Crazy Eights is a fast shedding game and the direct ancestor of Uno. You race to empty your hand by playing a card that matches the top of the pile in suit or rank. Eights are wild — play one and you name the next suit. It is quick to learn and easy to play a hand or two at a time. First to 100 points wins. Free in your browser, no sign-up.
Goal: be the first to get rid of every card in your hand.
When a player sheds their last card, the winner scores the cards left in the loser's hand.
| Card | Penalty points |
|---|---|
| Eight | 50 |
| King, Queen, Jack, 10 | 10 |
| Ace | 1 |
| 2 through 7, 9 | face value |
Three AI difficulty levels (easy, medium, hard) from the menu. Eights are wild and let you declare the next suit, you draw one card and then play or pass, and a round that blocks with neither player able to move is scored on the difference in hand values. Games run to 100 points. Install it as an app from your browser menu to play offline.
Crazy Eights spread in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s, and the name is often linked to an army discharge form numbered Section Eight. Its match-and-shed idea was later commercialised as the branded card game Uno in 1971, which added special action cards to the same core.
The eight is the game's only special card. You can play it on top of any card, and after you do you name the suit the next player must match. This gives the game its name and its main tactic: an eight is an escape hatch when nothing else in your hand will go.
You draw one card from the stock. If that card can be played, you may play it; if not, your turn ends and passes to your opponent. You never have to keep drawing your whole hand — a single draw is the penalty for being stuck.
When one player sheds their last card, the winner scores the value of every card left in the other player's hand. An eight is worth 50, face cards and tens 10, an Ace 1, and other cards their face value. Rounds add up until someone reaches 100.
They share the same core — match by suit or rank and shed your hand — but they are not identical. Uno is a branded game from 1971 with its own custom deck and extra action cards. Crazy Eights is the older public-domain game played with an ordinary 52-card deck.