The words we use.
Half the arguments at a Skyjo table are vocabulary problems. Two people using “row” to mean different things will never agree about whether one disappears.
- Column
- One of the four vertical sets of three cards in a player's layout. In Classic, three identical face-up cards in a column are removed together. Read the rule
- Row
- One of the three horizontal lines of four cards. Rows do not disappear in Classic. In Action they can, with at least three equal cards. Read the rule
- Draw pile
- The face-down stack in the middle of the table. You cannot see what you are getting. Read the rule
- Discard pile
- The face-up stack beside the draw pile. Its top card is always visible and always optional. Read the rule
- Face-down card
- A card in your own layout whose value nobody knows, including you. Also heard as "hidden" or "covered". Read the rule
- The ender
- The player who turns their twelfth card face up and so ends the round. Their score is the one the doubling rule tests. Read the rule
- Doubling
- If the ender's round score is positive and any other player matches or beats it, the ender's score doubles. Zero and negative scores never double. Read the rule
- Final turn
- The one turn every other player gets after somebody ends the round. Play stops before returning to the ender. Read the rule
- Round
- One deal, played until somebody reveals their last card. A game is however many rounds it takes for a player to reach 100. Read the rule
- Triple
- Three equal cards in a column. In Junior a completed triple is the only thing that scores, and it counts its value once. Read the rule
- Star card
- An Action card that scores nothing at the count. Read the rule
- Action card
- An Action special card. Play it or pay for it: one still in your layout at the count is worth 10. Read the rule
- Heuristic
- A judgement that works at real tables but is not provable from the deck. Every one on this site is labelled as such. Read the rule
- House rule
- Something a table has agreed that is not in the box. Perfectly fine, but agree it before round one, not during it. Read the rule