Slap Jack

Slap Jack is likely the easiest of all card games to learn and play. It does not require any sequencing or matching skills. This game is so simple players don't even need to know their numbers. Children enjoy games with simple rules and quick play.

Object of the Game

Be the player to accumulate all the cards.

What You'll Need

  • A standard deck of playing cards.
  • A playing surface where players can all face each other.

Setting Up the Game

2 to 5 players sit in a circle facing each other. The oldest player is the dealer. The dealer shuffles the cards and deals them face down to each player until all cards have been dealt. It does not matter if players do not all receive the same number of cards. Each player places their cards in a neat face down stack without looking at them.

Playing Slap Jack

The player to the left of the dealer goes first.

They take the top card from their stack and place it face up in the center of the playing area. The next player to the the left then places their top card face up on top of the previous players card. Play continues until a players lays down a Jack.
As soon as the Jack appears, all players slap their hand down on top of it.

The first player to slap the Jack wins the round and adds the pile of cards to the bottom of their stack.

Play begins again with the player to the left of the successful slapper.

If a player gets excited and slaps any card other than a Jack, they must give each player a card from their stack.

A player who runs out of cards is not automatically out of the game, instead they must carefully watch while the game continues. If they are the first one to slap when a Jack appears they take the pile and rejoin the game. If they are not the first to slap the Jack then they are out of the game.

Winning the Game

The player who collects all the cards is the winner.

Card Games

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