How to keep score in Skyjo

What each card is worth

At the end of a round, turn up any cards still face down and add up your grid. Every card scores the number printed on it.

−2 and −1

Take 2 or 1 off your score

0

0

1 to 12

Face value

Three of the same number in a column

0, the column is cleared

Ending the round when someone ties or beats you

Your round score doubled, if it's above 0

How a round is played

Deal 12 cards to each player, face down, in three rows of four. Everyone turns up two of their cards, and whoever shows the highest total goes first. In every round after that, the player who ended the last round starts.

On your turn, take the top card of the discard pile, or draw one from the deck. A card from the discard pile has to replace one of your cards. A card from the deck can replace one of your cards, or you can discard it and turn up one of your face-down cards instead. A card you replace goes face up on the discard pile.

Clearing a column

When a column holds three face-up cards of the same number, discard all three. The column is gone and scores nothing.

Only columns count, not rows: three matching cards side by side stay where they are. It works for any number, so three −2s are cleared too, and with them your −6.

Ending the round and the doubled score

When a player has every card in their grid face up, each other player has one more turn. Then everyone turns up their face-down cards and adds up their grid.

The player who ended the round has to have the lowest score for that round. If anyone has the same score or less, the ender's score is doubled. The current rulebook doubles only a score above 0, so a round of 0 or less stays as it is. Many rule sites leave that out, so agree on it before you play.

Counting a grid

Your grid has four columns of three. Count each column, then add them up. Here's Cleo's grid at the end of round 1 in the example below:

• Column 1: three 7s, cleared, so 0
• Column 2: 5, −1 and 0, so 4
• Column 3: 2, 3 and −2, so 3
• Column 4: 4, 1 and 2, so 7

Cleo's grid is worth 14. She ended the round, but Ana had 9, so Cleo's 14 is doubled and she writes 28.

When the game ends

Add each round to a running total. The game ends after the round in which someone reaches 100 or more, and the lowest total wins. The rules don't break a tie for the win, so tied players share it.

Skyjo Action, the follow-up game, adds action cards and its own rules. This page covers the original Skyjo. If you like Skyjo, try Golf, an older card game played much the same way.

What people often get wrong

Rows don't clear.

Only three of a kind in one column is discarded.

A tie still doubles.

The ender needs the lowest score outright, or theirs is doubled.

Scores of 0 or less aren't doubled.

Doubling a −3 to −6 would reward the ender, so it stays −3.

The card from the deck is optional.

You can discard it, but then you turn up one of your own cards.

A scoring example

Three players, the first four rounds. The note on each round says who ended it.

Round 1: Cleo's grid was worth 14, but Ana had 9, so Cleo's 14 became 28. Round 2: Ana ended with 3, the lowest, so nothing changed. Round 3: Ben ended with 5 and Cleo also had 5. A tie isn't the lowest, so Ben's 5 became 10. Round 4: Ana ended with −3 and Cleo had −5, but a score below 0 isn't doubled, so Ana kept −3.

Ana leads with 21, the lowest total. Nobody is near 100 yet, so the game goes on.