Egyptian Rat Screw (ERS)

ERS is a fast paced game which can accomodate a wide range of number of players.

Deal an entire standard deck of 52 cards face down to all players. The goal is to collect all the cards into ones own stack.

Players pick up their cards and hold them in a stack face down. On each turn a player flips the top card of their stack face up onto the stack in the middle of the table. If the card played creates a matching condition or is a special card (see below) players race to slap the stack. Being the first to slap wins that player the stack, which they pick up into the bottom of their own. The player who picks up the stack then plays the next card. Play begins with the player to the left of the dealer and proceeds clockwise.

Matching Conditions

A variety of matching conditions may be played, and usually players agree on a set of rules before beginning the game.

Some common rules include:

• Doubles: two cards of the same rank are played in a row.
• Sandwich: two cards of the same rank are played with any single card between them.
• Marriage: a queen is played on a king or a king is played on a queen.
• Top and Bottom: a card is played which matches the rank of the bottom card of the stack.
• Two to Ten: two cards are played which sum to ten. (Aces are worth one.)

Some less common rules include:

• Run: three or more sequential values cards are played in a row.
• Add to Ten: the last set of cards (any number) sum to ten.

Keep in mind that some rules may overlap with others. For example, if a player plays a run of three cards and the last two sum to ten, then there are two matching conditions and players should slap regardless.

Special Cards

ERS can be played with or without special cards which introduce some luck into the game. The special cards are ranked in order Jack, Queen, King, and Ace. When a special card is played the next player has a corresponding number of chances to play another special card. If the next player successfully plays a special card then the next player now has to do the same. This continues until some player fails to play a special card. The last player who played a special card then wins the stack.

• Jack: one chance
• Queen: two chances
• King: three chances
• Ace: four chances

Penalties

You can choose to play ERS in a strict or relaxed manner. When playing strictly consider introducing penalties.

• Slapping in error: a player who slapped when there is no match must give their top card to the player who played the last card.
• Out of turn: a player who plays out of turn must give their top card to the player whose turn it was.
• Missed slap: a player who places the next card when there was a match in the stack discards their top card into a discard pile, which is picked up along with the stack on the next successful slap.

Slapping In

Optionally players may agree to allow slapping-in to the game. Players who have no cards may still slap the stack. This can make it very difficult to complete a game.