Slapjack, also known as Slaps, is a card game generally played among children. It can often be a child's first introduction to playing cards. One player removes the top card of their stack and places it face-up on the playing surface within reach of all players. The players take turns doing this in a clockwise manner until a jack is placed on the pile. At this point, any and all players may attempt to slap the pile with the hand they didn't use to place the card; the first player to cover the stack with their hand takes the pile, shuffles it, and adds it to the bottom of their stack. If another player puts their card over the jack before it is slapped, the jack and the cards underneath can't be taken by a player until the next jack is revealed. When a player has run out of cards, they have one more chance to slap a jack and get back in the game, but if they fail, they are out. Gameplay continues with hands of this sort until one player has acquired all of the cards.

In a popular variation with a regular deck, the person covering the cards must simultaneously say "Slapjack!" If the person fails to say this, they do not get the pile. Additionally, if the player covers the pile and says "Slapjack", and the card is not a jack, then the other players get to divide the pile evenly among themselves.

Variations

Snap

thumb|In the game of Snap, two identical numbers dealt in a row is a "snap"

Snap is a popular children's card game where cards are dealt out and the object is to react first when a pair of same-value cards are revealed. Gameplay is related to Egyptian Ratscrew. The game is often one of the first card games to be taught to children and is often played with special packs of cards featuring popular children's characters from television programmes or recent films. For older children, more complex packs exist, where the differences between cards are more subtle and penalties exist for falsely calling Snap.

The pack of cards is dealt out among the players in face-down stacks as equally as possible. Play proceeds with the players taking it in turns to remove a card from the top of their stack and place it face-up on a pile in front of them. If two cards on the tops of any of these piles are ever identical (or, if a conventional pack of cards is used, are of the same number), the first player to shout "Snap!" takes both face-up piles and adds them to the bottom of their own stack. The player who accumulates all the cards wins.

In a variation, better suited to younger children, cards are played onto a single shared stack, and players call "snap!" if two consecutive cards on this pile are identical.

Alternative rules

Other commonly accepted rules include:

  • If the card laid is identical in rank to the one beneath it, all players snap.
  • If the card laid is a queen, all players snap.

See also

  • One Card (card game)
  • Snip Snap Snorem
  • Egyptian Ratscrew
  • Jungle Speed

References

  • Ostrow, Albert A (1945). The Complete Card Player. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 71.