CRAZY 8'S: A GENERAL INTRODUCTION

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 center), 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.