B. User Manual

Crazy Eight Rules and Game Play 

Game type: Card Game

Age: 4+

Players: 2-4

Materials Used:

The standard 52-card pack is used.

Object of the Game: 

To be the first player to get rid of all of the cards in your hand.

Game Play: 

In order to start the game, begin by running the program into the MATLAB application. Input the appropriate number of players when prompted. To run the game, simply click the green “Run” arrow button located at the top of the screen while in the Editor tab of MATLAB.

Seven cards are dealt to each player at the start of the game. The remaining cards of the deck are placed face down at the center of the table. The top card is then turned face up into a separate pile to start the game; this card is the “starter card”.  (Note: The starter card will never be an eight)

Player 1 will always start the game, and the game play will rotate to players 2, 3, 4 respectively.

Each player must place one card face up on the starter pile, which will be signified as “top card”. Each card played (that is not an eight) must match the card showing on the starter pile, either in suit or in denomination. For example, if a Queen of diamonds is the top card, the next card played must be a Queen or a diamond.

If a player is unable to play a card, they must draw from the top of the pile. If they do not draw a card that can be put down on the pile, the game will move on to the next player.

Wild Card: All eights are wild! Any time an eight is played, that player must specify a suit for it (without a number).  The next player must then play either an eight or a card of that specified suit.

Game Notation: 

D- Diamonds, H- Hearts, C- Clubs, S- Spades

J- Jack, Q- Queen, K- King, A- Ace

For example: Ace of Diamonds is denoted as A of D

Strategies for Crazy Eights

  • In general, try playing a rank match before a suit match, however think strategically on which play may be much better than the other.
  • If you decide to play an eight, you can either choose the suit you have the most cards in or you can try to predict a suit that your opponent does not have. This can be done by remembering what suit that last had to draw a card to.