Although Crazier Eights has an official rule book and the game is made to be played with a specific set of rules, it is possible to play with very different rules. One popular card game is Thirteen (Tiến lên), which was likely invented in Vietnam, and there is a way to play it using Crazier Eights cards.
How to Play Thirteen
When you play Thirteen, you start with thirteen cards in hand and you want to be the first player with zero cards in hand.
The player who starts a round plays cards — a single card, a two of a kind, a three of a kind, or a straight of three or more cards. (Note that twos can’t be included in a straight unless you have every single card rank, Ace through King.) Each player then takes turns paying the same type of cards but of a higher rank — the three of spades is the lowest, the Ace of hearts is the second highest, and the two of hearts is the highest.
If a player can’t make a play, their turn is skipped. When all opponents skip their turn, the winner of the round makes the next play and starts a new round. They can make any type of play available to them.
The first player plays a three of spades, and it can be part of any normal type of play, such as a two of a kind.
If a player plays a two or a bomb, the next player can respond with a bomb (of the same type and higher rank). A bomb is a four of a kind, or three or more consecutive pairs — such as 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5. A four of a kind can’t beat a two or more 2s (such as a two or three of a kind of 2s). Four consecutive pairs can beat two 2s, and five consecutive pairs can beat three 2s.
Four 2s (a four of a kind) automatically wins the game.
Wikipedia’s version of the rules can be found here.
Thirteen with Crazier Eights
Only the 52 card decks should be used. If you have any other cards, such as multicolor cards, you will have to decide how they can be used. If they don’t work for the rules for Thirteen, then they can only be played as assets and events, or discarded as additional discards.
One deck of cards is only enough for three players because some Crazier Eights cards cause someone to draw cards. You can mix two decks together.
The rank of each suit is the following: Ankh (green) is the weakest, Moon (blue) is the second weakest, Eye (purple) is the second highest, and Sun (red) is the highest.
The first player is the player who has the green three or whatever card is next lowest rank. If you have two cards of the lowest rank, the players who both have that type of card can roll to see who goes first.
Whenever you play cards for thirteen, you are discarding the cards, (and they are added to the discard pile). After you do that, you get your main phase — you may play a card from your hand (as an asset or event). You can only discard additional cards from your hand during your main phase when a card gives you that ability, and there is no restriction on additional cards you discard — they don’t need to match the card color or rank.
Turn Order
- Thirteen phase (discard whatever cards to start a round or respond to the last Thirteen play). If you can’t take a turn for Thirteen, your turn is skipped.
- Beginning phase
- Main phase (Play a card and discard additional cards if that ability is available to you.)
- End phase
You only have a main phase if you discarded cards for your Thirteen play.
An optional rule is to have a draw phase between your Thirteen phase and main phase. This can help some assets have relevance.
Crazier Eights 