# Egyptian Ratscrew (the card game) variant rules you use or have heard of. **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 5, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-ratscrew-the-card-game-variant-rules-you-use-or-have-heard-of/573552 "2011-03-05T02:04:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-ratscrew-the-card-game-variant-rules-you-use-or-have-heard-of/573552/1 "2011-03-05T02:04:11Z")
What beyond-basic rules do you like for Egyptian Ratscrew? Such as: sandwiches (e.g. 3 - K - 3) marriages (e.g. K - Q) gay marriages (e.g. J - K) (K - K etc. are already slappable as doubles) 69 (e.g. 6 - 9) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-ratscrew-the-card-game-variant-rules-you-use-or-have-heard-of/573552/2 "2011-03-05T18:00:26Z")
Wow, other people have heard of Egyptian Ratscrew? I assume that slapping on jokers is considered a basic rule, right? We used to always do that. Plus, anyone in the room could slap in, even if they didn’t start in the game. Oh, and also, the group I used to play with had a houserule “no weapons first round”. Slapping on unmatched face cards would only get you laughed at, as would mistaking the Ace of Spades for a joker. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-ratscrew-the-card-game-variant-rules-you-use-or-have-heard-of/573552/3 "2011-03-05T22:49:58Z")
I always stuck with the traditional rules. But we usually called the game ERS, so, until Chronos described it, I didn’t recognize the name. I think we may have once played with wild deuces. In other words, a face card followed by a 2 or a 2 followed by a face card would count. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-ratscrew-the-card-game-variant-rules-you-use-or-have-heard-of/573552/4 "2011-03-05T23:40:10Z")
Ha ha I get it this is like one of those “games” where everyone just makes up the rules as they go along except for one poor sucker who’s not in on the joke, right? Right? ([Oh. Never mind.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Ratscrew)) (Yet even in the wiki I see hilarious “rules” like “slapping is called ‘mitching’ if blood is drawn.” :p) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-ratscrew-the-card-game-variant-rules-you-use-or-have-heard-of/573552/5 "2011-03-06T07:26:30Z")
I had no idea that doubles weren’t always a slap… In my circle of friends, slaps were doubles or Jokers, nothing else. IIRC, the penalty for a false slap was two cards to the bottom of the stack (no judgment calls as to whether it was justified), false-slapping with no cards put you two cards in debt, and false-slapping while in debt meant you had to leave the room (and hence couldn’t slap back in). ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-ratscrew-the-card-game-variant-rules-you-use-or-have-heard-of/573552/6 "2011-03-06T19:40:32Z")
comedy on the WP article: > [@](#): > > And if the three "6"s are laid at once(one person puts down a 6 the next person puts down a 6 and a third person also does) you must burn the deck with pine and a cross sticking out of the fire because getting those "6"s means your deck is possesed. Yeah, it’s not the greatest, but it’s best I’ve seen on WP in a long while. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-ratscrew-the-card-game-variant-rules-you-use-or-have-heard-of/573552/7 "2011-03-06T20:56:23Z")
Of course, in the standard rules, that’d never happen anyway, because the first two 6s would get slapped. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-ratscrew-the-card-game-variant-rules-you-use-or-have-heard-of/573552/8 "2011-03-07T02:57:45Z")
Gotta play with top-bottoms! ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-ratscrew-the-card-game-variant-rules-you-use-or-have-heard-of/573552/9 "2011-03-07T18:19:00Z")
I’ve never heard of slapping Jokers, in fact, I’ve never played the game with Jokers at all. The only rules we ever used were double, sandwich, and occasionally a wildcard. ---
**Author:** ![Koldanar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@Koldanar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koldanar)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-ratscrew-the-card-game-variant-rules-you-use-or-have-heard-of/573552/10 "2011-03-07T19:06:42Z")
The only house rule I recall that differed from the standard rules above was me and my friend (as freshmen hanging around juniors / seniors) had to sit there and observe to learn the game; no asking questions. And one of the players was a linebacker for the football team…we learned how to slap and GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE fast. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-ratscrew-the-card-game-variant-rules-you-use-or-have-heard-of/573552/11 "2011-03-07T21:27:59Z")
> [@](#): > > And one of the players was a linebacker for the football team…we learned how to slap and GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE fast. The Wikipedia entry says that’s of debatable legality, but I agree: I can’t fathom anyone not at least trying to get their hand (and the pile) out of the way before the next slap. One rather humorous moment I recall, I had laid down a face card, and the next player didn’t get a face, so I reached to grab the pile… And ended up being the first “slap” without even noticing that there were doubles showing. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-ratscrew-the-card-game-variant-rules-you-use-or-have-heard-of/573552/12 "2011-03-07T21:38:20Z")
Out of wonder, did anybody have any house rules for “slapping?” I might just be that awesome, but generally when I played I came in low, more of a straight line from the table to the pile rather and then hit the cards with my hands. My peers did some comically over-exaggerated slap using their whole arm, I usually won slaps if I noticed them anywhere near the same time everyone else did. It must have been legal in our games, because I never got called out on it, but I’ve always wondered if you have to start from “high up” when you slap as some sort of convention. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-ratscrew-the-card-game-variant-rules-you-use-or-have-heard-of/573552/13 "2011-03-07T23:58:13Z")
The only rule I’ve seen is that the person who played the card must pull his hand back again before slapping (exactly how far back was a matter of “you know it when you see it”). Flying under the radar as you described would be just fine, with the caveat that if you came in too low and accidentally scattered the cards you’d be a target for public ridicule. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptian-ratscrew-the-card-game-variant-rules-you-use-or-have-heard-of/573552/14 "2011-03-17T04:10:43Z")
Of course, I thought my Cousin was crazy for teaching me this game, and then I find a related game, that I know as Beggar your neighbor: > **[Rules of Card Games: Beggar My Neighbour](https://www.pagat.com/war/beggar_my_neighbour.html)** > > A children's card game for two players in which the opponents must pay 4 cards for an ace, 3 for a king, 2 for a queen and 1 for a jack. The aim is to collect all the cards. Slapping matches would be about it for me, and we lived for it, because the game got old fast. Are you sure you don’t want to play > **[Rules of Card Games: Mao](https://www.pagat.com/eights/mao.html)** > > Information on the card game Mao in which new players joining a game are not allowed to be told the rules. or > **[President - Card Game Rules](https://www.pagat.com/climbing/president.html)** > > Rules and variants of President, a card game played in many countries and known by many names such as Scum, Bum, Asshole and Trouduc. That both have more make up your own rules as you go along?