Crazy Eights

Crazy Eights is a bit crazy. But perhaps not for the reasons its makers intended.

Well, actually I'm not even sure what they intended since Crazy Eights doesn't look or play very crazily. But I'm assuming the reason that eights are crazy is that in this game you can place an eight on top of any card and get to name the suit of the card that must follow it.

Not crazy by my standards, but maybe it is if you don't get out much.

Why is the game crazy? For starters because after over an hour's play I hadn't won a single game. Perhaps, that's because I'm rubbish at card games or have the luck of someone who's just walked under thirteen ladders before having their head crapped on by a single magpie, but since Crazy Eights is a card game that relies more on the luck of the draw than on skill, I suspect something fishy is going on. My only consolation is that, of my three AI competitors, Peter won bugger all as well.

Since I can't prove this didn't just happen by chance, I won't hold it against Crazy Eights. But don't expect this to be an easy game. Or, possibly, a very fair one.

Moving on, here's how Crazy Eights plays. You're dealt a number of cards, depending on how many players you choose to have in the game, and there's also a discard pile on the table. The game moves from one player to the next and, on their turn, they must put a 'legal' card on the table.

This means it needs to match the card currently on the top of the pile, either by matching its suit or number. Eights can be placed on any card, a 7 means the next person has to draw two cards (unless they can counter it with another 7, in which case the next person again has to draw 4 cards) and a Queen means the next person misses their turn (unless they counter with a Queen of their own).

On top of these rules, there's a whole menu screen full of more optional ones. You can include the double-discard rule, where players can place two cards at a time if they can, for example, or the change of direction rule, which deems placing a 9 reverses the direction of the game.

There's a lot of rules to remember, but the game itself is very easy to play. On the screen are your AI rivals, who look quite good (although their facial expressions make them look a bit punchable when they keep winning), and at the bottom of the screen are your cards.

When your turn comes about, you simply scroll left and right through these cards and choose which one you want to put down.

It's a bit annoying that the game passes on your turn automatically if you can't put a card down, which feels like it's depriving you of the opportunity to actually consider your hand. If you get a turn, you know you must be able to put something down so there's no chance of missing anything.

There's little in the way of thrills to make the game more interesting. Basically, the score count of each game keeps getting totted up for as long as you carry on with one game. Starting afresh resets the scores to 0. But there are no extra modes, challenges, high score boards, achievements or even music.

Admittedly it's just a card game, and one that's quite addictive (if you don't mind losing) and it might not benefit as much as other types of games from these extras. But when there are casino and card games already out there which build in a lot more on top, it makes Crazy Eights feel much too flimsy in its content.