How to Play Egyptian Rat Screw

What you need

• 2–6 players. Everyone for themselves. No partners. Three is a real table. Four is typical. Five is a real table.
• One standard 52-card deck. No jokers. Deal the whole pack as evenly as it goes — extras to the first few. Hands stay face-down in a stack. You never look at your stack.
• No score pad. Last person with cards, or first to hold the whole pack, wins. A table slap on the pile, not hitting people.

Sit, pick a dealer, agree on the house

Sit where everyone can reach the center pile. Cut for the first deal, or point at someone. After each hand, the deal moves clockwise.

Say these out loud before the first card:

1. One 52. Deal the whole pack. No partners. Stacks stay face-down. Flip the top card onto the center pile. Do not peek first.
2. Face cards give chances. Ace = next player has 4 chances, King = 3, Queen = 2, Jack = 1. A number uses a chance. A new face resets the count onto them. If they fail, the person who played the face takes the pile and leads again.
3. Slap doubles and sandwiches only. Doubles: two of the same rank in a row. Sandwich: same rank with exactly one card between. First hand on the pile takes it, puts it under their stack, leads next. If your table slaps more, say so before you deal. Tonight is doubles and sandwich.
4. False slap: one card under the pile. First to hold the whole pack wins. Not War (compare ranks, no slap). Not Slapjack (only jacks).

Deal the whole pack, stacks face-down

Shuffle the 52. Deal clockwise until the pack is gone, as evenly as it goes. Extras go to the first few. Two people: 26 each. Three: 18, 17, 17. Four: 13 each. Five: 11, 11, 10, 10, 10. Six: 9, 9, 9, 9, 8, 8. Each person keeps a face-down stack. You never look. There is no stock left in the middle — only the empty table waiting for the first flip.

If someone has the wrong count by more than one extra, throw it in and deal again. Left of the dealer flips first.

Flip, do not peek, do not compare

Play goes clockwise. On your turn you flip the top of your stack onto the center pile, face-up. One motion. Do not peek first. Do not choose a card. The pile is public; your stack is not.

You are not playing War. Nobody says "higher takes it." A 3 on a king is a legal flip. The pile just grows until a slap pattern or a finished chance count.

If your stack is gone, skip flips. You may still slap. A legal slap puts you back in with that pile. Last person still holding cards, or first to hold the whole pack, wins.

Face cards: chances, not a slap

When you flip a jack, queen, king, or ace, play pauses for a chance count. The next person must try to play a face of their own.

Each number card they flip uses one chance. If they flip a face before the count runs out, the count resets onto them — now the person after them has that new face's chances. If they never flip a face in those chances, you take the pile, put it under your stack, and lead again.

Slap still counts during a chance run. A double or a sandwich on the pile is live even while someone is burning chances. First hand on the pile takes it.

Slap: doubles and sandwiches

Tonight the house slaps two patterns only. First hand flat on the center pile takes the whole pile, puts it under their stack, and leads the next flip.

• Doubles — two of the same rank in a row on the pile. 8, 8. Queen, queen. Suits do not matter.
• Sandwich — same rank with exactly one card between. 7, 4, 7. Ace, 9, ace.

If your table slaps more, say so before you deal. Tonight is doubles and sandwich.

False slap: you hit the pile when it is not a double and not a sandwich. That person puts one card from their stack under the pile. Play continues. Do not slap people. Do not slap the table next to the pile and call it in — the pile is the target.

Walk through one first-night hand

Three people — a real table. You are West. South dealt. Stacks face-down. You never look.

You flip 7♠. North flips 4♥. East flips 7♦. That is a sandwich: 7, 4, 7. You slap first. Take the three, put them under your stack, lead again.

You flip Q♣. Face: North has two chances. North flips 5♦ (chance 1), then 9♣ (chance 2). Both numbers. Queen stands. You take the pile and lead again.

You flip 8♥. North flips 8♠. Doubles. East's hand is first on the pile. East takes it and leads. East flips J♦. You have one chance. You flip K♠ — new face, count resets. North now has three chances for your king. North burns three numbers. You take that pile.

Keep flipping. Keep slapping doubles and sandwiches. When one person holds every card, they win. Nobody wrote on paper. Nobody compared a 9 to a 6 and called it War. Nobody waited for a jack only.

Night-one habits

• Flip without peeking. The pile is the game; your stack is a blind deck.
• Watch the last two or three cards. Doubles and sandwiches are the only slaps tonight.
• Call the chance count out loud: queen, two chances.
• False slap costs one card under the pile. Slow is better than grabbing air.
• Three people is a real Egyptian Rat Screw table. Five is a real table. Deal.

You know enough to deal. Keep this page beside the table. Five people is a tonight pick. Four people is a tonight pick. Three people is a tonight pick. There is no Egyptian Rat Screw trainer on CardPractice — this how-to is the product. If you wanted to compare ranks and skip the slap, that is War, and it is not on this site. If you wanted match suit or rank and 8s wild, that is Crazy Eights. If you wanted to deal the whole pack and sit President next hand, that is President.