Skyjo is a fun card game created by Alexander Bernhardt and published in 2015. It’s perfect for families and can be played by 2 to 8 people, ages 8 and up. A game usually takes about 30 to 60 minutes to play. In Skyjo, the aim is to have the lowest score possible by trading high-value cards for lower ones.
Rules of the Skyjo Card Game
The main goal in Skyjo is to keep your total points as low as you can. You want to replace high-value cards with lower-value ones to help achieve this.
Setting Up the Game
Getting ready to play Skyjo is easy. Follow these steps:
1. Shuffle the Cards: Mix all 150 cards together well.
2. Deal the Cards: Yield each player twelve cards. They should place these cards face down in a 4 x 3 facility.
3. Create the Draw Pile: Put the leftover cards in a pile (the draw pile). Flip the top card over to start the discard pile.
4. Reveal the First Cards: Each player picks two cards from their grid and flips them over. The player with the highest total from these two cards will start the game. In future rounds, the last player to flip their cards will begin.
If a player flips over a twelve and a zero, their total is twelve. This player would start the game.
How to Play Skyjo Card Game
On your turn, you will draw a card from either the draw pile or the discard pile. Here’s how this works:
Drawing Cards:
From the Discard Pile: You can take the top card from the discard pile. If you choose this, you must replace one of your cards in your grid with this card. You cannot look at a face-down card before choosing it.
From the Draw Pile: You can also draw from the top of the draw pile. This allows you to see the card before deciding what to do with it.
Changing Cards:
If you want to keep the drawn card, you must swap it with one card from your grid. The card you replace will go on the discard pile. If you decide not to keep the card, you can discard it and flip over one of your face-down cards.
If you draw a 1 card from the draw pile, you’ll likely want to keep it to lower your score. But if you draw a nine, you might choose to discard it and reveal one of your face-down cards instead.
Special Rule Of Skyjo Card Game
Skyjo has a neat special rule. If you reveal three cards of the same number in a vertical column, you can discard that entire column. This adds a strategic element to the game.
For instance, if you have three 3s stacked in a column, you can remove that whole column, which helps to reduce your score.
Ending a Round
A round ends when one player flips all their cards face up. Once that happens, everyone else gets one last turn. After all players finish, any cards that are still face down should be flipped.
Scoring Points
After the round ends, everyone counts the points on their flipped cards. The player who flipped all their cards first is looking for the lowest score. If another player scores the same or lower, the first player will double their points for that round, but this only applies to positive scores. For example, if one player scores 14 points and another player uses the special rule and scores only 5 points, the second player will benefit from that strategy.
Conclusion
Skyjo is an easy-to-learn game that combines luck and strategy, making it a great option for family nights or get-togethers with friends. By understanding how to swap cards and using the special rules wisely, you can try to win by getting the lowest score. Enjoy playing!
