How to Play and Win a Game of Skip Bo

• Deal 20 or 30 face-down cards to each player, depending on how many people are playing. Place the rest in a face-down stack in the center.
• Draw 5 cards from the draw pile, then lay as many ascending cards as you can onto the 4 “building” piles in the center.
• Win the game by being the first player to run out of cards in your face-down stack.

Setting Up the Game

Gather 2-6 people around a large table and shuffle the cards. To get started with Skip-Bo, grab a few friends—up to 5 other players, including yourself. Then, Skip-Bo requires a large play surface to hold all the piles of cards, so find a large, round table to play at, or even play on the floor. Shuffle all 162 of the cards together. Split the deck into 2-3 piles, and shuffle those independently to make it easier. Then, swap half of each pile and shuffle those. Finally, combine the piles to create the deck.

Deal 20 or 30 cards to each player, depending on how many are playing. If you’re playing with 2-4 players, deal 30 cards to each player, starting with the person on your left and continuing counter-clockwise. If you’re playing with 5-6 people, deal each player 20 cards. Tell everyone to keep their cards face-down. No peeking in Skip-Bo!

Create a stockpile for each player, plus a draw pile. Each player arranges all the cards they were dealt into a face-down pile in front of them, toward the center of the table. These are the stockpiles. Then, everyone turns over the top card of their pile, placing it face-up on top of the stockpile. Place the cards that didn’t get dealt face-down in a pile in the center of the table to create a draw pile.

Playing the Game

Draw 5 cards from the draw pile to form your starting hand. The person to the left of the dealer starts the game. They draw 5 cards from the top of the draw pile, arranging them in their hand. Everyone else waits for this first player to take their turn before drawing their own cards.

Play either a “Skip-Bo” card or a 1 to start the discard piles. If your starting hand contains either of these 2 cards, or if your face-up card on your stockpile is a Skip-Bo card (which is wild) or a 1, place them in the center of the table to begin the “building” piles. Each building pile must begin with either a Skip-Bo card or a 1, and players share 4 building piles in the center of the table. At the start, there aren’t any building piles. Imagine 4 blank slots in the center of the table, onto which you’ll place your starting cards. If you have neither a Skip-Bo card nor a 1, your turn ends. Discard a card onto the space next to your stockpile to make a discard pile.

Play cards in ascending order onto the building piles. Once you’ve got a building pile or 2 started, play as many cards onto these piles from your hand or the stockpile as you can. In order to play a card onto the pile, the card must be 1 value higher than the top card of the pile. For example, if you started a building pile with a 1, you may only place a 2 on top of it, then a 3, 4, etc. After you play the top card of the stockpile, flip over the next card and play that one, too, if you can, continuing until you can’t play the topmost card. If you play all 5 cards in your hand, draw 5 more from the draw pile and keep playing your turn.

Discard a card onto a discard pile to end your turn. After you’ve played all the cards you can onto the building piles, choose 1 card to discard. Place this card next to your stockpile. Each player can have up to 4 of their own discard piles. On your next turn, use the face-up cards in your discard piles to also add onto the building piles. Place your discarded card onto any of your 4 discard piles you like. These don’t have to follow any particular order. If you discard the last card in your hand, your turn ends, rather than picking up 5 more cards like you would if you simply played your entire hand. Take full advantage of your discard pile. Aim to have 4 discard stacks at all times to give you more options for play.

Reshuffle completed building piles into the draw pile. Each time you place a 12 on top of a building pile, that building pile is completed! Reshuffle the cards in that pile into the draw pile. Now you have an empty space for a new building pile that will start with either a Skip-Bo card or a 1.

Take turns drawing and playing cards until someone’s stockpile runs out. At the start of every turn, draw from the draw pile until you have 5 cards. Then, play cards from your hand, the top of your stockpile, or your discard pile. Once someone’s stock pile has run out, the game ends, and they’re the winner! Since the game ends when you run out of cards in your stockpile, it’s a good idea to prioritize playing cards from this pile whenever possible.

Game Variations

Score each game to play multiple rounds. To keep the game going through more than 1 round, use a scoring system to keep track of points. The winner gets 25 points when they run out of cards in their stockpile, plus 5 additional points for every card left in their opponents’ stockpiles. Count up your points and write them down on a pad of paper. The first person to 500 total points wins.

Partner up with another player to play on a team. If you’re playing with an even number of players, pair up players sitting across from each other. These players are now teammates, and on their turns they can use cards from their teammate’s stock or discard piles play onto the building piles. Teammates can’t discuss strategy, though! Coordinate simply by discarding cards you think your partner might need.

Play with some extra penalties for a more competitive game. Skip-Bo has some built-in rules for certain situations. Skip these if you like, to make your game a bit more laid-back and friendly. But if you’re looking for more of a challenge, incorporate the following into your game: If you accidentally draw too many cards, shuffle all the cards in your hand into your stockpile. Then draw 5 more cards. If you accidentally start your turn when it’s someone else’s turn, that person may let you complete the turn. If they do, and you don’t realize your mistake, you can’t draw new cards on your next turn. In a team game, keep playing until both players on a team have used all of the cards in both of their stockpiles.