How to play the Skip-Bo card game, step by step

We wrote these rules the way we would teach them at your kitchen table: setup first, then a single turn, then the small habits that win games. If you can count to 12, you can play.

Setting up a Skip-Bo card game

Shuffle the deck and deal each player a stockpile, face down: 30 cards each with two to four players, 20 cards each with five or six. Turn the top card of each stockpile face up. Put the rest of the deck in the middle as the draw pile, leaving room for four build piles beside it.

What happens on your turn

Draw from the draw pile until you hold five cards. Then play as many cards as you like onto the build piles in the center. A build pile must start with a 1 or a wild SKIP-BO card and climb one number at a time: 1, 2, 3 and so on up to 12.

You can play from three places: the top of your stockpile, your hand, and the top card of each of your discard piles. If you empty your hand mid-turn, draw five more and keep going.

Your turn ends when you place one card from your hand onto one of your four discard piles. Discard piles can hold any numbers in any order, but only the top card is playable.

Wild SKIP-BO cards

Our wild cards can be played as any number from 1 to 12. Use them to bridge a gap, to start a new pile when you have no 1, or to unlock the next card on your stockpile. A wild card on top of your stockpile is a gift — play it.

Completing a pile

When a build pile reaches 12, it is finished. Set those cards aside, and when the draw pile runs low, shuffle the finished piles back in. That is why a game of Skip-Bo never stalls for lack of cards.

Winning and scoring

The first player to play the last card of their stockpile wins the hand. For a longer game, the winner scores 25 points plus 5 points for each card left in every other stockpile. The first player to reach 500 points wins the game.

Playing with family and friends

The classic card game is built for ages 7 and up, but little players can join a team with an older sibling or a grandparent and learn the flow in a few hands. Pair up for a partnership game with four or six at the table, or keep it to two players for a tight, fast match. Either way, a hand takes twenty to forty minutes, so there is always time for one more round.

Small habits that win

Watch the top of your neighbors' stockpiles and avoid setting up the number they need. Keep your discard piles tidy, ideally descending, so you can unload them in one run. And save a wild card for the turn when it lets you play straight off your stockpile.