Egyptian Rat Screw

What you need & setup

1. Shuffle the 52-card deck well and deal it all out face down as evenly as possible.
2. Each player squares their cards into a face-down stack — no looking at your cards, ever.
3. Clear the center of the table for the shared pile, within comfortable slapping reach of everyone.
4. Agree on the slap rules in force (doubles and sandwiches are standard; see variations for more) and on the false-slap penalty.
5. Agree how cards must be flipped — away from yourself, in one motion — and pick a starting player.

Turn sequence

1. On your turn, flip the top card of your stack onto the center pile, turning it away from yourself so everyone sees it together.
2. If the flip creates a slappable pattern — like a double or a sandwich — anyone may slap the pile; first clean hand on top takes the whole pile.
3. If you flip a face card or an Ace, the next player enters a challenge: they must flip a face card or Ace of their own within a set number of chances (Ace 4, King 3, Queen 2, Jack 1).
4. If the challenged player fails, the challenger takes the entire pile; if they flip a face card or Ace instead, the challenge passes to the next player.
5. Slaps stay legal even during challenges — a double or sandwich mid-challenge goes to the fastest hand.
6. Won piles go face down under your stack. Players who run out of cards can slap back in (standard rule); the player who ends up with all 52 cards wins.

Slap rules: doubles and sandwiches

The two universal slap patterns: a double is two cards of the same rank in a row (7♦ then 7♠ — slap!), and a sandwich is two cards of the same rank separated by exactly one other card (7♦, K♣, 7♠ — slap!).

The first hand fully on the pile wins it. Later hands stack on top and win nothing except sore knuckles. An impartial-ish player (or the bottom hand itself) settles disputed slaps.

Slapping is always allowed the instant a pattern appears, no matter whose turn it is or whether a face-card challenge is running. Speed beats everything.

Face-card challenges

When someone flips a face card or an Ace, the next player must answer it by flipping another face card or Ace within a limited number of flips: 4 chances after an Ace, 3 after a King, 2 after a Queen, and just 1 after a Jack.

If all their chances produce only number cards, the challenge fails and the player who laid the face card takes the entire center pile.

If they DO flip a face card or Ace, the pressure reverses instantly: the next player around the table now faces a fresh challenge from that new card. Long challenge chains build enormous piles.

False slaps and penalties

Slapping a pile with no valid pattern costs you: the standard penalty is 'burning' one card — sliding your top card face down under the center pile — before play resumes.

Some tables burn two cards, or make the false slapper sit out the next legal slap. Agree before the first flip, because false slaps happen constantly at speed.

Cards must be flipped away from you in one crisp motion. Peeking at your card early, hovering flips, or slow-rolling to time your own slap are fouls at any respectable table.

Running out of cards and winning

In the standard game, running out of cards does not eliminate you: you can no longer flip, but you may still slap back in — one clean slap on a legal pile restocks your whole game.

Some stricter tables give card-less players a limited window (say, three rounds) to slap back in before they are out for good.

The game ends when one player holds all 52 cards. If that takes too long, set a timer — the biggest stack when it rings wins.

Scoring & how the game ends

• No points — the cards you capture are the score.
• The standard win is collecting the entire deck.
• With a time limit, the player holding the most cards when time expires wins.
• For a session, count game wins (or timed wins) across several rounds.

Winning: Collect all 52 cards through slaps and won challenges (or hold the most when a time limit ends).

Common variations

These are genuine regional and house-rule differences — none of them is “the one true way” to play. Agree with your table before starting.

• Extra slap patterns

  Popular add-ons: top-bottom (pile's new card matches the very first card), runs of three in sequence (5-6-7), marriage (King then Queen together), and tens (two adjacent cards summing to ten).

  Common: Widespread; every school and dorm has its own bundle.

• No slap-ins

  Once you are out of cards you are out of the game, making early piles far more precious.

  Common: Stricter tables and tournament-style play.

• Beggar-My-Neighbour mode

  Play with the face-card challenges only, no slapping at all — the traditional ancestor game, entirely luck-driven and great for younger kids.

  Common: Traditional British play under its own name.

• Burn penalties by table

  False slaps cost one card, two cards, or a full skipped turn depending on the table; some houses make the burn go under the pile face up as bait.

  Common: Varies everywhere — always agree before playing.

A little history

Egyptian Rat Screw appears to combine the slapping mechanic of games like Slapjack with the face-card challenge structure of the traditional British game Beggar-My-Neighbour; its exact origin and the story behind its name are unclear.

It spread widely through schools, camps, and college dorms in the late 20th century, largely by word of mouth — which is why house rules vary so much.