What is Draw until playable?
In the standard game here, a player who has nothing to play draws one card and their turn ends, even if the drawn card could be played.
With draw until playable switched on, you keep drawing instead, one card at a time, until you draw a card you can play. Then your turn carries on and you play it. The drawing is one move: press Draw once and cards come until a playable one turns up. An eight can always be played, so the drawing never goes past the first eight.
If the stock runs out, the discard pile apart from its top card is shuffled to make a new one. If that runs out too without a playable card, you keep what you drew and your turn passes. Hands grow faster this way, but nobody ends a turn without playing while there are cards left to draw.
You still can't draw while you hold a playable card. A penalty from a two or the queen of spades is drawn exactly as it stands, not until a playable card turns up.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Crazy Eights | Draw until playable |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing to play | Standard Crazy EightsDraw one card. | Draw until playableDraw until you draw a card you can play. |
| After drawing | Standard Crazy EightsYour turn ends, even if the drawn card could be played. | Draw until playableYou play the card you drew. |
| Stock runs out | Standard Crazy EightsThe discard pile is shuffled into a new stock; with nothing left to draw, you pass. | Draw until playableThe same: you keep drawing from the new stock, and if every card is gone you keep what you drew and pass. |
| Other options | Standard Crazy EightsTwos draw two, the queen of spades drawing five, jacks skip, aces reverse and the points game can be chosen. | Draw until playableDraw until playable works with all of them. A penalty from a two or the queen of spades is drawn as it stands, and that turn ends. |
History
Rule books disagree on what a player who can't play should do. Some descriptions of Crazy Eights have them draw a single card. Others, among them the rules published by a major American playing-card maker, have them draw from the stock until they can play or the stock runs out.
The choice changes the feel of the game. Drawing one card keeps hands small and lets a player pass while waiting for the right suit; drawing until playable punishes a bad hand harder, but every turn ends with a card played as long as there are cards left to draw. Here the discard pile is reshuffled when the stock runs out, as in the standard game.