Archive for category Crazy 8
CRAZY EIGHTS: A GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Posted by oscar in Card Games, Crazy 8 on October 20th, 2009
One of the very famous kinds of a card game (belongs to the shedding type); Crazy 8’s requires considerable tactfulness on the part of those playing the game. The game is played with the objective on part of the players to be first to divest all the cards of the other players and send these off to the discard pile.
Essential communication skills also help a player to score above the others in the game. This card game can be played with two or more participants. Generally a model 52 pack (of cards) is required when less than six members play Crazy 8. In case more than five people are participating in the game, two packs of cards are used after shuffling all the cards together.
The basic game of Crazy 8’s can be played in many different ways. The common variations of these games consist of Finlander’s Uno, Swedish Rummy, Mau-Mau, Crates, Last Game, Rockaway, Switch, etc. the British call the game of Crazy 8’s as Black Jack (not the same as the casino game Blackjack).
The term Crazy Eights is derived from the military terminology (dating back to about the 1940s) that denoted discharging of those soldiers that were found to be mentally unstable. The comparatively more extreme variations in the game of Crazy 8’s include Mao, UNO, Zar, Bartok, etc.
The basic pattern of playing the game of Crazy 8’s comprises of twp players participating in the game. In such a case, each player is given exactly seven cards to deal with. In case the number of players exceeds two, every player would be handed out five cards respectively. The rest of the cards of this deck would be positioned in the middle of the game table and they are put facing downwards. Next, the topmost card would be turned in order to face upwards and the players then start on the game.
In order to play, the participating players match suit or rank with the card placed on the top of the deck (in the centre), called as discard pile, and then discard the cards one by one in this manner. The order for the card ranking is in a descending order and is as follows: “8 J A 2 K Q 10 9 7 6 5 4 3”.
In case the player is not able to tally the card with the topmost card on discard pile and does not manage to get an 8, he draws out a card from the stocked pile in the centre and keeps doing that till he gets one card with which he can play. On case no more cards are left in the stockpile and the player is still unable to play, then he/she would have to pass on the chance. The player may also choose the option of drawing out a card from stockpile.
When one of the players lays out an eight, then that person should declare the rank that the following player is supposed to play. The next players can either follow this rank or play an eight.
More Tips for Playing Crazy 8s
Posted by oscar in Card Games, Crazy 8 on October 20th, 2009
Crazy 8s is a fun-filled, fast-paced and an extremely interesting form of card games. The popularity or rather the craze of Crazy 8s can be judged by the fact that a world championship is dedicated to the cause. Its commercial versions such as the very famous UNO have received a wide range of publicity.
The complex variations made in the game only have made the game all the more alluring and exciting. This article gives some quick tips for all those players who are experts at the basic format of the game and know how to go about playing in the different variants of the same game.
1) In the case of drawing cards, an important variant Crazy Eights theme is when there are a lot of strict rules pertaining to the drawing of a card from the stockpile by the player in question. If this is the case, the player should try playing in a manner that he/she draws out a card only when there are no others cards that are suitable for playing left with the player.
In case the player is able to play a card in his/her hand, then the player must play it since it’s not advisable to depend on the cards in the discard pile just because of the reason that the player does not wish to play one particular card. On some of version of the game, the player can keep on drawing out cards from the pile till he or she gets some playable card while in some other variants, you are obliged to pass right after the first draw.
2) For those who know the basic format of the card well, you can incorporate variations such as when the player is left with a single card in hand, make it mandatory that the person has to call out “Crazy Eight” in such a case and in case s/he fails to do that, they would be penalised and would have to draw out eight extra cards.
The only tip in this situation is for the player to be completely alert and immediately call out “Crazy eight” at the right time and avoid being caught and penalised!
3) In case you are fed up with the basic rules of the game, add a zing to it by adding in some newer fun rules and play a better part in the game. You can allocate one skip card amongst the cards, e.g. a queen.
In case a queen is dished out, the player that follows will lose a turn. You can incorporate other additions like a rule that says that in case the player plays an eight that should match the eight that was played previously or should belong to that same suit.
You can also make a rule that if that eight matches the suit that was played previously, you are given the discretion to change the game’s suit, but in case it fails to match, you cannot change the suit.
By incorporating these additions and following these simple tips you are sure to become an expert at the game as well as at its variants.
Crazy 8s: Tips for Playing the Game
Posted by oscar in Card Games, Crazy 8 on October 20th, 2009
Crazy 8s is a simple, fast-paced and a very entertaining game, best suited when you want to spend quality time together. Though it has reached a considerable level in terms of professional pursuits of players, it is quite easy to learn and even kids above six years of age can learn to play and participate in the game.
The basic format of the game has been altered to get many versions (commercial or otherwise) of this card game, which are a tad bit complex especially if you are unaware of the basic pattern. Thus this article presents some easy tips for those who are unaware of how the game is played and also a revision for those who are still not experts at the game.
Firstly, the number of players that can participate in this game can vary between two or more than that.
Secondly, it is important to know the basic objective of the game. The player plays with the intention to exhaust all cards that they have been dealt out.
This is done by sending your cards away to (an already created) discard pile by matching suit or rank of your card with the topmost card on the pile.
To play this fun-filled crazy game, here are some quick tips:
1) Choose the person who would deal out the cards (dealer, to put it briefly) at random. The dealer would then deal about 5 cards to every player. In case the number of those playing are only two, then each person is given seven cards.
