Slapjack — rules card
Print this page on one sheet, one side only ,
in landscape . Then:
Crease each FOLD line and fold the sheet up like a concertina.
Crease the two FOLD & TEAR edges and tear the spare paper off against the crease.
The top and left edges are the sheet's own — leave them alone.
No scissors, no double-sided printing. 4 panels, 4x1 accordion.
If the print preview shows a tall page, set the
orientation to landscape by hand — some browsers ignore the page setup
this sheet asks for, and the fold marks only line up on a wide sheet.
Slapjack
2 to 4 players · one standard 52-card deck
THE IDEA
• Turn cards onto a middle pile, one at a time.
When a Jack shows, the first player to slap it
takes the whole pile.
THE DEAL
• Shuffle and deal the whole deck one card at
a time, face down. Nobody looks at their
cards.
A TURN
• In turn, each player turns the top card of
their pile face up onto the middle pile, away
from themselves, so nobody sees it first.
• A player with no cards is skipped, but may
slap the next Jack to get back in. If nobody
can turn a card, the last to play takes the
middle pile back.
SLAPPING
• Slap a Jack first and the middle pile goes
under your own pile. You turn the next card.
• Slap any other card and your top card goes
face down under the middle pile. With no
cards left to pay, a wrong slap puts you out.
• A slap just after the Jack was taken is too
late, and does nothing.
THE END
• Whoever ends up with every card, or is the
only player left in, wins. If you are out, the
game is over for you.
• A game can run long, so it stops after 600
cards have been turned, and whoever holds
the most cards wins.
WORDS THIS GAME USES
Middle pile — The cards turned face up in the
middle. Whoever slaps a Jack on it takes
them all.
Slap — Your hand flat on the middle pile. First
on a Jack wins the pile.
Wrong slap — A slap on a card that is not a
Jack. It costs your top card.
Out — A player with no cards who slapped
wrong. They take no more part.
WHERE THESE CAME FROM
Pagat.com — Slapjack. A folk game with no
authority. Pagat records the common form;
households differ on what a wrong slap costs.
w.richardpringle.com/games/slapjack/
▲ FOLD ▼
▲ FOLD ▼
▲ FOLD ▼
FOLD & TEAR