Card games
Play Stack Race online
Everyone has a stock pile to empty first. The four building piles in the middle always run 1 to 12, and Stapelrennen cards fit anywhere. Your four discard piles are storage and trap in one.
Play Stack Race nowFree · no download · no sign-up
At a glance
- Category
- Card games
- Controls
- mouse or finger
- Price
- free
- Sign-up
- not required
Yes. Stack Race is played against the computer here, across several strengths from easy to very strong. A win also pays chips into your account.
Where Stack Race comes from
Minnie Hazel Bowman, known to everyone as Skip, developed the game in the 1960s in Brownfield, Texas. Her family sold it themselves at first; Wham-O bought the rights in 1980, and since 1992 Skip-Bo has belonged to Mattel. The underlying idea comes from the older game Spite and Malice, which in turn goes back to Russian patience games.
How it works
Goal
Be the first to empty your STOCK PILE.
Cards
Numbers 1–12 and Skip-Bo wilds. A wild counts as any number.
Setup
- Stock pile: only the top card is visible and playable.
- Hand: you draw back up to 5 cards at the start of your turn.
- 4 build piles in the middle: start at 1 (or a wild), run to 12, then get cleared.
- 4 discard piles of your own: you may stack freely, but only the TOP card is playable – bury a card and you only reach it again once everything above is gone.
Your turn
- Click a card (hand, stock top or discard top) – it gets a yellow outline.
- Then click a build pile to play it there.
- Play your whole hand and you immediately draw 5 new cards and keep going.
Ending your turn
Pick a HAND card and click one of your discard piles – that discards it and ends your turn.
Winning
Empty stock pile = victory.
Three tips for better results
- 1Put equal numbers on the same discard pile – that way you do not block yourself.
- 2Deliberately keep one discard pile empty as long as you can: it is your safety valve.
- 3A Stapelrennen card is too valuable to discard; play it only when it frees your stock card.
Frequently asked questions
Is Stack Race free to play?
Yes. Stack Race runs straight in your browser, costs nothing and needs no installation. There is no paywall – the chips in the game are play money and cannot be bought. The site is funded by advertising, which appears only if you agree to it.
Do I need an account to play Stack Race?
No. The home page offers “play now without an account” – that starts you straight away and your progress stays in this browser. An account is only worth it if you want the same progress on several devices; name and PIN are enough, and we never ask for an email address. A guest profile can be turned into an account at any time without losing anything.
How do you play Stack Race?
Goal Be the first to empty your STOCK PILE.
Where does Stack Race come from?
Minnie Hazel Bowman, known to everyone as Skip, developed the game in the 1960s in Brownfield, Texas. Her family sold it themselves at first; Wham-O bought the rights in 1980, and since 1992 Skip-Bo has belonged to Mattel. The underlying idea comes from the older game Spite and Malice, which in turn goes back to Russian patience games.
Does Stack Race work on a phone?
The site adapts to the screen size, and anything you can click can also be tapped. Games controlled with arrow keys do need a keyboard, though.
Do I have to download anything to play Stack Race?
No. Stack Race runs in the browser – on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iPhone alike. There is no app, no plugin and nothing to install.
Can I play Stack Race against the computer?
Yes. Stack Race is played against the computer here, across several strengths from easy to very strong. A win also pays chips into your account.
Does Stack Race work without an internet connection?
The page has to load once; after that the game itself runs entirely in your browser and needs no connection. If you use an account, your progress syncs again as soon as you are back online.
Also known as
These are the terms people use to look for Stack Race.
- stapelrennen online
- free skip bo
- skip bo card game
- empty your stock
- stapelrennen vs computer
- spite and malice
- sequence card game
- skip bo rules
- family card game
- build 1 to 12