Kings Reverse is a card game for 2 or more players that is played in Iowa, in the United States. For more than 5 players, 1 additional pack of cards may be used. Whoever gets rid of his/her cards first wins the game. Kings Reverse is very similar to the games Uno and Flaps, both belonging to the larger Crazy Eights or shedding family of card games. However Kings Reverse is played with regular packs of playing cards.

History[edit]

Blackjack in Color is an unusual free Web-based Blackjack book providing an analysis of Blackjack and Card Counting illustrated by 139 charts. The author Norm Wattenberger also publishes the Blackjack Scams site, which points out some short-cuts that will more likely cost you money than make a profit, runs Blackjack The Forum and publishes. While the popularity of Blackjack dates from World War I, its roots go back to the 1760s in France, where it is called Vingt-et-Un (French for 21). Today, Blackjack is the one card game that can be found in every American gambling casino. As a popular home game, it is played with slightly different rules. Once Blackjack King Reverse you have claimed one, you will not be eligible for the other. To be eligible to claim the New Player Welcome Bonuses, players must deposit a minimum of £10 in one Blackjack King Reverse instance, for each bonus. What rules did you play with? Mine are: 2 - pick up 2 blackjack - pick up 5 redjack - cancels pick up king - reverse queen - sl.g (anything can cover it) 8 - miss a turn jacks on 2's & vice versa ace - change suit. King of any suit – reverse direction of play – not cumulative, for e.g. If you play 3 Kings, only the top one takes effect so a player cannot reverse the play multiple times in a turn. In a two player game has no effect. Variation: Cumulative, so 2 kings maintains play in current order. Introducing the game.

Rules for Kings Reverse (without the jokers) have existed at least since the mid-1970s, and could have been an adaption of the game Uno for play with regular cards . The jokers and their rules, and the rules for the Ace of spades were introduced in 2015.

Rules[edit]

The game is played with 2 packs of regular playing cards plus the 2 jokers from each pack. To start a hand, ten cards are dealt to each player, and the top card of the pack is flipped over and set aside to begin the discard pile. The rest are placed face down as the drawing stack. The player to the dealer's left plays first, unless the first card on the discard pile is one of special cards (see below). On a player's turn, he/she must do one of the following:

• play a card matching the discard in suit or rank
• play a jack, or a playable joker (see restriction below)
• draw the top card of the deck (if more than one card is accidentally drawn, they all must be kept)

Play proceeds clockwise around the table.

• If a player draws a card that is playable, he/she must play it.
• A player may play a jack at any time, even if that player has other playable cards.
• A player may play a joker only if that player has no other cards he/she can play. A player who plays a joker may be challenged by the next player in sequence (see Penalties) to prove that his/her hand meets this condition.
• If the entire pack is used during play, the play continues until no one can play a card. E.g. if player A takes the last of the draw pack, he/she either plays it or passes. If player A passes, he/she is done and play continues with players B, C, and D. Player B then either plays a card or passes. Likewise with player C and D. Play continues until player D has no card to play. At this point everyone counts their card values and adds to their score.
• It is illegal to trade cards of any sort with another player.

Penalties[edit]

• If a player lays down his/her next-to-last card without calling 'one card' and is caught before his/her next turn,they must draw two cards. If the player is not caught in time, or remembers to call 'one card' before being caught, he/she suffers no penalty (see 'Ace of Spades' below under 'Special Cards')
• When a joker is played, the next player can challenge, i.e. demand to see the other cards in the player's hand to ensure the joker was played legally. If the joker was indeed played illegally, the illegal player retrieves the joker, takes the four cards, and misses his/her turn. If the joker was played legally, the challenger must take the four cards for the joker AND two more cards for the challenge.

Special Cards[edit]

• A 7 causes the next player to miss his/her turn and also draw two cards.
• An 8 causes the next player to just miss his/her turn.
• A king reverses the direction of play.
• Jacks are wild cards and can be played on any other card regardless of suit. Thereafter, the suit is that of the jack played.
• Jokers are wild cards played the same way as jacks with the additional proviso that the player names the suit to be followed thereafter, and the next player loses his/her turn and draws four cards (The jokers were introduced in 2015 and are based on the Wild Draw 4 cards from Uno)) If a joker is the turncard, it is returned to the drawing pack and another turned instead.
• A King and Queen of the same suit can be played at the same time in a marriage (this rule is borrowed from the card game Mau Mau (game))
• The Ace of spades allows the player to give one card to each of the other players, handing them out in the same order as play. Three scenarios are possible: 1) If, after playing the Ace of spades, the player holds as many cards as there are other players, the Ace of spades player simply goes out (he does NOT have to call 'one card'). 2) If the player has fewer cards left than there are other players, he/she simply goes out after handing out his/her last card (again, without having to call 'one card'), and the players who did not receive a penalty card must take a card from the pile, and the hand ends. 3) If the Ace of spades player holds more cards than there are other players, the game continues as usual (including the 'one card' rule, so, if after passing out penalty cards, the player has only one card left, he/she must call out 'one card!')

