Slapjack Rules & How to Play | Complete Guide to Slapjack
What is Slapjack
Slapjack is a simple, but fun matching card game for all ages where players must pay close attention to every card flipped. If a jack is turned over, players race to slap the pile and earn on the cards in the stack. But slap the wrong card and you get penalized one card from your deck. Slapjack is an accumulation card game where the goal is to get all the cards in the deck.
Objective
Get all cards in the deck by being the fastest to slap jacks and win piles of cards.
Number of Players
2+
Equipment / What you need
All you need to play Slapjack is a standard 52-card deck of playing cards. If you go beyond 8 players, add another deck of cards.
Game Length
10-15 minutes.
Age
4+. This game is good for all ages because of its simplicity. Players just need to be able to identify if a card is a jack or not a jack. No math or other number sense is involved.
Slapjack skills
- Social skills: Players learn turn taking skills, how to follow rules, and communicating with other players.
- Awareness and focus: Players must pay attention to every card flipped to determine if it’s a jack so that they can move quickly to slap the pile.
- Fine motor skills & hand-eye coordination: Players use fine motor skills when flipping the cards and hand-eye coordination when slapping the pile.
Why We Like it For Kids and Families
Slapjack is a simple, yet fun, game to play. It’s a a great card game for all ages because it doesn’t require any math skills or strategy.
How to Play Slapjack
1: Grab 2 or more players and a standard deck of playing cards
Slapjack is played with 2 or more players, but we think it’s best with 4-6 players. If you go beyond 8 players, we recommend adding another deck of cards.
2: Determine who goes first
Have each player draw one card from the deck. The highest card is the dealer, with Aces being high.
3: Set up the game by shuffling and dealing
The dealer shuffles the deck, then deals the cards one at a time to each player, starting with the player to their left. Some players may end up with one more card than other players and that’s ok.
Players do not look at their cards, but instead hold their stack of cards, face down in one of their hands.
4: Play the first turn
Play begins with the player left of the dealer, who flips the top card of their deck, and places it face up in the middle of the table to for a draw deck.
If the card flipped over is a Jack, all players race to be the first to slap the jack. The first player to slap the jack adds the discard pile to the bottom of their deck without shuffling. Play then continues with the winner of the slap starting the next round.
If the card is any other card besides a jack, the turn is over.
5: Continue play clockwise
The next player flips their top card. In a similar fashion, one of two things happens during each turn:
If the card flipped over is a Jack, all players race to be the first to slap the jack. The first player to slap the jack adds the discard pile to the bottom of their deck without shuffling. Play then continues with the winner of the slap starting the next round.
If the card is any other card besides a jack, the turn is over.
6: Knock players out
If a player runs out of cards during a round, they are still in the game, but their turn is skipped during the flipping. If they win a slap, they still collect the communal discard pile and that becomes their draw pile. However, if they mistakenly slap the pile when there’s not a jack, or someones else beats them to a slap jack, they are out of the game.
7: Declare the winner, who has all the cards
Play ends when one player has all the cards and is declared the winner!
Slapjack Video Tutorial
Slapjack Rules
- Players should always flip their top card away from them so that everyone can see it at the same time.
- The first player who slaps the jack on the discard pile collects all of the cards in the discard pile and places them, unshuffled, at the bottom of their deck.
- Players who incorrectly slap the discard pile (i.e. when not a jack), must give the top card from their deck to the player whose card was slapped.
- Players who run out of cards during a round are not yet out of the game. They are simply skipped when their turn to discard comes up. If they win the slap for the round, they win the round and get the discard pile. However, if they don’t win the slap, or if they incorrectly slap a non-jack, they’re out of the game.
Slapjack Variations
There are many games with similar game mechanics as Slapjack, such as Snap, Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, etc. But our favorite variations incorporate math skills. Here are the math variations that we like:
Addition pairs: Instead of slapping when a jack is flipped over, make the slap when the top card and the flipped card add up to 10. For this version, pull out all face cards and play A-10 with the ace counting as a 1.
Count and match: Each player counts upwards from ranks of cards, with the first player starting at “one” (for ace), then the next player says “two,” etc. Most of the time, the number count said out loud will NOT match the card that is flipped. When that’s the case, players continue to rotate clockwise, flip, and count. The trigger for slapping is when the card flipped matches the count said. For example, if the count is a “three” and a “three” card is flipped, players race to slap to pile. The first player to slap the pile adds the stack of cards the discard pile to the bottom of their flip deck, without shuffling.
Slapjack FAQs
Is Slapjack the same as Snap?
While there are similar game mechanics between Slapjack and Snap, they are not the same game. Key differences:
- Slapjack is about flipping over a jack; Snap is about matching pairs.
- Slapjack uses a communal discard pile; Most versions of Snap have a discard pile for each player.
How many cards do you get in Slapjack?
The number of cards you get to start a Slapjack game depends on the number of players. The deck is divided as evenly as possible to all players, so the breakdown of cards is as follows:
- 2 players: Each player gets 26 cards.
- 3 players: Two players get 17 cards and one player gets 18 cards.
- 4 players: Each player gets 13 cards.
- 5 players: Three players get 10 cards and two players get 11 cards.
- 6 players: Two players get 8 cards and 4 players get 9 cards.
- 7 players: Four players get 7 cards and three players get 8 cards.
- 8 players: Four players get 6 cards and fou players get 7 cards.
But you don’t really need to worry about counting the cards that each player gets. Just deal the cards out one at a time clockwise, starting to the left of the dealer until you run out of cards. A few players may have one extra card, but it has little impact on the game.
Can you play Slapjack with 2 players?
Yes! Slapjack can be played with only 2 players and the rules are the same.
