How to Play Slapjack: Rules for the Fast Card Game

A card flips, a jack stares up from the pile, and four hands hit the table at once. If you want to know how to play Slapjack, the good news is that you can learn it in about a minute. The hard part is being fast enough. This guide covers the deal, the slap, the penalty for slapping the wrong card, the last chance after you run out, and the variations families play.

What you need

The Slapjack card game needs nothing more than one standard 52-card deck with the jokers removed. There are no points to count and no card values to remember. Only the four jacks matter, so it is a common first card game for young kids.

You can play with two people, but the game is more chaotic and more fun with a bigger group. Classic rule sets allow any reasonable number from two upward, and a bigger table makes for wilder races. Wikipedia’s Slapjack article notes that the game is also called Slaps and sometimes Heart Attack.

One practical tip before you start: agree that slaps are flat-handed and friendly. Rings, long nails and excited eight-year-olds can turn a pile of cards into a first-aid session.

The deal

Shuffle and deal the whole deck face down, one card at a time, as evenly as you can. With three players, one person ends up with an extra card, and that is fine. The small difference rarely matters, because the cards change hands constantly.

Each player squares their cards into a neat face-down stack in front of them. Nobody looks at their own cards. You won’t know what you are about to play until it is already on the table.

How to play Slapjack: flipping cards

Play goes clockwise. On your turn, take the top card of your stack and turn it face up onto the center pile. There is no choice involved, since you always play the top card.

The flip has one rule of etiquette that matters a lot. Turn the card away from you, so that everyone else sees it at the same moment you do. If you flip it toward yourself, you get a head start on the slap, which is not fair to the table.

Many players flip with one hand and slap with the other. Wikipedia describes players slapping with the hand they did not use to play the card, which keeps the person flipping from simply leaving their hand on the pile.

Keep flipping in turn until a jack appears. Every other card just builds the pile higher.

Slapjack rules for slapping

The moment a jack lands face up on top of the pile, every player may slap it, including the player who flipped it. The first player whose hand covers the jack wins the entire pile.

When several people slap at nearly the same time, the player whose hand is on the bottom, touching the card, wins. In a close race, it helps to have a referee, or at least a player who is honest about whose hand landed first.

The winner adds the pile to the bottom of their own stack, face down. Some rule sets simply put the cards on the bottom of the stack, while Wikipedia’s version has the winner shuffle the pile first. Shuffling is a good habit, because it stops the same run of cards from coming around again in the same order. Play then continues with the player to the left of the one who won the cards.

Slapping the wrong card

A slap on anything other than a jack is a mistake, and it costs you. Under the classic rules, you must give the top card of your stack, face down, to the player who flipped the card you wrongly slapped. That player adds it to their own stack.

Queens and kings cause most of these false slaps. At a glance, a face card in the corner of your eye looks a lot like a jack, and one twitch is enough to lose a card.

Buried jacks

If nobody slaps a jack before the next card is flipped on top of it, the chance is gone. The jack stays in the pile, and the whole stack goes to whoever slaps the next jack. Wikipedia describes this rule for a jack that gets covered before anyone slaps it.

Running out of cards and winning

Running out of cards does not knock you out right away. When you have played your last card, you skip your turns, but you can still slap the next jack that appears.

• If you win that jack, you take the pile and you are back in the game.
• If someone else wins it, you are out.
• If you slap a card that is not a jack, you are out as well, since you have no card to pay the penalty with.

The game goes on until one player holds every card, or, put another way, until everyone else has used up their last chance. That player wins. Slapjack can run long with a big group, so some groups set an optional time limit, with the player holding the most cards at the end declared the winner.

Common variations

The basic Slapjack rules are simple, so many groups bolt on extras. These are the ones you are most likely to meet:

• Call it out: in one popular version from Wikipedia, you must shout “Slapjack” as you slap, or the slap doesn’t count. Call it over a card that isn’t a jack and the other players divide the pile between them.
• Snap: a related children’s game where you react to a matching pair of cards instead of a jack.
• Irish Snap: players call out ranks in order, ace, two, three and so on, while flipping. When the flipped card matches the called rank, everyone slaps, and the last player to slap picks up the pile. Here the goal is to get rid of your cards.
• Egyptian Ratscrew: the big sibling of Slapjack. It adds face-card challenges and lets you slap patterns such as doubles and sandwiches. Our free Egyptian Ratscrew game lets you try it against the computer.

Some families also let a player keep slapping back in more than once, which makes games longer but keeps small kids from sitting out for ages. Agree on any house rules before the deal.

Tips for faster slaps

Watch the pile, not the players. Your eyes should stay on the spot where the next card lands. Glancing at someone’s stack or face costs you the tenths of a second that decide a slap.

Check for the J. Queens and kings are the trap cards. Train yourself to look for the J in the corner rather than reacting to any picture card.

Keep your hand close. A slap from a hand resting near the table beats one that has to travel from your lap. Just don’t hover so close that the other players complain.

Flip quickly and fairly. On your own turn, a smooth flip away from you keeps the game moving and keeps you in the habit of seeing the card at the same instant as everyone else.

Stay calm when you are out. With no cards left, you have exactly one shot. Waiting for a real jack is far better than a nervous slap on a queen, which ends your game.

Play Slapjack online

You can practice your reactions without a deck. Our free Slapjack game runs in your browser against one, two or three computer players with Easy, Normal or Fast reactions. It follows the rules above: the deck is dealt out evenly, the first slap on a jack takes the shuffled pile, a wrong slap hands your top card to the player who flipped that card, and running out leaves you one chance to slap back in. It also times every jack you win, so you can watch your reaction time drop.

Press Space, tap the Slap button or tap the pile to slap, and press Enter or tap your deck to flip.

Frequently asked questions

How many players can play Slapjack?

Slapjack works with two or more players using one deck. Two players is fine for practice, but the game gets livelier with three to six. With a very big group, cards change hands so fast that a time limit can help.

Do you shuffle the cards you win in Slapjack?

It depends on the rules you follow. Some rule sets just put the won pile on the bottom of your stack, while Wikipedia’s version has you shuffle it first. Shuffling keeps the game less predictable, so most groups do it.

What happens if you slap a card that isn’t a jack?

You pay a penalty. Under the standard rules you give the top card of your stack, face down, to the player who flipped the card you slapped. If you have no cards left, a wrong slap knocks you out of the game.

Can you get back in after running out of cards?

Yes, once. When your stack is empty, you can still slap the next jack. Win it and you are back in with the whole pile. If anyone else wins that jack, you are out.

Is the slap jack card game related to blackjack?

No. Despite the similar name, Slapjack is a family slapping game with no betting and no card values to add up. The only thing that matters is spotting the jacks first.

Conclusion

Slapjack is about as simple as card games get: deal everything, flip in turn, slap the jacks and pay a card for every false alarm. That simplicity is why it has lasted at kitchen tables for generations. Try the rules on our free online Slapjack table, and when you want a different kind of reflex test, the Chrome Dino game is waiting on our homepage.