Rules for Olsen

Olsen is played with a standard 52-card deck and supports two to six players. Each player starts with five cards, and the rest of the cards are placed in a draw pile in the center of the table. The top card of the pile is flipped over and placed next to it to start the discard pile.

Starting with the player to the left of the dealer, players take turns placing one card at a time on the discard pile. The card must either match the suit or the rank of the top card on the discard pile.

Eights are wild cards and can be played on top of any card, regardless of suit or rank. When an eight is played, the player must declare a new suit. The next player must then play a card of that suit or another eight.

If a player cannot or does not want to play a card, they must draw a card from the draw pile. If the drawn card can be played, the player may choose to play it immediately or keep it and pass.

The goal of the game is to be the first player to get rid of all their cards. When a player runs out of cards, they score points based on the cards remaining in the other players’ hands. The game continues until one player reaches a predetermined score, usually 200. The player with the lowest total score at that point wins the game.