The rules, step by step
- You hold three roses and one skull. Each round everybody plays one face down.
- Then, in turn, add another disc to your pile or open the bidding.
- A bid is how many discs you can flip without hitting a skull. Raise it or pass.
- The last bidder standing has to do it — starting with their own pile, all of it.
- Make the bid and you win the round. Two rounds wins the game.
- Hit a skull and you lose a disc forever. Lose them all and you are out.
Scoring and the fiddly bits
The deal
Three roses and one skull each, yours for the whole game. Every pile returns to its owner’s hand at the end of each round.
Legal bids
A bid must beat the standing one and can never exceed the face-down discs on the table. Bid the whole table and the challenge starts immediately, with no lap of forced passes.
Flipping order
Your own pile first, from the top down, all of it — then one disc at a time off whichever other pile you choose.
Hitting a skull
The round ends on the spot and the challenger loses one disc, drawn at random from what they still hold and shown only to them.
Winning
Two successful challenges by default; the host can set one or three. Lose every disc and you are out, keeping any rounds you already won.
Questions about Skull
Is Skull free?
Yes. Every game on Table Party is free, with no accounts, no adverts and nothing to buy.
How many people do you need for Skull?
Between 3 and 6. Below 3 there are not enough of you for the game to work.
Do we need to download anything?
No. One person opens the site and starts a room; everybody else joins by typing the room code on their own phone. Nothing to install, nothing to sign up for.
Can we play Skull over a video call?
Yes. Share the room code in the chat and play with the call running — everything private stays on each player’s own phone.
Play Skull online
Free, in the browser, with everyone on their own phone.