2) After having dealt out the cards, the rest of cards make up a discard pile and the topmost card on that pile is turned to face upwards and is placed next to this pile to make a stock pile.
3) To start the game the player seated left to the dealer discloses his card first and this goes on in a clockwise manner. The play starts once the cards have been dealt out and the discard pile has been placed. The player has two options while playing: either he pulls one card from the face down cards or play one card face-up on discard pile.
4) The player can put a card on discard pile if it matches with either the suit or rank of the card thrown previously. So in case the topmost card is Queen of Spades, then the player can dish out either a Queen or any Spade. In case the topmost card belongs to an eight, the player has to play any suit of eight.
Therefore an eight basically serves as wild card for the game. So if it’s your turn to play and you neither have any of the Diamonds nor card with the rank similar to that of the topmost card on the pile, you can dish out any 8 and make a call for a suit that benefits you.
5) To win, the player needs to finish all the cards on his/her hand. The person with the least score wins the game as the people with cards remaining in the hands will be allotted points accordingly.
CRAZY 8’s: Rules of Playing the Game
Posted by oscar in Card Games, Crazy 8 on October 20th, 2009
The Crazy 8s card game is a fun- filled pastime especially for those who like to indulge in card games along with family or friends. It has many variations, but the basic pattern of the game has about two or more players and can be played by following quick and simple rules.
The main objective of the players is to get rid of all their cards and send it off to a discard pile. The general trend is to use a model pack consisting of 52 cards, but many variations have cards that have personalised pictures and in some other variations joker (the card) is used as wild card. Many games even use more than a pack. Some of the basic rules are as follows:
1) In a game of two players, each player would be handed out seven to eight cards and in case there are more than two players, each one gets about 5 cards. The other cards that are remaining in the deck are put in the middle of a game table and are made to face down, with the topmost card then being turned to face up and is placed next to pick up card pile in order to start a discard pile. This is the card that begins the game.
2) The person sitting left to the one dealing out the cards begins the game by putting one of his cards on the top of discard pile. While doing this he/she must take note of the following two instructions: the first is that the card should match suit or value with the one on the discard pile and the second guideline is that the card that the player plays out should be an eight belonging to any suit.
In case the card turns out to be an eight of any of the suits, the player can alter the game’s suit to the one that he wants. So in case the card on top of the pile is say a five of hearts, the player in turn can either dish out a five of hearts or an eight belonging to any of the suits. In case the person declares the next suit to be a diamond, then the player playing next has to give out either a spade or he can give out another eight, thereby altering the suit once again.
3) In case the player does not possess a card that has the matching suit or value and either doesn’t possess an eight or doesn’t want to play that, he can pick up one card from the pick-up pile and keep on picking till he is able to get a card suitable to play. Since this can include a person picking many cards to find the suitable one, the players can put maximum ceiling on the number that a player can pick in a go before the game starts.
4) The game ends when any one of participants is not left with any cards.
5) To determine the score, a penalty core is given by adding cards left with the remaining player(s). Cards from 2 to 9 are given 5 points, the ones that are ’10,J, Q, K’ are given 10 and the Aces 15. The cards with the number 8 are given 50 points. The play ends when a player gets a score equalling or surpassing a predetermined value (say,1000).
Variations of Crazy 8
Posted by oscar in Card Games, Crazy 8 on October 20th, 2009
The basic pattern of the Crazy eights card game has been altered to give many variants. It is also known many different names such as Mau-Mau, Crates, Rockaway, Finlander’s Uno, etc.
In some of the variants of the game, a limit is put on the number of cards that a player can pick from the pick-up stock. In such a case, when the player is not able to discard any of the cards with him, he/she is allowed to pick only one card from the lot prior to the chance passing on to the subsequent player. In a similar case there is another variant in the rule which determines whether a person who picks up the card from the lot is permitted to play it at once or not.
There are other adaptations of this card game wherein the card that changes the suit could be a different one (most frequently either Aces or Jacks) and there are varying rules whether this card should be played without consideration of the suit of top card or on a suit matching to that of the top card (for example an eight of clubs should be played on clubs only).
In some of the versions, the players reach to a consensus on the rule of “Dealer’s Goodies”, under which the person dealing out the cards is allowed to lap up the first of the discarded cards in case it’s “special card” and keep on taking cards till one “ordinary card” comes to surface.
Under some variant rules, it is imperative for a player to declare the “last card” when only one of their cards is remaining. In case the person does not make the call and is caught doing that, the player is penalised by having to pick two cards. In another version, in case the last card that the person has is eight of any suit, he has to divulge that to other players of the game.
In other versions, players get the choice of holding onto wild 8’s in case they want to. The other versions allow runs while a player is discarding the cards.
Yet another adaptation of the game permits the removal of the topmost card on discard pile and the shuffling of the remaining cards in the pile. This would yield almost a fresh stock pile when the older one runs out of cards.
Some forms of this card game have a requirement that in order to win, a player must not only finish his cards but also that the last card that finally ends the game should be an “8”. Yet other versions have those players becoming the winners who manage the least points in the game.
One of the common versions of this game includes “Crazy Eights Showdown”. This version is generally played in order to stretch out the game’s length. In this version, when a player is through with all the cards in first hand, they draw out another hand with a card less (than before).
Thus, these are some of the common versions of the game that are able to add a unique style to the basic format of the game.
Oscar
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