Slapjack Rules: How to play it with killer variations GAMBLERS April 27, 2014 Home, slapjack Slapjack is a game played by children with a single deck. They are played by children as their introduction to cards. It is also known as “Snap” or “Heart Attack.” There are two variations of this game. 1st Version Acquire all the cards with slapping jack only. How to play Slapjack A standard 52 card deck is equally divided among all the players. A player will turn a card face up within the reach of other on the playing surface. A pile would be started until a jack comes up as every player takes his turn. As soon as the card turned out to be a jack all the players will try to slap with the hand they used in play. Player who succeed in doing so will collect all the card, shuffle it and add to the bottom of his pile. Jack would not be counted. If a player runs out of cards he has one more chance to come back in the game by slapping the next stack when a jack comes up. If he fails to do so, he is out of the game and game would be continued till one player out of all acquires all the cards. Players 3-4 Age Kids Decks Used Standard Slapjack Rules You must place the card so that every player has seen it at least once. It would be best if the card is move to the center of table face down and then turn face up. In case more than 1 player slap, the player who has his hands in contact with the cards first would take the pile. You can appoint a referee. if a player slaps a card other than jack, than he has to give the top card face down to the player he thought has placed jack as penalty. Player acquiring all the cards would win. In case the winner is not decided you can decide time limit. Player with most cards would win within the time limit. 2nd Version Cards are slapped when a match card is called. The player collects the entire card who slaps the last with the objective to get rid of the cards. 2nd Version Players 4-10 Decks Used Standard Single deck Object Get rid of all the cards. Skills Developed Fast Reflexes and Visual Alertness It was introduced in British also known as Osiris Atom-Ra. Anyone can deal first. Each player would be dealt with 1 card in clockwise rotation until all cards has been dealt. It is possible that cards do not come even to every player but they would be distributed clockwise and player on his turn would be dealt with card. After collecting cards, each player make a net pile. Game commence when the player place a card to the center of the table from face up to face down as in 1st Version. The first card is put down by dealer who shouts “Ace”. The next player shouts “Two” when he places the card. The counting would be continued while placing card till Ten, Jack, King, Queen and the process would be repeated from Ace again. This time player who has his turn after Queen will proclaim “Ace” regardless of whether he is dealer or not. If the player shouts the same as card value every player will slap the card putting the palm downwards on the table. The last player to do so, whose hand is at the top would collect all the entire pile. Play commence again with the left of the player who collects pile shouting “Ace”. Game ends when there is only one player who still has cards. If the player places his hand on the pile and the card value does not match the value being called, then he must collect the pile. Slapjack Variations Snap It is game designed for children. This game deck features famous children or characters from the famous cartoons and movies. For old children the complexities of the game soars up. A single deck is used. This game is best for 2 or more players. All the cards are dealt turn by turn and they may not come out to be even. After all the cards are dealt, each player places a card from his pile to the center of table from facedown to face up. If the two consecutive cards comes out to be identical, then player have to shout “SNAP” and place his hand on the top of pile. The 1st player to do so will take the pile and place them at the bottom his stack. The player who acquires all the cards wins the game. Another variation of SNAP is player while placing his hands over the pile he has to simultaneously shout “SLAPJACK”. Player fails to do so would not pile. If a player covers the pile while shouting “SLAPJACK” and the top card does not turn out to be a jack then players except him will divide the pile. Alternative rules All the jokers are excluded from a single deck. The cards are then dealt equally and player is not permitted to look at the cards. Turn buy turn, starting with the dealers left in clockwise direction each player will place a card to the center of table face up. The face value of the card has to be proclaimed by the player. The game would be continued like the 2nd version but the players who got rid of their cards will also participate in it. They won’t be having a card to put down but would do the counting. Consider two players X and Y. Y got rid of all the cards. X has the cards. X places a 10 and shouts “9” then everyone will slap the pile as soon as Y shouts 10. Additional Variation Player who place consecutively two cards identical, have to snap their heads slightly before placing their hand over the pile. They will not be permitted to collect the pile if they do not snap their heads. Game would be continues if players fails to touch their head. Players who snap their heads before cards turning out to be identical will lose the pile to other players. They will distribute the pile evenly among themselves and if there are only three players, they will lose it to the third player. This rule adds excitement and humor among children. Irish Snap It is played with the objective to lose cards as possible. There would be one player who lost and that he has to take a forfeit decided by other players. Extreme Irish Snap It is also known as “Ultimate SNAP”. It is an advanced version of Irish Snap. Irish Snap All players would SNAP when there are two identical cards. Conventional Snap Player would SNAP when there is identical rank to one card beneath the current top card. Silent Sevens Players have to treat Seven (or any other rank) as silent. It will not be counted and players do not have to shout. They have to keep in mind the silent rule until a Seven (or any other rank) comes up and cancels the rule. Runs If there cards comes in ascending or descending order, players would snap. For example, 7,8,9 or 5,4,3. Sandwiches Players snap the cards as soon as there is a sandwich in pile. For Example 4, 8, 4 or Queen, 9, Queen, 9. King Salutes Snaps are making on Kings instead of Jacks. They have to salute when a king comes up and then snap on the pile. There is no end of adding variations to this game. In Irish snap if a player has made two fast snaps in a row can add another rule of his own. Irregularities The cards would be reshuffled if a card is exposed in dealing.
