We have been developing alternate rules for Crazier Eights for a while. We have now compiled all the major variants for Crazier Eights in a PDF document.
Category Archives: rules
Winston Draft
The main idea of drafting a card game is to let everyone make their own deck using a shared pool of cards. The cards are chosen and divided by the players. Each player ends up having their own card pool using cards they chose. They can make their own deck of cards with cards from their own card pool.
Drafting is most popular with six to eight players, but it is also possible to have a two player draft using a Winston Draft, which was originally developed by Richard Garfield for Magic: the Gathering, as can be seen here. Continue reading
Crazier Eights Tournament Guidelines
Tournaments are events that rank players based on how many matches or “rounds” they win. A group of at least four players are needed. In general, each match can be 30 minutes for a single game (“best of one”), or 40 – 50 minutes for best two out of three.
Types of events
- Random deck – Each player brings a deck or two. Players randomly determine who gets to use their deck(s). If two decks are used, they are mixed together. If your deck(s) are used, the player to your right is the first player for the first game.
- Personal deck – Each player brings a deck or two. (If two decks are used, mix the cards together.) Each player uses their own deck (draw pile) and discard pile. Use your own discard pile exclusively. (An alternate option is that each discard must match the last card discarded.) Go here for more information about competitive deck construction.
- Draft – Use a large pool of Crazier Eights decks mixed together. Randomly distribute 42 cards to each player and turn them into three piles of 14 cards. Players draft the cards, taking turns of picking one card from each pile, until all the cards are added to a unique player’s card pool. Use your pool of cards to make a thirty card deck, and every card in your deck must not have any cards unless they have one of two specific colors. For example, a red-blue deck must not have a green card unless it is also red or blue. Then use the “personal deck” rules. Go here for more information about draft events.
Drafting Crazier Eights
The main idea of drafting a card game is to let everyone make their own deck using a shared pool of cards. Each player chooses what cards they want from the card pool in a particular way.
Drafting a card game became popular with Magic: the Gathering. One popular way to draft the cards is called a Cube Draft. A cube is a pile of cards selected specifically to use to have draft events.
One of every Crazier Eights game released in 2017 or after is enough cards for six players: Crazier Eights: Camelot, Crazier Eights: Avalon, Crazier Eights: One Thousand & One Nights, Crazier Eights: Shahrzad, Crazier Eights: Olympus, and Crazier Eights: Pantheon.
Two of all these games is enough cards for up to ten people to draft.
Secret Partners (Multiplayer Variant)
Secret Partners is an alternate way to play competitive multiplayer games (of fantasy card games). It changes how the game is played. I think it’s a good option for Crazier Eights. It’s a good option for certain fantasy card games in particular. (It was originally developed by people who play Magic: the Gathering.)
What is it?
The main idea is that there are two allied teams, and each team only has one player who is known to be on the team. The other players are on a team in secret, or a lone wolf.
What’s the point? Secret Partners adds a new layer of strategy, politics, and mind games to whatever game you can use it for. The players with a revealed team alliance are more vulnerable because they are a target to their opponents. Continue reading
Competitive Deck Construction
I have a new idea for competitive deck construction using Crazier Eights cards.
I discussed one idea for deck construction for Crazier Eights here. That idea is mainly to sculpt your own unique Crazier Eights deck and game using all the cards available, and the general expectation is that everyone will use the same deck when playing the game. Continue reading
New Rules Document
We made a new compact version of the Crazier Eights rules that can be easier to print at home. This set of rules was made for Crazier Eights: Elysium. Go here to get the PDF version. Continue reading
Crazier Eights Deck Construction
Magic: the Gathering is the first fantasy card game with deck construction. The game was made to encourage people to make a collection and you can use cards from your collection to make your own deck. I think it can be fun to make your own deck as well. It adds a new element of strategy and self expression. I think Crazier Eights can also have deck construction, and I will discuss what I think is the most promising way to do that here. Continue reading
More Ways to Play
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. Continue reading
Crazier Eights & 13, the Card Game (Tiến lên)
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. Continue reading
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