How to Play: Slap
The card game Slap (more commonly known as Egyptian Ratscrew) is one I learned in high school and played in between games at our water polo tournaments. It’s a bit more… energetic (some might say violent?!)… There is high-speed deck-slapping involved!
Looking for more game rules that you can try? See all of our blog posts tagged with Game Rules.
Game Information
Game Objective
Slap aims to have a player gain all the cards from the deck(s) to win.
Number of Players
Slap can be played with 2+ players. For groups larger than 4, you might want to add decks of cards so there are more cards for everyone.
Playing Time
A typical game of Slap will usually take at least 10 minutes but can go longer. It’s also easy for new players to join in by slapping the pile when appropriate and getting a few cards to get going with.
Supplies
A standard deck of 52 playing cards. More decks if you need more cards for your number of players.
NOTE: This game is easy to play with decks that may be missing a few cards!
Recommended Ages
Slap is a great card game for ages 8 and up. While the matching and slap rules can be simplified, the slapping might be too intense for younger ages.
💡 IDEA: If you have younger kids and want to play a similar game, try Snap and then move up to Slapjack!
Game Rules
We have a pretty small set of rules to make it easier to catch on. I’ve added more slap-rules at the bottom if you want to spice up your game a little more.
Setup:
Choose a dealer. Deal out an even(ish) number of cards to all players until all cards are dealt. Everyone has this pile in front of them or in their hand.
Players cannot look at their cards at any time, even when playing a card from their hand.The Goal:
Your goal is to get all of the cards.Start:
The person to the dealer's left goes first by flipping the card on the top of their pile and setting it in the middle.NOTE: They can’t go slow and look at their card (and identify a slap-rule before everyone else); they must flip the card away from them and place it in the pile quickly so everyone sees what the card is simultaneously.
Take turns discarding… then win the central stack!
Keep going around the circle, with players adding cards from the tops of their piles until the central discard pile is one by someone.
There are two ways to win this discard stack to add to your playing pile (explained below):Face Cards & Aces
Slap Rules
Continue Play:
Any player who takes a pile will always start the next pile.
When taken, piles are always added to a player's deck underneath, face-down, without being shuffled first.Winner!
When one person has all the cards, they are the winner!
Face Cards & Aces
Watch for face cards, including Kings, Queens, Jacks, and Ace Cards, as players discard.
BEAT THE FACE CARDS OR ACES:
If a player lays down a face card, they are now the “challenger.” The next player (now the “challengee”) has a certain number of tries to “beat” the face card.
You can “beat” the face card in two ways:
Lay another face card (causing the player after you to have a limited number of chances to “beat” your face card)
Lay a 10, which we call the “stopper” card.
NUMBER OF CHANCES TO BEAT THE FACE CARDS:
Here are the number of cards you (the “challengee”) can put down to beat the face card laid by the player before you (the “challenger”) for each face card type.
The challenger wins the pile if you don’t get a face card or a stopper. The challenger also wins the central discard pile if you run out of cards.
ACE: 4 cards
KING: 3 cards
QUEEN: 2 cards
JACK: 1 card
If you beat the face card, gameplay continues, and the discard stack grows until someone wins the stack.
If you do not beat the face card, the player who laid the face card (the “challenger”) wins the discard stack. They place it on the bottom of their pile, and those cards are now in their arsenal for playing against everyone.
Slap Rules
If a slap rule is met with the cards being discarded, the first player to slap the pile wins the stack. This is the only way to earn cards beyond winning them with face cards and aces.
When one of these conditions is met, be the first to slap the pile!
Rules on SV Fika:
We play with only these three rules to keep it simple for new players.
Double - two matching cards (two 8s, two Kings, any two that match values!)
Sandwich - a double with one card of a different rank between the two
Jokers - if you keep the jokers in your deck, anytime one shows up, you can slap it!
More Variations to Add:
If everyone playing is already very familiar with the game, add a few more slap rules to make it more interesting!
Hoagie - a double with two cards of a different rank between the two
Run - three or more cards in ascending or descending order of rank, e.g., 7, 6, 5; 10, Jack, Queen
Flush - three or more cards of the same suit
Tens - two cards with ranks adding up to 10
Top Bottom - the first card played is played again later on
Marriage - King and Queen on top of each other
Penalties
If a player slaps the discard pile without a slap condition, they have to place two cards on the bottom of the pile.
When playing a card, the player must reveal it to all players simultaneously by flipping it away from themselves before placing it face-up on the pile. Penalties may apply if the player reveals a card they play toward themselves first.
Hovering your hand over the pile is bad. Any player can slap the hands of such players down, resulting in a penalty for the player whose hand is on the bottom, as they will likely have incorrectly slapped.
Great for Kids
This game is great for building some skills:
Math Skills - counting, matching, patterns
Counting - knowing and counting how many cards you can lay to try and beat a face card or ace.
Pattern Recognition - identifying pairs, sandwiches, and more; some players even learn to recognize when they know another face card will be coming up in their deck since the cards are kept in order as they are one and used!
Fine Motor Skills - holding & discarding cards, slapping
Speed - gameplay moves quickly, and you have to identify slap conditions before the other players
Focus - there’s some concentration required here!
Things that get our kids excited about this game:
Fast Pace - when you start the game, we move as fast as possible!
Excitement - When it’s time to slap, there’s an urgency to be first!
