Take a look at it here. If you want the Crazier Eights: Second Edition Kickstarter campaign to succeed, please let people know about it.

I wrote the comprehensive rules for Crazier Eights at one point, but it is a bit too long and overwhelming to include with every copy of the game, and the main idea of the game is supposed to be very simple. Packing every single possible clarification into the rules is also probably unnecessary, but I would like to make sure the rules can determine everything that happens in a satisfying way for both very casual players and those who want to know the game in a very in-depth way. I think the current version of the rules document I just finished does that for the Second Edition of Crazier Eights. You can take a look at it here, and let me know what you think.

• The rules document for the Second Edition of Crazier Eights. (Right click, save as.)

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I like the option for playing on teams. Two or people can each be on a team, and it is encouraged for each team to have the same number of people. Their teammates are allies rather than opponents. If anyone wins in a team, then the team wins. If anyone loses on a team, the team loses. I still haven’t tested out this idea as much as I would like. One deck of cards is enough for four people (two teams of two people each). Two decks of cards is enough for eight people (four teams of two or two teams of four).

Additionally, cooperation can speed the game up, and that is doubly so if you share turns with all your teammates. If everyone on a team can play and discard during the same turn, that can also save time. Each teammate draws cards during their draw phase together, going clockwise. The players on a team can sit next to one another, and whoever is on the right hand side actually draws first, even though they all do it at roughly the same time. (The same issue can occur when a card makes multiple players draw cards at the same time. They will actually draw cards going clockwise.)

The main rules issue that sharing a turn on a team can present is what to do if one or more players on a team has to skip their next turn or gets an extra turn. If there are people on the team who don’t have to skip their turn, those players still take a turn. Only players on a team who have to skip their turn will skip their turn. Moreover, if anyone on a team gets an extra turn, only that player will get an extra turn. Continue reading →

Ideally I would like Crazier Eights to be playable just using the rules card or the rules summary, and it mostly is. However, I did avoid certain ideas in the First Edition of the game to make it a little easier for people. There are two main new(ish) ideas introduced in the Second Edition: (1) Cards you control and (2) alternate win conditions. Continue reading →

I might be done with the Second Edition of Crazier Eights, but I will keep an open mind and be willing to make some minor changes. I have also been working on the Third and Fourth editions for Crazier Eights, and those will require a bit more playtesting. Each edition can be played as a stand alone game. However, the Second, Third, and Fourth editions all feature unique cards; and you can combine any of these versions of the games together by shuffling the cards together.

Right now the Third edition of the game has the Arabian Nights theme, and the Fourth edition is mainly just for brainstorming card ideas for other future editions of the game. The Fourth Edition will likely end up with a Biblical, Egyptian, or Greek mythological theme.

Some of my current card ideas can be found below. Continue reading →