EGYPTIAN RUMMY
Jon Norris
>DIVIS ERMREY <kj...@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>Anyone know the ruled to this card game?
>I seem to remember it was a combination of slap jack and war, but with
>a number of rules that made it more strategic and complex.
>I've also heard it refered to as ratscrew(sp?)
>
>If you can help me out I'd appreciate it.
The game you are referring to I've played as Egyptian Ratscrew, which is
indeed a sort of combination of Slapjack and War. The gist is -- you
divide the deck into two stacks (as in War), giving one to each player.
The game is played by each player taking turns flipping over their top
cards, one after the other -- not simultaneously like War.
To begin, one person flips over their top card. If this card is anything
but a face card (A,K,Q,J) nothing happens, and the other player flips over
their top card. If it is a face card, the other player is faced with the
challenge of likewise flipping a facecard or losing all the cards
involved thus far. He/she has a varying amount of opportunity to do
this, as well. If the card was an Ace, he/she has 4 chances (flips) to
counter with another face card (any one, it doesn't have to be the same);
if it was a King, 3 chances; Queen, 2; and if it was a Jack, there is but
1 chance to avoid losing cards. If no facecard is turned over, the
original player takes all the cards in the "played" stack (like winning a
battle in War).[Note of course that if the player successfully flips over
another face card, the onus is now upon the original player to
successfully defend the "new" challenge!]
If at any time two cards of the same # (i.e. 2-Ace) are flipped over
consecutively, the first person to slap the deck gets all the cards
therein (a la Slapjack). This is true even if the cards were played
during a "facecard-induced challenge", so keep your eyes on the discards
at all times!!!
As in War, you replay the cards you win as your unflipped cards are
used, and also as in War the game ends when one person has all the cards.
Many thanks to Lauren Bienstock, who showed me this game years ago.
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"If a chicken and a half can lay an egg and a half in a day and a half,
how long would it take a monkey with a wooden leg to kick the seeds out
of a dill pickle?" -- Graffiti from Blacksburg, VA
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N E R C D A
Master of the Universe
with his Popsicle Sticks of Power
the Count
>Anyone know the ruled to this card game?
>I seem to remember it was a combination of slap jack and war, but with
>a number of rules that made it more strategic and complex.
>I've also heard it refered to as ratscrew(sp?)
>
>If you can help me out I'd appreciate it.
heh... egyptian ratscrew, my most favorite cardgame ever :)
the rules that i learned are as follows:
the object of the game is to get all the cards.
divide the deck as equally as possible between all players, keep the cards
facedown in one pile. no one is too ever look at the cards in their hand.
each player in turn takes the top card from their pile and turns it face up
onto a central pile. the card should be placed as quickly as possible so
no one sees the card before anyone else.
if the card is of the same value as the last card (e.g. if plater A puts down
a six and the player B puts down the next card, which is also a six) then
the first player to slap the central pile gets all the cards in that pile.
play then passes to the player who first slapped in. this applies to ALL
cards, royalty included.
if a player should put down a royalty (A,K,Q,J) then the next player must
also put down a royalty. if that next player fails to get a royalty, the
player who played it gets all the cards in the central pile. the chance
for the second player to get a royalty is depenedant on the type the first
player played: 4 chances if it was an ace, 3 if it was a king, 2 for queen
and 1 for jack (making the jack the most powerful card in the game).
e.g. Player A plays a Queen. Player B now has two chances to play a
royalty himself - lets say Player B reveals his card and get a 4.
Player B now has one more chance to get a royalty - if he gets a
7, for example, Player A then claims all of the cards in the pile.
If, however, Player B should happen to get, for example, a King,
Player C will now have 3 chances to get a royalty - if C fails to do
so, Player B can claim all the cards; if C does get a royalty, Player
D will then be so obligated, and so on.
