What you need
A Skip-Bo deck: 144 cards numbered 1 to 12 (twelve of each) plus 18 Skip-Bo cards, 162 in all. Remove any blank cards. Two to six players, individually or in partnerships.
If you do not own the game, Wikipedia notes that three ordinary decks with jokers work: ace to queen stand for 1 to 12, kings and jokers are the Skip-Bo cards. The original game, Spite and Malice, is a public-domain relative.
Setup
Everyone draws a card; the highest number deals (Skip-Bo cards do not count). The dealer gives each player a stock pile, face down: 30 cards with 2 to 4 players, 20 cards with 5 or 6. Each player turns the top card of their stock face up without looking at the rest. The remaining cards go face down in the middle as the draw pile.
Leave space in the middle for up to four building piles, and in front of each player for up to four discard piles. Both start empty and appear during play.
How to play
The aim is simple: be the first to get rid of every card in your stock pile.
The player to the dealer’s left starts. On your turn:
- Draw until you have five cards in hand. (On the first turn you draw five.)
- Build as much as you like. Building piles run from 1 to 12. A new pile can only be started with a 1 or a Skip-Bo card. You may play onto building piles from three places: the top card of your stock pile, your hand, or the top card of any of your discard piles. Skip-Bo cards are wild and stand for any number.
- If you play all five cards from your hand, draw five more and keep going.
- End your turn by discarding one card from your hand onto one of your four discard piles. Discard piles may hold any cards in any order, but only the top card can be played.
When a building pile reaches 12 it is removed and a new pile can be started in its place. When the draw pile runs out, shuffle the completed building piles to make a new one.
Scoring and winning
The first player to play the last card of their stock pile wins the game. For a series of games, the winner scores 25 points plus 5 points for every card left in each opponent’s stock pile; the first to 500 wins.
Common variants
- Short game. Deal stock piles of 10 cards; everything else stays the same. Good for a first game or with young children.
- Partnerships. On your turn you may play from your partner’s stock and discard piles as well as your own. Your partner must stay silent, but you may ask them to make a specific play (“partner, play your Skip-Bo as a 4”). A player who cheats takes two cards from the draw pile into their stock. The game ends when both stock piles of a team are gone, and partners may keep playing from discard and building piles after one stock pile is finished.
- Drawing too many. If you accidentally draw too many cards, shuffle the extras into your own stock pile.
- Playing out of turn. If noticed in time, the illegal turn stops and play goes back to the right player, who must play without drawing first as a penalty. If nobody notices until the turn is complete, it stands.
Tips for first games
- The stock pile is all that matters. Play from it whenever you can, before touching your hand or discards.
- Do not waste Skip-Bo cards on building piles your opponents will finish. Save them for the number that sits on top of your stock.
- Keep your discard piles orderly: a pile running 9, 8, 7 lets you play three cards in a row later. Avoid burying low cards.
- Watch the top of your opponents’ stock piles and try not to leave a building pile one short of the number they need.
Frequently asked questions
How many cards do you deal in Skip-Bo? A stock of 30 cards each for 2 to 4 players, 20 each for 5 or 6, plus five in hand drawn at the start of each turn. The short game uses stocks of 10.
What can a Skip-Bo card do? It is wild: it can start a building pile as a 1 or stand in for any number from 1 to 12.
Can you play from your discard piles? Yes, the top card of any of your four discard piles can go onto a building pile. You cannot move cards between discard piles.
What happens when a building pile reaches 12? Remove it and set it aside; a new pile can be started in that space with a 1 or a Skip-Bo card.
Is Skip-Bo the same as Spite and Malice? Skip-Bo is a commercial version of Spite and Malice, which itself comes from Russian Bank. The idea of racing to empty a stock pile by building up shared sequences is the same.