Endgame[edit]

A player wins the hand by getting rid of all of his/her cards. If a 7 or joker is played as the last card, the next player in sequence must draw the appropriate number of cards before the score is tallied. An Ace of spades follows the same rules as if it is played during the hand.

Scoring[edit]

Once a player goes out, the other players count up the card values of their hands (after any additional cards anyone must take because of the last card played) and adds the total to their own score. When a player reaches 500, the game is over and the player with the lowest score at that point is the winner.

Card values[edit]

Sevens, eights, kings, and the Ace of Spades are worth 20 points, jacks are worth 15, jokers are worth 25, and all other cards are worth 5.

Two-player game[edit]

In a two-player game, the king acts like an 8; when played, the other player misses a turn.

Contents

Introduction and Alternative Names

Crazy Eights is a game for two or more players, in which the object is to get rid of the cards in your hand onto a discard pile by matching the number or suit of the previous discard.

There is a huge number of variations of this game, and many alternative names. Itis sometimes called Crates, Switch, Swedish Rummy, Last One or Rockaway. In Germany it is Mau-Mau; in Switzerland it is Tschausepp; in the Netherlands it is Pesten. Some British players call it Black Jack, which is unfortunate as it can lead to confusion with the well-known American banking card game Blackjack.

Basic Game

The basic game of Crazy Eights uses a standard 52 card pack, or two such packs shuffled together if there are a lot of players. The dealer deals (singly) five cards to each player (seven each if there are only two players). The remainder of the pack is stacked face down on the table as a stock from which cards will be drawn. The top card of the stock is turned face up and placed beside the stock to start the discard pile.

Starting with the player to dealer's left, and continuing clockwise, each player in turn must either play a legal card face up on top of the discard pile, or draw a card from the undealt stock. The following plays are legal.

1. If the top card of the discard pile is not an Eight, you may play any card which matches the rank or suit of the previous card (for example if the top card was the king of hearts you could play any king or any heart).
2. An Eight may be played on any card, and the player of the Eight must nominate a suit.
3. If an Eight is on top of the pile, you must play either another Eight or any card of the suit nominated by the person who played the Eight.

If an Eight is turned up by the dealer as the first card of the play pile, it is treated as though the dealer had played it. The dealer looks at his or her hand and nominates a suit, and the first player must play a card of that suit or another Eight.

A player who has only one card left in their hand must alert the other players by saying 'last card'. A player who fails to do this before the next player takes their turn must draw two cards from the top of the stock as a penalty.

The first player who gets rid of all their cards wins, and the other players score penalty points according to the cards they have left in their hands - 50 for an eight, 10 for a picture, and spot cards at face value (one point for an ace, two for a two and so on).

If the stock pile is exhausted, the played cards, except for the last card, are shuffled and stacked face down to make a new stock and the game continues.

Special Cards

Apart from the Eights, usually there are other cards that have special effects when played. Typical rules are as follows.

Blackjack Rules King Reverse Lunge

Skip

When a Queen is played, the next player in rotation misses a turn, and the turn passes to the following player. In a two-player game the opponent is skipped and the same player plays again.

Reverse direction

When an Ace is played, the direction of play reverses, becoming anticlockwise if it had been clockwise, or vice versa. In a two-player game an Ace has no effect.

Draw cards

When a Two is played the next player must either draw two cards or play another Two (an Eight cannot be played in this case). If several Twos have been played by consecutive players, the next player must either play another Two or draw two cards for each two in the sequence. The penalty cards cannot be played in the same turn - after the penalty cards have been drawn, the turn passes to the following player, who can continue with any card of the same suit as the last Two, or another Two or an Eight to change suit.

If one of these special cards is turned up as the first card of the play pile, it is treated as though the dealer had played it. If the turned up card is an Ace, play begins anticlockwise and the player to dealer's right has the first turn. If the turned up card is a Two the first player must play another Two or draw two cards. If the first card is a Queen, the first player is the the player two places to the left of the dealer.

