Practice Crazy Eights with a coach

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The Crazy Eights table

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Coach

Goal: get rid of all your cards before the computer players do. When someone does, each of the others adds the points left in their hand to their total. The game ends when a total reaches 100, and the lowest total wins.

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About this practice game

One practice deal at a time: you and two computer players get 5 cards each. Play a card that matches the top card of the discard pile (the face-up pile in the middle) by suit or by rank (the number or picture on it). Try to be the first to get rid of every card. An 8 matches anything, which makes it your most useful card. The Coach explains when to play it, how to choose the suit after it, and how to count the points left in your hand. To see how a deal goes first, press Watch a narrated deal above the table: the computer plays all three seats with every hand face up, and says why it plays each card.

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How Crazy Eights works

Three players, 5 cards each. You play against two computer players. The rest of the cards are the face-down draw pile. Its top card is turned face up to start the face-up discard pile. (An 8 never starts the discard pile: if one is turned up, it goes back into the middle of the draw pile and the next card is turned over.)
On your turn, play one card onto the discard pile. It must match the top card by suit (hearts, diamonds, clubs or spades) or by rank (the number or picture on it, such as 7 or queen). If the top card is the 7♥, you may play any heart or any 7.
An 8 can be played on any card. Whoever plays one names a suit, and the next player must play a card of that suit or another 8. Cards with a gold outline in your hand are 8s.
If you have no card you can play, you draw. Take cards from the draw pile one at a time until you get one you can play, then play it. You may draw only when you cannot play. If the draw pile runs out, the discard pile (all but its top card) is shuffled to make a new draw pile. (So that a deal always ends, this happens at most three times in one deal; after that, a player who cannot play simply passes. If all three players have to pass in a row, the deal ends with nobody out, and everyone adds the points left in their hand.)
The first player to get rid of every card wins the deal. Each other player adds up the points left in their hand and adds them to their total: an 8 is 50 points; a king, queen, jack or 10 is 10; an ace is 1; every other card is worth its number. The winner adds nothing.
The game ends when a total reaches 100. The lowest total wins. Here you play one deal at a time and the totals carry on from deal to deal.

How to use this page

Read the line at the top of the board. It says what the computer players just did and what you may play now.
Click a card in your hand to play it. A card with thin stripes cannot be played right now; click it and the Coach tells you why.
After you play an 8, four suit buttons appear. Press the suit you want to name.
If you cannot play, press Draw a card. The game draws for you until you get a card you can play; then click it. If there is nothing left to draw, press Pass.
Stuck? Press Hint for advice about the exact moment you are in.
Along the top: the number of the deal, each player's running total, and how many 8s you cannot see (there are four in the deck).
When a deal ends, the other players' cards turn face up so you can check their points, and the Coach adds up yours. Press Next deal to carry on.
To see a whole deal before you play one, press Watch a narrated deal above the table. The computer plays all three seats with every hand face up, and each turn comes with the reason for it. The computer follows a few simple rules of thumb, the same ones the Hint button uses, and a person may play differently. Step with Back and Next (or the arrow keys), press Play to let it run at Slow, Normal or Fast speed, or pick a turn in Jump to. Back to playing returns to your own deal exactly as you left it.

Why you keep your 8s

An 8 is the one card that can always be played. When nothing else in your hand matches, you play the 8 and do not have to draw. Play it too early and you may have to draw cards later, and every card you draw is one more to get rid of.

But do not keep it for ever. An 8 still in your hand when someone else goes out costs 50 points, more than any other card. Good times to play an 8: nothing else matches; it is your last card; or another player has one card left and you want to change the suit to make that card harder to play. With two cards left, an 8 and a card you can play, play the other card first: the 8 can always be played, so you go out with it next turn.

Choosing the suit

After you play an 8 (unless it was your last card) you name the suit. Name the suit you hold the most of, not counting 8s: that gives you the most chances to play on your next turn. The next player now has to match that suit or play an 8, so if they have none, they have to draw.

Remember what has been played. There are 13 cards in each suit, and the number along the top tells you how many 8s are still hidden. If another player has only one card left, name the suit that the fewest hidden cards belong to, so their last card is less likely to match. The Hint tells you which suit it would name and why.

Counting what is left in your hand

When someone goes out, you add up the points on the cards still in your hand: an 8 is 50; a king, queen, jack or 10 is 10; an ace is 1; a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 9 is worth its number. For example, a hand of K♥, 8♣ and 4♠ is 10 + 50 + 4 = 64 points.

The line above your cards always shows what your hand is worth right now. Picture cards and 10s are the expensive ones, so when two cards are otherwise equally good, play the expensive one first. The 8 is the exception: keep it until you need it, but do not wait too long.

Common beginner mistakes

Playing an 8 as soon as you can. If another card matches, play that one and keep the 8 for a turn when nothing else matches.
Keeping an 8 too long. Someone going out while you hold it costs you 50 points.
Naming a suit you hold few of. You will probably have to draw on your next turn.
Forgetting what the cards are worth. A hand of three picture cards is 30 points; a hand of three 4s is only 12.
Not watching for a last card. When a player has one card left, they win as soon as they can play it. The line at the top of the board says when that happens.

Simple strategy

When two cards (not 8s) both match, play the one that keeps the most cards of its own suit in your hand, so your next card is likely to match too. If that is a tie, play the one worth more points.
Watch the number of cards each player holds. A player with a lot of cards is far from going out; a player with one or two is the one to worry about.
Special powers for 2s, queens or aces exist in some groups, but this practice game does not use them.

The full rules page →

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