(In Screw Your Neighbor, Kings are safe cards)
Imagine a card game where strategy meets sabotage, and friendships are tested in the best way possible. Screw Your Neighbor is a game of quick decisions, bold moves, and a little luck, where Kings are your safe haven, and everyone else is just trying to stay afloat. Perfect for game nights filled with laughter and lighthearted competition, this classic will have you plotting your next move—and hoping your neighbor doesn’t plot theirs first. Ready to learn how to play? Let’s dive in!
Card Game Rules
Screw Your Neighbour, or Ranter-Go-Round, is a classic card game for 3 or more players. The game requires a standard 52 playing card deck and is suitable for ages 6 and up. In Screw Your Neighbor, Aces are low and Kings are high. The objective of Screw Your Neighbor is to have the lowest card value.
For more classic games, check out our guides for War and Nerts.
If you are looking for cards to play Screw Your Neighbor with, check out a standard deck here or one of our more recent arrivals here.
Set Up
To set up a game of Screw Your Neighbor, players need to form a circle around a stable playing area. Every player gets three lives at the start of the game. Before gameplay can begin, every player must draw a card from a shuffled deck. The player with the highest card becomes the first dealer. Ties are broken by a redraw. The dealer then shuffles the deck and passes out one card, faced down, for each player.
How to Play
Gameplay begins with the player left of the dealer. The first person looks at their card and can either keep it or switch cards with the player to their left. Switches are permanent. Play then proceeds clockwise with each player having the opportunity to switch cards with the person on their left. If a player has a king, they must immediately flip it over. A player cannot swap with a King. A player who is to the right of a King must keep their card. On the dealer’s turn, they can either keep their card or choose the top card from the remaining deck.
After the dealer goes, all players turn over their cards. The player with the lowest card loses a life. Cards are reshuffled and the dealer position rotates clockwise.
The last player alive wins.
For more information about Screw Your Neighbor, check out Pagat's article here.
Looking for more card games to play? Check out this article:
40+ Great Card Games For All Occasions
About the author: John Taylor is a content writer and freelancer through the company Upwork.com. You may view his freelancing profile here. He has a B. A. in English, with a specialty in technical writing, from Texas A&M University and a M. A. in English from the University of Glasgow. You may view his previous articles about card games here and his LinkedIn profile here.
20 comments
Many years ago in Ohio I played a card game called Screw your Neighbor with family members. The rules were much like the card game Uno. However this was before Uno was invented not far from where we lived believe. It appears to me that someone took an existing card game and just created a special card deck for that game. Does anybody else recall that?
We play this game with one additional rule when playing with a large group (8 or more). At the end of play, any players cards that match each other will cancel, and those players cards are ignored, no matter how low they are. It makes for a lot more excitement at the end of each round.
There was a game where you could show a certain card that would reverse the direction of play. I think that it was called “Hate Thy Neighbor.”
3 players in screw your neighbor all have Sixes,
so therefore there is no lowest card. What happens in that round?
For Kathy. I think the game you are asking is Crazy Eights. You deal out 8 cards and flip one card next to the draw pile. That flip card is the suit to lead. Aces turn the direction. The 2 card means you draw two cards. Pass to the next player. If they do not have the suit they draw 4 cards. You can also play another 2 card or an 8 wildcard. If the suit is clubs and you do not have any you have to draw until you get a club or an 8 card. I hope this helps. This is one of my favorite card games. Have fun!