Crazy Eights & Mau-Mau

How to play Crazy Eights

Crazy Eights uses one standard 52-card deck and works for 2 to 6 players. With two players each gets 7 cards; with three or more, each gets 5. The rest of the deck is placed face down as the draw pile, and the top card is turned face up to start the discard pile. In our game the first card turned up is never a special card, so nobody starts the round with a wild or a penalty.

Play goes around the table. On your turn you put one card on the discard pile that matches the top card by suit or by rank. A 9 of hearts can go on any heart or on any other 9. If you cannot play, or would rather not, you draw from the pile. The first player to get rid of every card wins the round and scores points for the cards still held by everyone else.

Crazy Eights rules, step by step

These are the classic rules, which is the Crazy Eights preset in our setup screen:

• Deal 7 cards each for two players, 5 each for three to six players.
• Match the top card of the discard pile by suit or by rank.
• Eights are wild. You can play an 8 on any card and then name the suit the next player must follow.
• If you cannot play, draw. In the classic rules you keep drawing until you get a card that fits.
• When the card you draw fits, you can play it straight away, or keep it and pass your turn.
• You are allowed to draw even when you hold a playable card. Sometimes saving a card is the smarter move.
• If the draw pile runs out, the discard pile, apart from its top card, is shuffled to make a new one.
• The first player with no cards left wins the round.

What happens when you play an 8?

An 8 is the wild card. It can go on top of anything, whatever suit or rank is showing, and as soon as you play it you choose a suit from the suit picker. The next player must play a card of the suit you named, or another wild card. The rank of the 8 does not count for matching after that: only the suit you chose matters.

In the classic rules you may play an 8 on top of another 8, and the new 8 names a new suit. Some families do not allow a wild on a wild, so our house rules let you switch that off. Because an 8 left in your hand costs 50 points if somebody else goes out, there is a real choice between saving it as an escape card and getting rid of it before the round ends.

Crazy Eights scoring explained

When a player goes out, they score the value of every card left in the other players' hands. Everyone else scores nothing for that round. In the 52-card game the values are:

• Each 8: 50 points.
• King, Queen and Jack: 10 points each.
• Ace: 1 point.
• Every other card: its number, so a 7 is worth 7.

Playing to 100, 200 or 500 points

Before you start, pick how long the match lasts: one round, 100 points, 200 points or 500 points. Rounds keep coming until someone reaches the target, and the round history table shows what every player held and how many points the winner took each time. A single round is perfect for a quick game; 500 points makes a long evening of it.

Rarely, a round gets stuck: there is nothing left to draw and nobody can play. Then the round is blocked and the player holding the fewest points wins it. If two players tie for the lowest hand, nobody scores that round.

Mau-Mau rules (Mau Mau Regeln)

Mau-Mau is the version played all over Germany, Austria and nearby countries. Our Mau-Mau preset follows the most common house rules:

• A 32-card deck: 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace in each suit.
• 5 cards each. With six players the deal drops to 4 each, so there is still a draw pile.
• Match by suit or rank, exactly as in Crazy Eights.
• The Jack (Bube) is wild. Play it on anything and wish for a suit. You cannot play a Jack on a Jack.
• A 7 makes the next player draw two. They can answer with their own 7, the famous "7 auf 7", and the penalty grows to 4, 6 or more for whoever runs out of 7s.
• An 8 skips the next player (aussetzen).
• If you cannot play, draw one card. If it fits you may play it, or keep it and pass.
• When you play your second-to-last card, call "Mau" with the call button. Forget, and you draw one penalty card. When you play your last card, the table shows "Mau-Mau!"

Crazy Eights vs Mau-Mau

Both games share the same heart: match the top card, use a wild card to change the suit, be first out. The differences are in the deck and the special cards. Crazy Eights uses 52 cards and the 8 is wild; in its classic form there are no other action cards and you draw until you can play. Mau-Mau uses 32 cards, the Jack is wild, 7s and 8s have jobs of their own, you draw only one card, and you must call out when one card remains.

Scoring changes with the deck. In 32-card Mau-Mau, our game counts the Jack as 20, Ace 11, 10 as 10, King 4, Queen 3, and 9, 8 and 7 at face value. These are the same values many German families use when they keep score. The shorter deck makes Mau-Mau rounds faster and a little more tactical, because you can track the 32 cards more easily.

Switch and Last Card in the UK

In Britain and Ireland the same family of games is often called Switch, and some families just call it Last Card after the call you make when one card remains. The exact special cards vary from house to house: 2s that make the next player pick up two, a card that skips a go, a card that reverses direction, and a wild card that changes the suit.

