Looking for an easy and quick family card game? This captivating card game is perfect when you don’t have a lot of time for playing games, but are still in the mood for kicking booty. This is a math game (but don’t let that deter you!) that blends fun and learning without kids even knowing. Perfect for a variety of ages, this easy-to-learn game promotes strategic thinking and crazy fun competitive moves that will provide endless entertainment for family and friends.
One Of Our Quick Family Card Game Favorites You Gotta Try!
Make sure you see our adaptation of this game (“house rules”) below for quick play game version!
If you’re looking for one of those card games you can adapt to last longer or for a short play game, this is it! It’s an addictive, fast-paced strategy game that will have you saying, “Just one more hand!”
SKYJO is one of our favorite quick & easy games, especially if we only have a few minutes to play games.
Its quick setup and simple rules make it an ideal choice for busy evenings or spontaneous game sessions.
You try collecting the lowest scores by moving cards or selecting cards, while engaging in playful (ahem) competition and enjoying quality time together.
GAMESCHOOLING NOTE: I happen to think it’s on of the best math games for your homeschool or classroom because you’re practicing addition and subtraction with positive and negative numbers, but you don’t have to tell your kids that they’re learning! It’s our secret.
Game Overview
SKYJO, by Magilano, is a fun, fast-paced, and engaging card game. (At least the way we play!)
The primary objective of the game is to collect as few points as possible over several rounds. (See my note below about our game adaptation to make the game better.)
The game rules state that the game ends when a player reaches 100 points or more (to lose). The player with the fewest points at that time wins. We don’t play this way because we play it as a quick game. (See below.)
This game is easy to learn, making it suitable for players of all ages who can do basic math, and it encourages strategic thinking and planning.
LISTED GAME AGE: 8 and Up
What I Love About This Game
You can make this a fast-paced game that is quick enough to keep kids interesting and interesting enough to keep adults strategizing.
There’s also an element of surprise that can either help you or hurt you at the end of the game.
I love that no matter how good you think you are at strategizing and math-ing, you can still end up with a high score (which is bad).
When your cards are turned over face down and you can’t see them, you never know if they’re higher numbers (which you don’t want) or negative numbers (which are great).
So, you are gambling by trading out high cards you can see for (possibly) lower cards you can’t yet see (haven’t been turned over yet), all while trying to do it before your opponents go out (aka: turn over all their cards first).
How To Play SKYJO
Card Game Play
Game Setup:
Each player is dealt 12 cards face down, arranged in a grid of 4 rows by 3 columns in front of them.
One card is placed face-up in the center of the table to start the discard pile.
The remaining deck is placed next to it as the draw pile.
Game Objective:
The goal is to have the lowest score by the end of the game.
This is achieved by having the smallest numbers or even negative numbers in their grid.
You move cards in and out of the grid to achieve the lowest score possible before going out (or another player goest out).
Gameplay:
On their turn, a player can either draw a card from the draw pile or take the top card from the discard pile.
The player can then choose to replace one of their face-down cards with the drawn card or discard it.
If a card is replaced, discard that card into the face-up on the discard pile.
Players can also flip over one of their face-down cards instead of replacing a card.
End of Round:
The round continues until one player has revealed all their cards.
Other players then have one more turn before the round ends.
Points are tallied based on the numbers on the cards.
Cards with lower numbers are better, and some cards have negative values which reduces the total score. (Those are cards you definitely want!)
Winning the Game:
The game continues in rounds until a player’s total score reaches 100 points.
The player with the lowest total score at that point is declared the winner.
(Again, we don’t play this way because we play quick rounds. See the next section.)
Game Adaptation For Faster Game Play
We adapted this to just play rounds (“hands”) and not keep score.
We play hands as the first person to turn over their all their cards ends the hands.
Then, all players must turn over all their cards and tally (adding and subtracting) their score.
Person with lowest score wins.
We found playing hands instead of an entire game to 100 is better because it’s faster and we can play as few or as many hands as we want (based on time limitations) or stop whenever we want.
Gameschool Benefits
Using SKYJO As A Learning Game
I love this quick family card game for practicing adding, subtracting, and even practice with positive numbers and negative numbers!
This is definitely one of those cool math games that you can play with a variety of ages and is one of our go to math games.
(We’re including this as one of the best math games for adults, too, because my husband and I like playing it with just us!)
MORE FAMILY GAMES TO CHECK OUT: Best Games For Science Learning That You’ve Never Heard Of! (Game Play Age Ranges and Full Descriptions)
Definitely add this quick family card game to your family game night or gameschooling!
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