Slapjack Rules

Slapjack (also written Slap Jack, and sometimes called Slaps) is a fast card game where players turn cards over one at a time onto a shared pile and race to slap every Jack. The first hand on the Jack wins the whole pile, and the player who ends up with all 52 cards wins the game. It needs no skill beyond quick reactions, which makes it one of the first card games many children learn, and it plays well with anywhere from two to eight people. This guide covers the Slapjack rules: the deal, how to play, slapping and penalties, what happens when you run out of cards, variations, tips and the odds.

Slapjack Rules at a Glance

How to Play Slapjack

1. Deal. Shuffle and deal the whole deck face down, one card at a time, until every card is out. Nobody looks at their cards: each player squares theirs into a neat face-down stack.
2. Play a card. Starting with the player to the dealer’s left, each player in turn takes the top card of their stack and turns it face up onto a pile in the middle of the table.
3. Turn it away from you. Flip the card so that the other players see it at the same moment you do, or slightly before. Peeking before you play is not allowed.
4. Slap the Jack. When a Jack is played, everyone tries to slap it, hand flat on the pile. The first player to touch it wins every card in the pile.
5. Collect the pile. The winner turns the pile face down, puts it under their own stack and shuffles it in. Play continues from the player to the winner’s left.
6. Keep going until one player has all the cards. That player wins.

Slapping Rules

• Who wins a tie: when several players slap at once, the player whose hand is underneath, touching the cards, takes the pile. Some families settle close calls with rock, paper, scissors.
• Slapping the wrong card: if you slap a card that is not a Jack, give the top card of your stack, face down, to the player who played that card. They add it to the bottom of their stack.
• Use the other hand: many players agree that you may only slap with the hand you did not use to turn your card, so the player whose turn it is gets no head start.
• A covered Jack: if the next player turns a card onto the Jack before anyone slaps it, that Jack can no longer be won. The pile carries on until the next Jack.

Running Out of Cards

A player with no cards left does not drop out straight away. They skip their turns but stay in the game until the next Jack is played. If they slap that Jack first, they win the pile and are back in. If someone else gets it, or if they slap a card that is not a Jack in the meantime, they are out.

How to Win Slapjack

The game ends when one player holds all 52 cards. Games can run long, so many groups play to a time limit instead: when the time is up, the player holding the most cards wins.

Slapjack Variations

Slapjack vs Egyptian Rat Screw and Snap

If Slapjack starts to feel too simple, Egyptian Rat Screw is the natural next step: it keeps the slapping and adds face-card challenges.

Slapjack Tips

• Keep your slapping hand ready flat on the table beside your stack, not in your lap. Most groups do not allow hovering over the pile.
• Watch the card, not the player. A Jack is the only card with a slap on it, and the face picture is easy to pick out once you stop looking at anything else.
• Do not guess. A wrong slap costs you a card every time, and over a long game that adds up.
• When you are out of cards, concentrate: the next Jack is your only chance to get back in.
• For young children, play without the wrong-slap penalty at first, or with a time limit so the game does not drag on.

Slapjack Odds

• Jacks: one card in 13 is a Jack, and from a freshly dealt deck the first Jack turns up on card 10.6 on average. There is a 41% chance that the first ten cards played contain no Jack at all.
• The deal: in a four-player game, 30% of players are dealt no Jacks in their 13 cards. With two players, each player has a 5.5% chance of being dealt no Jacks, and the same chance of being dealt all four.
• Game length: a two-player game takes 140 cards played in the median game and about 17 Jacks slapped; a four-player game takes 200 cards and about 22 Jacks. About one game in 13 with four players runs past 500 cards, which is why a time limit is popular.
• Speed: in a two-player game, a player who wins 55% of the slaps wins 65% of games; at 60% of the slaps it is 79%, and at 75% it is 98%. With four players, one player twice as fast as each of the others wins 71% of games.

The deal figures are exact. Game length and speed figures come from 40,000 simulated games per player count under the rules above.

More Fast Card Games

For another game of pure reflexes, try Snap or Irish Snap. Spit is a race to empty your hand, and Spoons adds a grab for the spoons in the middle of the table.

The game without slapping: War, two piles and the higher card wins.

Slapjack: frequently asked questions