Skip-Bo
Quick Rules
- Each player has a face-down "stockpile"; the goal is to be the first to play every card in yours.
- Build 4 shared center piles in ascending order starting from 1 - any player can add to any pile as long as the number is next in sequence.
- Play the top card of your stockpile whenever it fits, plus cards from your hand and up to 4 small side piles, all in one turn.
- Skip-Bo cards are wild and can represent any number needed to continue a center pile.
- First player to play their entire stockpile wins the round; play multiple rounds to a target score for a full game.
How to Play (Quick Overview)
- 1
Deal each player a 30-card stockpile, face down, kept as a single personal pile they play from all game, plus 5 cards to their hand from the remaining deck.
- 2
On your turn, try to play cards - from your hand, from the top of your stockpile, or from up to 4 small face-up side piles you build during your turn - onto any of the 4 shared center piles, each of which must be built up in order starting from 1.
- 3
A Skip-Bo card can be played onto a center pile as a wild, standing in for whatever number is needed next.
- 4
Once a center pile reaches 12, it's removed from play and a new empty pile can be started there.
- 5
If you run out of useful plays, end your turn by discarding one card from your hand onto one of your own side piles, then draw back up to 5 cards from the draw pile for your next turn.
- 6
The round ends the instant a player plays the very last card of their stockpile; players then draw new hands and stockpiles for the next round if playing to a target score.
Objective
Be the first player to play every card out of your personal stockpile.
Setup
Shuffle the 162-card Skip-Bo deck (numbered cards 1 through 12, plus wild Skip-Bo cards). Deal each player a stockpile of 30 cards (fewer with more players), kept face down as their own personal pile for the whole round - this is the pile you’re racing to empty. Deal 5 cards to each player’s hand from the remaining deck, and place the rest face down as the draw pile.
How to Play
On your turn, try to play cards onto the 4 shared center “building piles” in the middle of the table. Each center pile must be built up strictly in order, starting from 1: you can only add a 2 onto a pile currently showing 1, a 3 onto a pile showing 2, and so on. A Skip-Bo card is wild and can be played as whatever number a pile needs next.
You may play from three sources during your turn, in any order and any number of times, as long as each play is legal:
- The top card of your own face-down stockpile - always available to attempt each turn.
- Any card from your hand.
- The top card of any of your own up to 4 face-up side piles, small discard piles you build in front of yourself during play.
Whenever a center pile reaches 12, it’s cleared away entirely, and a fresh empty pile can be started in its place by the next player who has a 1 or a Skip-Bo card to play there.
If you run out of legal plays with the cards in your hand, end your turn by placing one card from your hand face up onto one of your own side piles (starting a new one if you have fewer than 4), then draw back up to a full hand of 5 cards for next turn.
Scoring
Skip-Bo is usually played as a race to empty your stockpile first, with no point score within a single round. For a longer game across multiple rounds, some house rules award points based on how many stockpile cards each other player has left when the round ends.
Winning
The first player to play the very last card from their stockpile wins the round. If playing to a target score across multiple rounds, the first player to reach that target (or win an agreed number of rounds) wins the overall game.
Variations
- Team Skip-Bo: partnerships share a combined stockpile goal, taking turns but working toward the same win condition together.
- Smaller/larger stockpiles: adjusting the initial stockpile size (fewer cards for a faster game, more for a longer one) is a common and explicitly supported house adjustment.
History
Skip-Bo was created by Minnie Hazel “Skip” Bowman in the 1930s and initially sold by mail order through her family business for decades as a homemade project, before International Games, Inc. - the same company that had also picked up Uno’s rights - acquired and mass-published it in 1980. Mattel later acquired it along with the rest of that game portfolio.
Fun Fact
Skip-Bo’s inventor sold the game out of her own home for roughly 40 years before it was picked up for national distribution, making it, alongside Uno, one of several now-major commercial card games that started life as a small family project long before any big company was involved.
More to Explore
Skip-Bo is a trademark of Mattel. This page is an independent rules reference and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Mattel.