Egyptian Rat Screw

Egyptian Rat Screw rules

Egyptian Rat Screw (ERS) is a fast card game for 2 or more players. Everyone flips cards onto a pile, and when two cards of the same rank land together, the first person to slap the pile wins it. The goal is to collect all 52 cards. It is also known as Egyptian Ratscrew, Egyptian War or simply Slap.

1. Deal: a standard 52-card deck (no Jokers) is dealt out one at a time to all players. Nobody looks at their cards; each player keeps a face-down stack.
2. Flip: going around the table, each player turns over the top card of their stack and places it face up on the pile in the middle.
3. Slap: when the pile shows a Double or a Sandwich (see below), slap it. The first hand on the pile takes every card in it and puts them face down under their own stack. The player who took the pile flips next.
4. Face cards: when a Jack, Queen, King or Ace is played, the next player must play another face card or Ace within a set number of flips. If they can't, the player who played the face card takes the pile.
5. Win: the player who ends up with all the cards wins.

When to slap: Double and Sandwich

Suits don't matter, only the rank. The pile on this page shows the top few cards slightly spread out, so you can see the card below the top one.

Face card challenges

When a face card or an Ace is played, the next player has to answer it with another face card or Ace. How many flips they get depends on the card:

If the player answers with a face card or Ace, the challenge passes to the next player with the count for the new card. If the flips run out without a face card, the player who played the last face card takes the whole pile and flips next. A slap still counts during a challenge: if a Double or Sandwich appears, slapping it beats the challenge. On this page there is a short pause before the pile is collected, and a correct slap during that pause wins the pile.

Wrong slaps, running out of cards and slapping back in

• Wrong slap: if you slap when there is nothing to slap, you put the top card of your stack face down under the pile (a “burn”). Burned cards don't count toward Doubles or Sandwiches, but whoever wins the pile gets them too.
• Out of cards: when your stack is empty you are skipped for flipping, but you are not out. If you slap a Double or Sandwich correctly, you take the pile and are back in the game (“slapping back in”).
• Knocked out: on this page, a player with no cards who slaps wrong is out of the game (a simple version of the usual penalty).
• Last chance: when one player holds all 52 cards, they flip three more cards. If nobody slaps back in during those flips, they win.

Egyptian Rat Screw 2 player rules

With two players the rules are the same, and it becomes a pure reflex duel. The “next player” is always your opponent, so every face card you play is a challenge to them. When one player runs out of cards, the other keeps flipping alone; the player with no cards can still slap back in on a Double or Sandwich. On this page you can also play with 3 or 4 players (the computer takes the other seats), or play a friend online.

Extra slap rules

Many groups add more slap combinations. These are off by default on this page and can be turned on in Settings:

• Top & Bottom: the card just played is the same rank as the bottom card of the pile.
• Tens: two cards in a row add up to 10, counting an Ace as 1 (for example 3 and 7, or Ace and 9).
• Marriage: a King and a Queen are played one after the other, in either order.

Tips

• Watch the rank, not the suit: a red 7 and a black 7 are a Double. Say the rank in your head as each card lands.
• Keep an eye on the card under the top one: Sandwiches are easy to miss. Check whether the new card matches the one two cards down.
• Don't slap on a hunch: every wrong slap costs you a card, and with no cards left a wrong slap knocks you out.
• A slap beats a challenge: keep watching even when a face card challenge is going against you. A Double or Sandwich during the challenge, or in the short pause before the pile is taken, still wins you the pile.

FAQ

• What other names does the game have? Egyptian Ratscrew, ERS, Egyptian War, Ratslap and Slap.
• Where does the name come from? Its face card challenges resemble the older British game Beggar-My-Neighbour, and the slapping is like Slapjack. Where the name comes from is not known for certain.
• How many cards does each player get? The whole deck is dealt out, so with 2 players everyone gets 26, with 3 players 18 or 17, and with 4 players 13.
• Can you look at your cards? No. Your stack stays face down and you always flip the top card.
• What happens if two people slap at the same time? In real games, the hand at the bottom (touching the pile) usually wins. On this page, the earlier slap wins; online, the slap that reaches the server first wins.

How to play on this page

• You play against 1 to 3 computer players (2 players by default). Tap your deck or Flip to flip a card. Tap the pile or the big SLAP button to slap. On a computer you can also press F to flip and Space to slap.
• Pick the computer's speed: Easy, Normal or Hard. Settings (the “2 players” button): players and extra slap rules. Your wins are saved on this device for each speed and number of players.
• During a face card challenge the remaining flips are shown above the pile. The bar below the pile tells you what to do next.
• Play a friend online: press “Play a friend”, create a link and send it. 2 to 4 players, each on their own phone or computer, no sign-up. The game starts when everyone has opened the link (the host can start early with 2 or more). There are no computer seats online. A very long game ends on time, and the player with the most cards wins.