How to Play Slapjack (Card Game)

Slap Jack (also called Egyptian Slap Rat, Beggar-My-Neighbor, or Snaps) is a fun, fast-paced, and simple card game played with 2-5 people. Everyone takes turns playing cards blindly onto the table, and rushes to slap the pile when they see a Jack. The player who collects all the cards wins! We’ll show you how to set up and play the game, including key rules and fun variations.

Slap Jack: Quick Overview

Number of players: 2-5
Setup: Deal an entire standard deck of 52 cards (minus jokers) evenly to each player, keeping them face-down.
Object of the game: Take every card by playing cards into the middle of the table and slapping the pile when you see a Jack.

Section 1 of 4:

Dealing the Cards

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Remove the Jokers from the deck, then shuffle it. The Joker cards aren’t required in a game of Slap Jack, so find them and set them aside. Once they’re gone, shuffle the deck 2-3 times to make sure all the cards are mixed up.
- There are 2 Jokers in a standard deck of playing cards.
2
Gather 2-5 players and deal all the cards out evenly. Slap Jack works best with 2-5 players, but you could squeeze in an extra 1 or 2. Gather everyone around a table, then deal all the cards face-down, starting with the player to your left and working clockwise around the table. Make sure each player gets the same number of cards, and deal until there are no more cards left in the deck.^{[1]
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- Don’t peek at your cards! Keep them face-down in a neat pile in front of you.
- Set any extra cards face-up in a stack in the middle of the table. These cards will start the game.

Section 2 of 4:

Playing the Game

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Start the game by placing a card face-up in the center of the table. The player to the left of the dealer takes the top card off their own stack and places it face-up in the middle of the table, so everyone can see it. This starts the game.^{[2]
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- If you had leftover cards while dealing, play this first card on top of those.
EXPERT TIP

Ashton Wu
Game Expert
Ashton Wu is a Game Expert at Shelfside. After delving into the Yugioh tournament community while growing up, Ashton launched himself into the board gaming community in 2014 and went into reviewing board games as a career full-time in 2019. His YouTube channel Shelfside has over 35K subscribers and over 4 million views, assisted by written reviews on the Shelfside website and BoardGameGeek.com. He also consults with gaming companies to build high-quality gaming products. Ashton is a tournament commentator, board game playthrough director, and host of the Shelfside Podcast, where he talks about board games with his business partner, Daniel. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in addition to the Technology Management Certificate.

Ashton Wu
Game Expert

Slap Jack is one of the most fun two-player card games. It's easy to learn and fast-paced, making it perfect for a quick and exciting game. Grab a deck of cards and challenge a friend to some friendly and harmless hand-slapping competition.
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Take turns placing a single card face-up on the center stack. Players take turns clockwise around the table. On their turn, a player takes the top card of their personal pile and flips it face-up onto the center stack of cards.^{[3]
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- Slap Jack is a very fast game, so get ready for things to move rather quickly.
- Try to keep the center pile neat and tidy, even when the game is moving quickly.
3
Slap the Jack card as soon as someone plays it. As the other players take their turns, keep an eye out for a Jack card to appear. As soon as you see a Jack, reach out and slap the card as quickly as you can!^{[4]
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- You don't have to wait until it's your turn to slap a Jack, but keep your hands close to your own pile—no hovering over the middle pile while you wait.
- The number of cards you win depends on how many cards are played since the last Jack made an appearance.
This is the aim of the game! If you’re the first player to slap a Jack when it appears, take all the cards in the middle of the table (including the Jack) and shuffle them into your own personal pile. More cards means you stay in the game longer.^{[5]
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If you slapped the Jack and won the hand, start the game again by playing the top card of your face-down pile into the center of the table, face-up. This starts the pile over again, so the next players can build upon it.^{[6]
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The aim of the game is to take every single card by slapping the center pile. As you play, some players will run out of cards, while others will start collecting more and more. Win Slap Jack by collecting the entire deck of cards!^{[7]
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Section 3 of 4:

Important Rules

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Give 1 card to another player if you slap a card other than a Jack. If you hit a card before the Jack is played or slap another card while trying to get to the Jack, you must give the top card of your own pile to the player who played the card. They add this card to the top of their face-down pile, without peeking.^{[8]
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- For example, if you hit the 8 of Spades instead of the Jack of Clubs, give your top card to the player who played the 8 of Spades.
- Or, if another player plays a 7 on top of a Jack while you were reaching to slap it, but you slap the 7 instead, you still take the penalty.
2
Slap your way back into the game after you run out of cards. If all of your cards wind up in the pile, that’s okay! You have 1 more chance to redeem yourself and stay in the game by being the first to slap the next Jack. If you do, collect all of the cards in the pile and keep playing.^{[9]
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- If you do not slap the next Jack first, you are out of the game.
3
Play Rock, Paper, Scissors to settle a slap tie. Sometimes, 2 players will slap the pile at the same time, and they probably won’t agree who got there first. In this case, play a single round of Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide who gets to take the pile.
- Or, if another player clearly saw what happened, let them declare a winner and break the tie.

Section 4 of 4:

Optional Rules

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Slap “card sandwiches” to add extra challenge to the game. Some groups play with a bonus rule, which is that you can also slap the center pile when you see a “sandwich,” which is a card played between 2 cards of the same number, like a 4 between two 7s. If you spot and slap a sandwich, you take the entire center pile, just like slapping a Jack.^{[10]
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- For example, Player A plays a Queen, Player B plays a 6, and Player C plays another Queen. Any player could slap this sandwich to take the pile.
With this rule, players can also slap the pile any time 2 of the same card is played one right after the other, like a 2 and then another 2, or King after a King. This adds a healthy amount of chaos and excitement to the table, but get ready to slap like crazy, since it happens pretty often!
Some games can go for quite a while, as players win and lose cards over and over again. To make sure things go quickly, set a time for 5 or 10 minutes once the first card is played. The player with the most cards at the end of the time limit wins.^{[11]
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Community Q&A

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How do you win if you and another person slap the deck the same number of times?

Karley Snyder

Community Answer

The number of slaps does not matter as much as the number of total cards. You can slap 1 Jack and win 10 cards in the deck, while another player can slap the Jack 3 times to win 10 cards--it just depends on how the game goes. Aim to collect as many cards as possible, rather than slapping as many cards as you can.

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What happens if you slap a different card?

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Then you lose the amount of cards that was underneath the card.

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How many people are needed to play Slap Jack?

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At least two people are required to play Slap Jack, but more can play, you just divide the cards up evenly.

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When more than one player slaps at a Jack, the one whose hand is directly on top of the Jack wins the pile.

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Add a creative twist to your game by having each player “count” as they play a card. To do this, have the first player say “ace” and the next say “two” until you reach the King card. If the card played is the same card as what the player says, the first person to slap the pile wins the cards.

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Tips from our Readers

The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.

Make sure you pay attention to the cards as they hit the table, so you're ready to slap!
Take care not to slap other players' hands. It happens, but it still hurts!
I like to add more Jacks to the deck to make the game even more fun!

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