(this next rule i am not too sure if it is 'standard' but i always insist on
it whenever i play)
when one player has finally acquired all the cards, he must run through the
entire deck one last time so the other players can slap in if doubles
should occur. this can be skipped if you are pressed for time.
any time anyone does something illegal, the offending player must take the
top card from their hand and place it, face up, at the bottom of the
central pile. such "illegal" actions include, but are not limited to:
playing a card out of turn
slapping in when you should not have
playing a card so slowly such that the person playing it sees what it is
before anyone else.
these acts are called 'slurfs' or 'sluffs' and committing one is 'slurfing'
or 'sluffing'. when a player detects such an act, that player should call
out 'slurf' (or 'sluff') and announce what the problem and the players
decide on the appropriate action to be taken against the offender [usually
the placing of the top card on the bottom of the pile]
ummm... i think that's it - i feel as though i have forgotten something, but
i cant think of what. oh well - if you have any questions, mail me at:
e...@remus.rutgers.edu
have fun :)
-the count
DIVIS ERMREY
Anyone know the ruled to this card game?
I seem to remember it was a combination of slap jack and war, but with
a number of rules that made it more strategic and complex.
I've also heard it refered to as ratscrew(sp?)
If you can help me out I'd appreciate it.
--
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Comments, replies, and hate mail to: kj...@midway.uchicago.edu
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Luke Hankins
>heh... egyptian ratscrew, my most favorite cardgame ever :)
Among the many and varied names for this game I've heard are:
Russian Ratscrew
Mongolian Mousefuck
Egyptian Rodent Copulation
Mongolian Mouse (for the ears of the more tender players)
Global Thermonuclear War.
>the rules that i learned are as follows:
>[clip,clip]
> (this next rule i am not too sure if it is 'standard' but i always insist on
> it whenever i play)
> when one player has finally acquired all the cards, he must run through the
> entire deck one last time so the other players can slap in if doubles
> should occur. this can be skipped if you are pressed for time.
Ooch. I don't think that would work where I play, since games
routinely last multiple hours. (There are usualy enough players trying to
'slap in' that short games are rare.)
> any time anyone does something illegal, the offending player must take the
> top card from their hand and place it, face up, at the bottom of the
> central pile. such "illegal" actions include, but are not limited to:
>[...]
So what do you do when a player _knows_ that there's a jack 4 cards
down in his pile and slaps the pile 3 times 'by accident'? (Thus we
instituted the 'Ben Rule' of no more than 2 false slaps per player per
round.)
> ummm... i think that's it - i feel as though i have forgotten something, but
> i cant think of what.
Nope, I think that was a pretty good listing of the rules as I know
them. (But then again, there are people who play with jokers.(instant
double.) or declare that any matching _suit_ is slappable. ("ultrascrew")
-luke ("ratscrew on an unvarnished wooden bench? Sure!")
--
______________________________________________________________________________
Luke Hankins han...@cs.swarthmore.edu |"Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison
for(MyAge=0;!Dead;EnjoyLife); | ne connait point" -Blaise Pascal
While not (EndOfLife) do Havefun(me); |"...stay sane inside insanity..." -RHPS
the Count
>> when one player has finally acquired all the cards, he must run through the
>> entire deck one last time so the other players can slap in if doubles
>> should occur. this can be skipped if you are pressed for time.
> Ooch. I don't think that would work where I play, since games
>routinely last multiple hours. (There are usualy enough players trying to
>'slap in' that short games are rare.)
i think it was because the best player in my high school was sooooo good that
he only lost once (to me :) and he implemented it just to taunt us :0
> So what do you do when a player _knows_ that there's a jack 4 cards
>down in his pile and slaps the pile 3 times 'by accident'? (Thus we
>instituted the 'Ben Rule' of no more than 2 false slaps per player per
>round.)
i have always played that you can slap in intentionally all you want. all the
other players can do is hope that person miscalculates...
> -luke ("ratscrew on an unvarnished wooden bench? Sure!")
i was playing the other night against two other people and i lost all my cards,
then slapped in on doubles, then promptly lost all my cards again, then was
again able to slap in on doubles, and lost all my cards again and slapped in...
well, i finally slapped in on a jack and double queens and ending up winning
the game off of that :)
what a great game...
-the count
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