Egyptian Ratscrew
The classic slapping card game: take turns flipping cards, win face-card challenges and slap doubles and sandwiches faster than the computer to collect the whole deck.
Choose how many computer players you face and how fast they react. Collect all 52 cards to win!
Space = slap · Enter = play your card · P = pause
How to play Egyptian Ratscrew
The whole deck is dealt face down between the players. Taking turns, each player flips the top card of their stack onto the pile in the middle. The goal is to win every card in the deck.
When someone plays a face card or an Ace, the next player has a set number of chances to play another one: 1 for a Jack, 2 for a Queen, 3 for a King and 4 for an Ace. If they turn up a face card, the challenge passes to the next player; if they run out of chances, the player who started the challenge takes the whole pile.
At any moment, anyone can slap the pile to take it: on a double (two cards of the same rank in a row, like 7–7) or a sandwich (two of the same rank with one card in between, like 7–2–7). A wrong slap costs you a card, which goes under the pile. If you run out of cards you can still slap your way back in, but a wrong slap then knocks you out. Press Space or the big Slap button, and Enter to play your card.
Frequently asked questions
What are the slap rules in Egyptian Ratscrew?
Here you can slap doubles (two cards of the same rank in a row) and sandwiches (same rank with one card between them). Popular house rules also add top-and-bottom (the top card matches the first card of the pile), marriages (a King and Queen together), tens (two cards that add up to 10) and runs of four, but they vary a lot from table to table.
What happens if I slap at the wrong time?
You “burn” a card: the top card of your stack goes face down under the pile, and whoever wins the pile gets it. If you have no cards left and slap wrongly, you’re out of the game for good.
Is Egyptian Ratscrew the same as Egyptian Rat Slap or Beggar My Neighbour?
Egyptian Rat Slap and ERS are just other names for the same game. Beggar My Neighbour uses the same face-card challenges but has no slapping, so it’s pure luck.