There are multiple ways to play Crazier Eights. Some of this requires alternate rules or house rules. Let’s take a look at some of these here.

1. Different deck mixes

Every Crazier Eights game released in 2017 or later can be mixed together. Avalon was made to be mixed into Camelot. Shahrzad was made to be mixed into 1001 Nights. Pantheon was made to be mixed into Olympus. You can mix any combination of decks together. You can even mix all the decks together.

It is recommended that you either mix any two decks together. If you mix more than two decks together, it is recommended that they are all bigger decks (Camelot, 1001 Nights, and Olympus), all smaller decks (Avalon, Shahrzad, and Pantheon), or an equal mix of both together, such as two bigger decks and two smaller decks. That way you have the same number of each card rank — the same number of Aces, Eights, 11s, etc.

2. Teams

It is probably best to stick to two players for each team, but you can try to have even more players on each team. When a player on a team wins or loses, then everyone on the team wins or loses.

The normal rule is that everyone on a team takes their turn at the same time. They take each phase of the turn at the same time, such as the beginning phase, draw phase, and main phase. They act as separate players.

Separate turns

An alternate rule is that each player on a team is treated as a normal player with their own turn. If you try this out, it is recommended that players on the same teams play on opposite ends of the table.

3. Different decks

Each player can play with a different deck or mix of two decks. You do not share a deck with your opponents — each player uses their own deck for a separate draw and discard pile. It is recommended that each player uses the same number of bigger or smaller decks, so that both players have the name number of cards of each rank.

You still play as though you share a discard pile. The top card of the discard pile is the one that was discarded last. If the last card discarded is removed from the top of a discard pile, then the second to last card discarded is the top card.

An alternate house rule is for each player to only be concerned with their own discard pile — the top card of the discard pile is different for each player.

Two different decks (but the same deck type) has been tried — it is the way you can play Crazier Eights on video chat. We used the same type of deck, though, such as both using One Thousand & One Nights decks. Trying One Thousand & One Nights vs Olympus, etc. can still be interesting, but it is untested.

4. Play two cards per turn

Each player plays two cards from their hand each turn. Cards can’t be discarded unless they are “additional” cards from an ability.

5. 13, the Card Game (Tiến lên)

Thirteen is a very different game from Crazy Eights with very different rules. This option is discussed in detail here.

6. More House Rules

More house rules were discussed in depth years ago, and can be found here.

Newer Options

• Crazier Eights Deck Construction
• Competitive Deck Construction
• Secret Partners (Multiplayer Variant) 
• Drafting Crazier Eights

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