Card games
Skip-Bo
MattelHazel "Skip" Bowman 1967
- players
- 2–6
- minutes
- 40
- years
- 8+
In the box
162 cards: 144 numbered 1 to 12 and 18 Skip-Bo wild cards
Official rules (PDF, publisher's site)
Box details
- Designer
- Hazel "Skip" Bowman
- Publisher
- Mattel
- Mechanics
- Hand Management
Where to buy it
Near you and online
In a shop
Within 50 km.
Online
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The basics
Be the first to empty your stockpile by building runs from 1 to 12 in the middle, shared by everyone. On your turn, draw up to five cards, play cards from your hand, your stockpile or your discard piles onto the building piles, Skip-Bo cards acting as wild cards, then end by placing a card on one of your four discard piles. The first to empty their stockpile wins the hand, and the game is played to 500 points or as a single hand.
Checked against the official rules · October 2026
The rules, step by step
Setup
Stockpile of 30 or 20, Top card face up, Draw pile in the middle
- A 162-card deck: twelve sets from 1 to 12, plus eighteen Skip-Bo wild cards.
- Each player gets a stockpile of 30 cards with two, three or four players, 20 with five or six. It stays face down, except for its top card, which is turned face up.
- The rest of the deck forms the draw pile, in the middle.
How to play
Draw up to 5 cards, Building piles 1 to 12, End with a discard
- Start your turn by drawing up to five cards in hand.
- Play cards onto the building piles in the middle, shared by everyone and four at most, which start with a 1 or a Skip-Bo and are built up to 12.
- These cards come from your hand, the top of your stockpile or the top of your discard piles. If you empty your hand during your turn, draw five more and carry on.
- Your turn ends when you place a card from your hand on one of your four personal discard piles, in any order you like.
- A building pile that reaches 12 is set aside; these piles are shuffled to make a new draw pile when it runs out.
Scoring
Winner: 25 points, +5 per opponent's card
- Over several hands, the winner of each one scores 25 points, plus 5 points per card left in each opponent's stockpile.
End of the game
Empty your stockpile, 500 points or 1 hand
- The first to empty their stockpile wins the hand.
- The game is played to 500 points, or as a single hand.
House rules and pitfalls
Short game: stockpiles of just 10 cards.
- Short game: stockpiles of just 10 cards.
- In teams, you may play from your partner's stockpile and discard piles too, without conferring; both of the team's stockpiles must be emptied.
Going further
Frequently asked questions · Rules on video · In the same family
Frequently asked questions
What is the goal?
Empty your personal pile (the "stockpile") before the others, by building central piles from 1 to 12.
How do you play?
You keep five cards in hand. On your turn, you play cards onto the building piles — from your hand, your discard piles or the top of your stockpile — in ascending order 1, 2, 3…
What are the Skip-Bo cards for?
They are wild cards: they take any value you like on a building pile. Precious for unblocking a stockpile stuck on a missing value.
How do you end your turn?
By discarding a card from your hand onto one of your four personal discard piles. Organising these piles well is the key: they feed your following turns.
When is a building pile finished?
When it reaches 12: it is then removed and the space is freed to start again at 1. The first to empty their stockpile wins.
Rules on video
Videos in French, hosted on YouTube.