Printable Skip-Bo rules

Skip-Bo in one page

2–6 players · 1 Skip-Bo deck

Deal each player a face-down stockpile of 30 cards (20 cards with 5 or more players) and turn the top card up. On your turn, draw up to 5 cards, play cards in order from 1 to 12 onto up to four shared building piles using your hand, your stockpile, and your discard piles, then end by discarding one card. Skip-Bo cards are wild, and the first player to play every card in their stockpile wins.

In brief

• Stockpile: 30 cards (2–4 players), 20 cards (5+)
• Turn the top stockpile card face up
• Start of turn: draw up to 5 cards
• Up to 4 shared building piles, built 1 to 12
• Start a pile with a 1 or a Skip-Bo card
• Skip-Bo cards are wild
• Play from hand, stockpile top, or discard pile tops
• Empty your hand? Draw 5 more and keep going
• End turn: discard 1 card onto one of your 4 discard piles
• Completed piles (12) are set aside and reshuffled later
• First to empty their stockpile wins
• Score: 25 + 5 per card in opponents' stockpiles; 500 wins

Setup

1. Shuffle the 162-card deck. Deal each player a stockpile face down: 30 cards each with 2 to 4 players, 20 cards each with 5 or more players.
2. Each player turns over only the top card of their stockpile and leaves it face up on top of the pile. Keep the rest of the stockpile face down and don't look at it.
3. Put the rest of the deck face down in the middle of the table as the draw pile. Leave room in the center for four shared building piles, and room in front of each player for up to four personal discard piles.
4. Mattel's rules have the youngest player go first. Play then moves to the left.

On your turn

1. Draw from the draw pile until you hold 5 cards. On your first turn that means drawing all 5.
2. Start a building pile with a 1 or a Skip-Bo card. You can have at most four building piles in the center at once, and they are shared by all players.
3. Add cards to any building pile in exact order: a 2 on a 1, a 3 on a 2, and so on up to 12. Suits and colors don't exist in Skip-Bo, only numbers.
4. Play from three places: your hand, the top card of your stockpile, and the top card of any of your discard piles. When you play your stockpile's top card, turn the next one face up right away.
5. A Skip-Bo card is wild and counts as whatever number you need, including the 1 that starts a pile.
6. If you play all 5 cards from your hand, draw 5 more immediately and keep playing.
7. End your turn by discarding one card from your hand onto one of your four discard piles. You can't discard from your stockpile, and you can't move cards from one discard pile to another.

Scoring

Winning

The first player to get rid of every card in their stockpile wins the game. In a scored match, keep playing games until someone reaches 500 points; that player wins the match. In partnership play, a team wins when both partners have finished their stockpiles. Ties are rare because only one player can go out per game, but if two players pass 500 on the same game, the higher total wins.