In Eat It! players try to be the first to play all cards from their hand and their reserve piles. The deck consists of the standard 52 cards (featuring illustrations of political and cultural figures) along with eight special cards that alter game play.
Players take turns playing cards from their hand to a central pile following the rules of allowed play. Initially, cards must be played up from 3 to Ace; if a Joker is played, cards must be played down instead; a Martial Law reverses the order of play again. If a player cannot play or chooses not to play, he must "eat it" – that is, take the cards in the central pile, adding them to his hand.
If a player voids his hand, he draws the top cards (which are face-up) in his reserve piles. If he voids his hand again, he draws the face-down cards that remain in his reserve piles.