If the last card played by the winner happens to be a special card, the special effect is ignored. For example the card on top of the play pile is the 10 and the next player's only remaining card is the 2. The player plays the 2 and immediately wins. The hands are scored as they are - no one has to draw cards as a result of the 2.

Variations

Crazy Eights is one of the easiest games to modify by adding variations. In particular the roles of the special cards are often changed, for example using a different card, such Jack instead of Queen to cause the next player to skip a turn, or Four instead of Ace to reverse direction. Sometimes there will be additional special cards with other effects - for example it may be agreed that the Queen of Spades requires the next player to draw 5 cards. The result is that almost every group of players has their own house rules, and it would be rare to find two groups that play exactly the same way.

Deal

The number of cards dealt to each player initially may vary. For example some begin with eight cards each.

Drawing Cards

In the normal game, you may always use your turn to draw a card. However, some people play that you may only draw if you are unable to play - if you can play you must.

Some allow the drawn card to be played immediately if it is a legal play.

Some allow more than one card to be drawn - either up to a fixed number of cards, after which if you still cannot (or will not) play the turn passes to the next player. Others require you to continue drawing until either you can play or the deck is exhausted.

Changing Suit

The special card that changes suit is nearly always the Eight, at least in places where the game is called Crazy Eights. In many countries and regions the equivalent game goes by other names and a different card may be used to change suit - for example in the British game Switch it is often the Ace, and some other variants use the Jack or the Seven.

Some play that you can only play an Eight that matches the previous card's suit or rank.

Some play that you can play an Eight at any time but when playing an Eight you do not nominate a suit. The next player must simply match the suit of the Eight you played or play another eight.

One correspondent (Szu Kay Wong) gives the rule an Eight can be played on any card, but the player can only nominate a different suit if the Eight matches the rank or suit of the previous card. Some players use jacks or aces rather than eights as the cards which have the power to change suit.

Multiple Equal Cards

Some allow a player holding two or more equal ranked cards to play them all at once, provided that the first of them is a legal play. If they are special cards all the special effects take place. For example if the top card of the play pile is the 5, the next player could play 9, 9 and 9 in that order, and the next player would have to play a 9 or a heart. If the equal cards are special cards all the special effects take place. For example if an Ace reverses direction, playing two Aces together will reverse it twice, leaving the direction of play unchanged. If a Queen skips the next player, a pair of Queens will skip two players (in a two-player game that would be your opponent's turn and your own next turn, leaving your opponent to play next). If a Two requires the next player to pick up twos cards, a pair of Twos will require the next player to pick up 4 cards (or play another Two).

Last Card

Some groups have a special word that must be said by a player when they have just one card left. On the other hand, some groups do not require a player with one card to warn the other players.

End of Stock Pile

When the stock pile is exhausted, the rules given in most books to not envisage shuffling the play pile to make a new stock. Instead they specify that play continues without drawing. A player who cannot or does not wish to play just passes. If all pass, the game is blocked. Play stops and everyone scores for the cards remaining in their hands. I think that in practice this version of the game is rarely played.

Crazy Eights Countdown

This variant has become popular in North America. Each player begins the game with a score of 8, and eight cards are dealt to each player. When a player gets rid of all their cards, this does not end the play. Instead, the player subtracts 1 from their score, and is immediately dealt a new hand of cards equal in size to their new score. The other players keep the cards that they have and the play continues. The winner of the game is the first player who reduces their score to zero.

Each player's current score determines the rank of the card that is wild for them. So at the start of the game everyone has Eight as their wild card, and the game is like normal Crazy Eights. But later in the game it is possible for each player to have their own, different rank of wild card, which can be played on any card and allows the player to nominate the suit to be played next. Each time a player runs out of cards, their wild card changes, first from Eight to Seven, then Six and so on down to Ace. When a player with a score of 1 and Ace as wild card runs out of cards, their score becomes 0 and they win the game.

The changing wild card introduces several new situations and players need to agree how to resolve these. The following rules are suggested.