You can build that kind of game in our setup with the Eights with action cards preset: 2s are draw two and can be stacked, Queens skip, Aces reverse, 8s stay wild, you draw one card at a time, and you must call "Last card". From there, the custom rules let you move the action cards around to match the version you grew up with.

House rules: draw two, skip, reverse

Choose Custom and every rule is yours to set. These are the options in our game:

• Deck: 52 cards or 32 cards (7 up to Ace).
• Wild card: 8s or Jacks, and whether a wild may be played on a wild.
• Draw two: off, 2s or 7s, with or without stacking.
• Skip: off, 8s or Queens. With two players a skip means you play again.
• Reverse: off, 9s or Aces. With two players a reverse works like a skip.
• When you draw: one card, or keep drawing until a card fits.
• Cards each: automatic, 5, 6 or 7.
• Call your last card: on or off. Forgetting costs one penalty card.

When a draw two is waiting for you

With a draw-two card on the table, your only choices are to stack one of your own, if stacking is on, or to pick up the whole penalty. A wild card does not get you out of it. Picking up the penalty ends your turn, even if one of the cards you took would fit. That is why a spare draw-two card is so valuable in Mau-Mau and in the action-card rules.

Crazy Eights strategy tips

Luck decides the deal, but good habits win more rounds. Try these:

• Keep your 8 (or Jack in Mau-Mau) until you really need it. It is your one card that always fits.
• When you play a wild, name the suit you hold most of, not the suit of the wild itself.
• Watch what players draw on. If someone draws when hearts are showing, they probably have no hearts, so hearts is a good suit to name.
• Change suit with a matching rank. Playing the 5 of clubs on the 5 of hearts moves the game to your strong suit without spending a wild.
• Dump high cards when an opponent is close to going out, so they score less if you lose the round.
• In Mau-Mau, hold a 7 when you can. It is the only answer to a 7 played at you.
• With two cards left, remember to call before playing the second-to-last one.

Playing Crazy Eights online with friends

Tap Invite friends to open a room. You get a room code to read out and a link you can send on WhatsApp or any other app. Friends take seats as they join, and computer players fill any empty seats, so a table of six is easy even with only two people. You can also use quick match to find other players. While you play, send chat messages and emoji, or switch on voice chat.

To play alone, choose Play vs computer and pick 2 to 6 players. If you leave a game against the computer before it ends, it is saved, so you can carry on later from the same round. Everything runs in the browser on phone, tablet and PC. There is nothing to download and no sign-up.

Controls on phone and PC

Tap or click a card to play it. On a touch screen the first tap lifts the card and the second tap plays it, which stops accidental plays. Tap the draw pile or the Draw button to draw, and use Keep it, pass when you have drawn a card you would rather hold. After a wild card a suit picker appears. The call button shows Mau! or Last card! depending on the rules, and the light bulb gives you a hint.

On a keyboard, press D or Space to draw, P to pass, M to call, H for a hint and Esc for the menu.

Computer levels: Easy, Normal and Hard

Easy computers play a random card that fits, name a random suit and sometimes forget to call. Normal computers keep wild cards for when they need them, play into the suit they hold most of, dump high-scoring cards and hit a player who is nearly out with a draw two or a skip.

Hard computers do all of that and also remember every card in the discard pile and which suits each player could not follow. Before each move they deal out the unseen cards in many possible ways, play the rest of the round in their head, and choose the move that worked best. They are a real test.

History of Crazy Eights and Mau-Mau

Crazy Eights became popular in the United States in the middle of the 20th century, and older books describe close relatives under names such as Eights, Rockaway and Swedish Rummy. Mau-Mau spread through German-speaking countries over a similar period, and the origin of its name is not certain. Many countries have their own member of the family: Pesten in the Netherlands, Tschausepp in Switzerland, Macau and Makao further east, and Switch in Britain. Commercial shedding games sold with their own special decks are built on the same idea.

Auf Deutsch: Mau-Mau kurz erklärt

Mau-Mau wird mit 32 Karten gespielt, und jeder Spieler bekommt fünf Karten. Man legt eine Karte mit gleicher Farbe oder gleichem Wert auf den Stapel, der Bube ist Joker und man darf sich eine Farbe wünschen, aber Bube auf Bube ist nicht erlaubt. Eine 7 heißt zwei Karten ziehen, mit 7 auf 7 gibt man die Strafe weiter, und eine 8 heißt aussetzen. Wer die vorletzte Karte legt, sagt "Mau", sonst gibt es eine Strafkarte. Bei PlayNest kannst du Mau-Mau kostenlos online spielen, gegen den Computer oder mit Freunden.