining jacks are picked up one at a time, but the colour of each one must be called out first.
If you want to make this step harder, one of the other players can call out the colours, and you must pick them up as she calls them out.
Clicks
Played the same as Plains Ones, but when the jacks are caught, they must click together in your hand.
No Clicks
Played the same as Plains Ones, but when the jacks are caught, there must be no click at all.
Little Jingles
Jockey to choose your taw. Pick up the jacks from the ground and scatter them. Proceed the same as for Scatter Ones, but each jack picked up must be held in your playing hand until all have been picked up.
Big Jingles
Jockey. Keep holding all the jacks you have caught. Throw them all up as taws, pick up one jack from the ground, and catch all the others.
Each jack you pick up becomes a taw, and is thrown up with the others. Repeat until all jacks have been picked up.
Juggles
Rules For Jacks Or Better Video Poker
Jockey to choose your taw. Throw up your taw, pick up one jack and throw it straight into the air, catch your taw and then catch the other jack. Repeat until all jacks have been picked up.
Horse in the Stable
Jockey to choose your taw. Put the tips of the fingers of your other hand on the ground, to make four arches or 'stables'. If you have caught any extra jacks, place them inside different stables.
The remaining 'horses' must be swept across and into the empty stables - a different stable for each horse. Throw up your taw, sweep one of the remaining jacks across and into one of the empty stables. You can sweep as many times as you like. When all horses are inside, take your hand away, throw the taw up, pick up all the horses together and catch the taw.
Through the Arch
Jockey to choose your taw. Put the tips of the index finger and thumb of your other hand on the ground, to make a wide arch.
Throw your taw up, sweep one of the jacks across and through the arch with a single sweep, and catch your taw. Repeat until all jacks have gone through the arch. When all jacks are through, take your hand away, throw the taw up, pick up all the jacks together and catch the taw.
Over the Line
Jockey to choose your taw, then place your other hand flat on the ground. This is the line. If you have caught any extra jacks, place them together on the other side of the line.
Throw up your taw, pick up a jack and place it with the others over the line, then catch your taw. Repeat until all jacks are over the line, then take your hand away, throw up your taw, pick up all the jacks together and catch your taw.
Over the Jump
Played the same way as Over the Line, but your other hand is placed vertically, with the little finger touching the ground, to make the high jump.
Thread the Needle
Played the same way as Over the Line, but the jacks must be dropped through a circle made by the index finger and thumb of your other hand.
Some players rest the hand on the ground, and others hold it about 10 inches off the ground (approx. 25cm).
Granny's False Teeth
In this step, Granny's 'false teeth' are pulled out. Place four jacks in the spaces between the fingers of your resting hand and hold them there. Place your hand on the ground.
Throw up your taw, take a 'tooth' from between the fingers and catch the taw. Throw up the taw again, put the tooth down on the ground, catch the taw. Do this for each of the teeth. When all four are together on the floor, throw up the taw, pick them all up and catch the taw again.
Catching Flies
Played the same way as Scatter Ones, but the taw must be caught using a quick downward snatching movement, instead of landing in your palm.