Egyptian Ratscrew

Egyptian Ratscrew is a speed and pattern matching competitive game played with a standard deck of cards.

Players take turns playing cards face up on the stack in the middle of the table. If the card played is a number card play passes to the next player on the right.

This continues around the table until a player puts down a face card

(J, Q, K, or A).

When a face card is played, the next person in the sequence must play another face card in order for play to continue.

If a player has no cards or runs out they are skipped.

If the next person in the sequence does not play a face card within the limit

[1 for J, 2 for Q, 3 for K, 4 for A]

the person who played the last face card wins the cards in the middle and all burn cards. The winner begins the next round of play.

At anytime one of the two following conditions are met player can attempt to “slap” the play stack to try and win the cards.

– When the top two cards are the same value. Ex: 2,2 || Q,Q

– When the top card and the third card are the same value

Ex: 2,J,2 || Q,5,Q

If a player slaps and either condition is not met they must burn a card by placing the top card from their stack faceup in the burn pile [misplayed pile].

Additionally if a player plays out of sequence or tries to take a pile they did not win they must also burn a card.

When only one player can play any cards they are declared the winner.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Ratscrew