Champions for Life Foundation

Activ8

Starting to go a little stir-crazy? Get active with this new twist on the traditional Crazy Eights card game.

Crazy Eights is a fun card game to introduce to your kids. To add to this fun and to help your family stay active and continue to develop their physical literacy skills, we created a fun way of turning the traditional Crazy Eights card game into an Activ8! card game. Activ8! adds a fun twist by getting the whole family up and moving. 

Physical literacy skills in action

How to play

Starting the game
Activ8! can be played with a standard 52-card deck. Typically 2 to 4 people play. Deal 5 cards each if more than 2 players or 7 cards if only 2 players. The remaining cards go in a stack face down in the middle. Turn the top card over.

Playing the game
There are many versions of how to play Crazy Eights. Here is a simple version that we suggest:
  1. The player to the left of the dealer goes first and the turns move clockwise from there;
  2. During a player's turn, they must play cards face up that match the current card that is face-up on the stack. The card played can either match the suit (i.e. hearts, diamonds, spades, clubs) or rank (i.e. 5, 10, queen). For example, if the current face-up card is the 5 of clubs, you may play either a five or a club;
  3. If you don’t have a card that can be played, then you must draw one from the pile. If you still don’t have a match, you lose your turn;
  4. Once a player has drawn a card or discarded a card on the pile, it becomes the next player’s turn; 
  5. Eights are wild and can be played at any time. When a player plays an eight, they get to pick the suit that gets played next. For example, if you pick spades as the suit, the next player after you must play a spade; and, 
  6. The first player to get rid of all their cards is the “winner.” BUT wait! Here comes the twist! 
ACTIV8! Twist
Select four (4) physical literacy movements from our Skill Cards, for example; hopping, jumping, galloping and dynamic balance. Each skill is matched with a suit:
  • Hopping - hearts
  • Jumping - spades
  • Galloping - diamonds
  • Dynamic Balance - clubs
Twist 1 - Players with remaining cards must perform the movements that match with the cards they have left in their hands. The suit of the card dictates the movement and the number dictates the number of repetitions or time in seconds. For example, if a player has the following cards left, 7 of diamonds, 10 of clubs, 9 of spades, 9 of diamonds they must perform the following movements:
  • 7 of diamonds - gallop around for 7 seconds
  • 10 of clubs - hold a dynamic pose for 10 seconds
  • 9 spades - 9 jumps in a row
  • 9 of diamonds - gallop for 9 more seconds 
Twist 2 - If a player has a jack, queen or king left in their hands, they get to choose one of the movement skills and the “winner” of the game, must perform that skill 10 times or for 10 seconds. For example, jack of hearts - “winner” hops 10 times in a row.

Add these variations

  • Choose different fundamental movement skills each time you play.

Check out this link for more inspiration

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