The rules in 60 seconds
The rules in 60 seconds
Skip-Bo is a sequence-building card game for 2–4 players. Goal: be the first to empty your stockpile by playing onto shared build piles.
The deal
- 162 cards: 12 of each number from 1 to 12, plus 18 "wild" S cards.
- Each player gets a stockpile — 10, 15, or 30 face-down cards depending on game length (you pick in the pre-game prompt). Only the top card is flipped face-up at any moment.
- On your turn, you start by drawing back up to 5 cards in your hand.
A turn
You can do any combination of these in any order:
- Play to a build pile. There are four shared build piles. Each one starts empty (needs a 1 to begin) and goes up to 12. When a pile hits 12, it's cleared and ready for a new 1.
- Source cards from: your hand, the top of your stockpile, or the top of any of your four personal discard piles.
- Discard one card from your hand to one of your four discard piles to end your turn.
You must end with a discard. You must play your stockpile card whenever possible (or so the strategy goes — see the next guide).
Wilds
The "S" card is a wild. Play it as any number. Use it to bridge gaps or to skip past a number you don't have. Wilds are also the only way to start a pile if nobody has a fresh 1.
Winning
The first player to empty their stockpile wins the round. In a best-of series, first to win ceil(N/2) rounds takes the series — bo3 = 2 wins, bo5 = 3 wins, bo7 = 4 wins.
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