Egyptian Ratscrew

Collect every card. You win cards in two ways: when a player fails to answer your court card, and when you are first to slap the pile at the right moment. Reflexes count as much as luck.

A 52-card deck, without jokers. Two or more players: the only limit is being able to reach the pile, and the Marquoir score sheet takes up to six.

1. 1Shuffle and deal all the cards, face down, as evenly as possible.
2. 2Each player makes a pile in front of them without looking at it. You always play the top card without knowing what it is.
3. 3The player to the dealer’s left starts; play then goes clockwise.

1. 1On their turn, the player flips the top card of their pile and places it face up in the middle, on the shared pile.
2. 2They flip it away from themselves, towards the others: they must not see it before the others do.
3. 3If it is a card from 2 to 10, it is the next player’s turn.

When a player plays an Ace or a court card, the next player must answer by turning up an Ace or a court card of their own. They get a set number of tries:

• Ace: four cards;
• King: three cards;
• Queen: two cards;
• Jack: one card.

As soon as they turn up an Ace or a court card, they stop: the next player must answer their card. If they use up their tries without turning one up, whoever played the last court card takes the whole central pile and slides it under their own pile. They then play again.

Everyone watches the pile. When two cards of the same rank follow each other (an 8 on an 8), that is a pair: you slap the pile with the flat of your hand. The first hand down takes the whole pile, even if it was not that player’s turn, and its owner starts again. If several hands land, the one at the bottom wins. Many tables add the sandwich: two cards of the same rank with just one other between them (an 8, a King, an 8). Say before you start whether you play it.

A slap for no reason costs one card: the culprit takes it from their pile and slides it under the central pile. Some tables ask for two or three, others make the culprit give one or two cards to each of the other players. Without a penalty, everyone would slap at random.

If the player who must answer a court card runs out of cards, the next player carries on with the tries that are left. A player with no cards no longer plays a card, but stays on the lookout: if they are first to slap a pair, they take the pile and are back in. They are only out once another player has won everything.

The player who holds all the cards wins the round. People often play several, and the Marquoir score sheet records how many each player has won.

Beyond the pair, when you may slap varies a lot: the sandwich, the run (cards of consecutive ranks: two at some tables, four at others), the ten (two cards in a row adding up to 10), the marriage (a King and a Queen on top of each other). Each one makes the game livelier, and each one starts arguments: announce the ones you keep.

• Hold your pile in one hand and keep the other for playing and slapping, without letting it hover over the pile: that is frowned upon.
• Watch the pile, not your own card: you win by seeing the pair coming.
• Flip your card quickly, away from yourself, and take your hand away at once: flipping it towards you gives you an advantage, and counts as cheating.