Egyptian Ratscrew By Kiara Rodriguez, Spencer Ronshagen, and Eric Richter

Table of Contents iii

Table of Contents Getting Started and Objectives .................................................................................. v Supplies ...................................................................................................................... v How to play ................................................................................................................ 3

Starting the Game ................................................................................................... 3 Drawing Types of Cards ......................................................................................... 4 Slapping .................................................................................................................. 5 Losing and Winning the Game ............................................................................... 5

Variations ................................................................................................................... 9 Slap in ..................................................................................................................... 9 Wild Card................................................................................................................ 9 Top Bottom ...........................................................................................................10 Texas’ rules ...........................................................................................................10 Tens .......................................................................................................................10 Face card values ....................................................................................................11 Marriage ................................................................................................................11

Index .........................................................................................................................12

Getting started and Objectives v

Getting Started and Objectives This manual will teach new players how to play Egyptian Ratscrew. Egyptian Ratscrew is commonly abbreviated ERS, although some people call it by other names, such as Egyptian Ratslap or Egyptian war. In a game of ERS, players take turns revealing cards from their piles, and taking actions based on what cards have been played. A standard game will last 10-20 minutes. The object of the game is to obtain all of the cards in the deck. There are many different variations that people play by.

Supplies In order to play a game of ERS, you will need:

• Two or more players • A standard 52-card deck • A place to play

How to Play

Directions 3

How to Play Starting the Game

1. The dealer hands out cards to each player, passing out the entire deck. No one is allowed to look at the cards in their pile.

2. The player to the left of the dealer goes first. That player takes their top card and places it face up in the center within arm’s length of all the other players. The player is not allowed to look at the card until it is turned over in the center of all of the players.

4 Egyptian Ratscrew

Drawing Types of Cards

3. If a player puts in a number card (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) then the next person to the left puts their top card and so on. If a player puts in a face card (Ace, King, Queen, Jack) then the next player must play a face card as well or else the player that drew the most recent face card gets to take the entire pile of cards in the middle. The player that takes the entire pile then plays the first card to start the pile. You have a certain amount of chances to draw a face card based on the type of face card that the player before you has placed down.

a. If the card is an ace (A) then you have four chances to play a face card.

b. A king face card (K) gives you three chances to play. c. A queen (Q) gives you two chances d. A jack (J) is one chance

If the next player does draw a face card within their number of chances, then the player after him/her must also draw a face card and the play continues in such a way.

Directions 5

Slapping

4. Players can take the whole pile by slapping their hands on top of the pile if certain card combinations come up. The player who slaps the pile first gets to take the pile. Just like in the earlier section, the player that takes the entire pile then plays the first card to start the pile. If more than one player slaps the pile and it is not clear who slapped the pile first, then the game continues as if the slap never happened. The card combinations that allow for slapping include:

a. Two of the same card, typically called “doubles” b. Two of the same card that are above and below a different type of

card, typically called “sandwich”. c. Three cards in a row of ascending or descending order such as 5,6,7 or

K,Q,J or in a sequence such as K,A,2 If a player slaps the pile of cards when there is not a valid card combination, that player “burns a card” by taking a card, turning it over, and placing it at the bottom of the center card pile.

Losing and Winning the Game

5. Players are eliminated from the game when they run out of cards.

6. A player wins when they get all the cards or when all the other players have lost their cards.

Variations

Variations 9

Variations Slap In Players that have been eliminated may slap the pile if the opportunity arises, and start playing in the game again. If an eliminated player falsely slaps 3 times, they may not slap for the duration of the game. Wild Card Start by adding the jokers to the decks. Whenever a joker is played, players may slap. This variation is also useful in making the number of cards given to each player even.

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Top Bottom If the first card at the bottom of the current stack matches the top card, the players may slap.

Texas’ Rules During a slap, players try to take as many cards as possible, instead of all cards going to the first player to slap Tens If two consecutive cards add up to equal 10, the players may slap.

Variations 11

Face Card Values The face card values change to be as follows:

• Ace: One chance • King: two chances • Queen: three chances • Jack: four chances

Marriage If a queen and king are played together, such as K,Q or Q,K, the players may slap.

Index 13

Indexdoubles, 5 face card, 4, 11 joker, 9

sandwich, 5 sequence, 5