Résumé express
Skip-Bo is solitaire turned into a group sport. Each player gets a stock pile — a thick face-down stack sitting in front of them — and has exactly one goal: get rid of it. In the middle of the table, four building piles fill up from 1 to 12, and that is the only place cards can usefully go. The first player to play the last card of their stock pile wins the hand.
That is where the tension comes from: you want to unload your own stock, but you often have to feed the table from your hand to bring a pile up to the right number — and every card you play helps your neighbour too.
In the app: each hand, tap the player who emptied their stock pile, then enter how many cards the others have left in stock. The app works out the 25-point hand bonus and the 5 points per opponent card.
Mise en place
The deck holds 162 cards:
| Cards | Detail |
|---|---|
| 144 numbered cards | 1 to 12, twelve copies of each |
| 18 SKIP-BO cards | wild — they take any value you like |
- Shuffle everything and deal one face-down stack per player — the stock pile:
| Players | Stock pile each |
|---|---|
| 2 to 4 players | 30 cards |
| 5 or 6 players | 20 cards |
- Everyone turns the top card of their stock pile face up: it is visible to all, and it is the only one that can be played.
- The remaining cards form the draw pile in the middle.
- Leave room for the four building piles (they don’t exist yet — they get created as you play) and, in front of each player, space for their four discard piles.
Tour de jeu
On your turn:
Draw back up to 5 cards in hand (5 cards on your first turn).
Play as many cards as you like onto the building piles in the middle. A pile must start with a 1 (or a wild played as a 1) and then climbs in sequence: 2, 3, 4… up to 12. There are never more than four piles going at once.
You may play, in any combination:
| Source | What’s playable |
|---|---|
| Your hand | any card |
| Your stock pile | the top card only |
| Your discard piles | the top card of each of the four piles |
As soon as you play the visible card of your stock pile, turn the next one face up: it becomes playable straight away, in the same turn.
- If you empty your hand, immediately draw 5 more cards and keep going. A good turn can run for a long while.
- End your turn by discarding one card from your hand onto one of your four discard piles, face up. That gesture is what passes play on — until you discard, your turn continues.
A few points that shape the game:
- A building pile completed up to 12 is taken out of the middle and set aside. The freed slot can host a new 1.
- Draw pile empty: shuffle the completed building piles to form a fresh draw pile.
- Discard piles follow no order: stack whatever you want on them. But only the top card is playable, so burying a 1 under three cards is expensive.
- SKIP-BO wilds count as any number, including to start a pile. Once placed, a wild keeps the value it was announced as.
Fin de partie
- The hand ends immediately when a player lays down the last card of their stock pile.
- The winner of the hand scores:
| Points | For |
|---|---|
| 25 | emptying their stock pile |
| 5 per card | every card left in each other player’s stock pile |
- Everyone else scores 0: falling behind costs you in points handed over, not in penalties.
- Redeal and carry on. The first player to 500 points wins the game; the app flags it as soon as the threshold is crossed.
In practice, with four players and barely-touched stock piles, a single hand can be worth more than 300 points — two or three hands are often enough.
FAQ
Can I play a card from my hand onto a discard pile mid-turn? No, only to end your turn. The discard is the full stop: one card, then it’s the next player’s turn.
What if I can’t play anything at all? You discard a card and your turn ends there. It happens, especially when all four piles are stuck on high numbers.
Must I play if I can? No. Nothing forces you to feed the building piles — and holding back is often right: taking a pile up to 6 so an opponent can drop their stock pile 7 on it is a gift.
Can a wild start a pile? Yes, as a 1. It can also fill a gap anywhere in the sequence.
What if all four pile slots are taken and I’m holding a 1? Nothing to do: you have to wait for a pile to reach 12 and free the slot. A 1 in hand while everything is blocked is a natural discard.
Can I play my stock card and then the next one in the same turn? Yes, as often as the sequence allows. That is exactly how you win: three or four stock cards chained in one go.
Does it work with two players? Yes, and it makes an excellent duel — with 30 stock cards each, hands are long and tactical.
Does the winner of the hand enter anything in the app? No: their stock pile is empty by definition. You only enter the cards the others have left.
Variantes
- Single hand. Play one hand only; whoever empties their stock pile wins, no points counted. In the app, end the game manually after the first hand.
- Lower target. 300 points instead of 500 fits a short evening. The app’s threshold stays at 500, so end the game manually when you hit your own target.
- Shorter stock. 15 or 20 stock cards with four players instead of 30: hands run twice as fast, ideal with children.
- Partners (2 vs 2). Partners sit facing each other. On your turn you may also play from your partner’s stock and discard piles, and they must stay silent — they may only ask you for one specific move (“play your 7”). The team wins when both partners’ stock piles are empty. Track this variant in individual mode in the app, or log one player per team.
- Ordered discards. Each discard pile must be stacked in descending order. Much harder: keeping your good cards reachable becomes a real problem.