Blackjack Rules King Reverse Osmosis

1. When a wild card is played, the player nominates a suit. The next card played must either be a card of that suit or the player's own wild card.
• Example. My score is 6. I play the 6 and nominate hearts. If the next player's score is 7 that player must either play a heart, or play a wild 7 to nominate a suit, or draw a card. The next player is not allowed to play (for example) the 6 even though the rank is the same as my wild Six.
2. When a player's wild card rank also has a special effect, the player nominates a suit and the card also acts as a special effect card as follows.
• Wild / Skip. The next player is skipped and the following player must play the nominated suit or a wild card. For example, suppose that our house rule is that 4 skips the next player, 4 is my wild card, and I play the 4 nominating diamonds. The next player is skipped and the player after that must play a diamond or one of their own wild cards.
• Wild / Reverse. The direction is reversed and the next player in the new direction must play the nominated suit or a wild card. For example, suppose that Aces reverse direction. We are playing clockwise and I play the A nominating spades. The direction reverses to anticlockwise and the player to my right must play a spade or one of their own wild cards.
• Wild / Draw Two. The next player must either draw two cards or play a Two of the nominated suit. For example, the players in order and their scores are A(2), B(5), C(6). Player A plays the 2 nominating clubs. Now B must either play the 2 or draw two cards. If B plays the 2, C must either draw four cards or play any Two (since the 2 was not wild). If B draws 2 cards, C must play a club or a wild 6 or draw a card, since clubs was the suit nominated by A. Another example: player A plays the wild 2 and nominates diamonds. Assuming that we are playing with a single deck, player B is forced to draw two cards, and C will then have to play a diamond or a wild card. Playing with a double deck, B's only legal play to avoid drawing two cards would be the other 2.

Here is a blog post and discussion about Crazy-8-Countdown describing a version in which Jacks skip the next player, Twos make the next player draw two cards or play another Two as usual, and the Queen of Spades makes the next player draw five cards. Multiple cards of equal rank can be played together. No 'reverse direction' card is mentioned. As in normal Crazy Eights, when multiple cards are played in one turn and some or all of them are special cards, the special effects apply even for cards that are covered, but it is the last card played that has to be followed by the next player.

Variant: Some groups allow a card of equal rank to be played on a wild card even if it is not in the called suit. For example a wild 5 is played calling 'diamonds' but the next player plays 5 instead of a diamond, even though 5 is not wild for them. This rule is the most frequent cause of arguments in this game so it is a good idea to agree in advance whether your house rules allow this play or not.

Gordon Lancop's Crazy Eights Countdown app for Android features special cards for Skip, Reverse, Draw Two and Draw Five which can be configured according to the player's preference.

Other variants described on this and other websites

See the following pages on this site:

• Crates, described by Richard Hussong.
• Spoons, described by Bruce McCosar.
• Last One, contributed by Mark Alexander.
• Bartok, in which the rules are modified during the game.
• Mao, in which the rules may not be discussed.

More pages with rules of Crazy Eights variants:

• Jose M. Carrillo-Muniz describes Ocho Locos, a version of Crazy Eights played in Puerto Rico.
• Justin Tuijl's description of Jack Change, another variation (archive copy).
• Jean-François Bustarret's site has rules of Huit Américain in French.
• The site Cribbage.ca has a description of a French Canadian variation known simply as Huit (eight).
• Crazy Eights rules are available on the Card Game Heaven site.

Blackjack Rules King Reverse Sear

Several Crazy Eights variants contributed by readers are listed in the Invented Games section of this site.

There have been many commercial versions of eights, designed to be played with specially produced packs of cards. Probably the best known of these is Uno, for which there are also many invented variations.

Blackjack Rules King Reverse Mortgages

Crazy Eights software and online games

The collection HOYLE Card Games for Windows or Mac OS X includes a Crazy Eights program, along with many other popular card games.

TrapApps offer online versions of many slightly different Crazy Eights variants: Crazy Eights, Crazy Eights Zimbabwean, Irish Switch, Jacks, Twos and Eights, Last Card, Macao, Macau London, One-Card, Pesten, Puskiyon, Switch, Switch Black Jack and Take Two. Also Crazy Eights Countdown.

At GameDuell, you can play Crazy Eights online.

Malcolm Bain's shareware Agony for Windows, which plays a Greek variation of Crazy Eights, is available from Card Games Galore.

You can play Crazy Eights online at CardzMania.com

At Solitaire.com you can play Crazy Eights or the corresponding Dutch game Pesten or German game Mau Mau online against the server.

You can download Laurent Pellenc's Crazy Eights Program for Windows from his page.

Mike's Cards includes a Crazy Eights program for Macintosh and Windows computers.

Games4All have published a Crazy Eights game for Android.

The Crazy Eights Deluxe program is available from Unique Games

PlayOK (formerly known as Kurnik) offers the similar Polish game known as Makao (which is listed at PlayOK/Kurnik as Switch).

Gameslush.com offers an online Crazy Eights game against live opponents or computer players.

At DKM Crazy Eights from the CardSharp suite you can play two-player Crazy Eights online against a computer opponent.

Einar Egilsson has published a free Java Crazy Eights program with which you can play online against one computer opponent.