Slapjack

Slapjack is played here by four players: you against three computer players, West, North and East, with a standard 52-card pack. The cards are dealt out, thirteen each, and everyone keeps their cards in a face-down pile without looking at them.

• In turn, going clockwise, each player turns the top card of their pile face up onto a pile in the centre.
• When a Jack is turned up, the first player to slap the centre pile wins it and adds the cards to the bottom of their own pile. Play continues with the player to the winner's left.
• Slap a card that isn't a Jack and you must give your top card to the player who turned up the card you slapped.
• If you run out of cards you stop turning cards, but you can still slap the next Jack: win it and you're back in the game. If someone else wins it, or you slap a wrong card meanwhile, you're out.
• The player who collects all 52 cards wins.

• When it's your turn, your deck is highlighted: tap it, or press Enter, to turn your card.
• To slap, tap the centre pile, tap the SLAP! button, or press Space.
• CPU speed (practice games only) sets how quickly the computer players slap: Slow, Normal or Fast. The daily game is always Normal.

• Daily: everyone gets the same deal each day, against the same CPU reactions.
• New Game: a fresh game with a new deal.

Win and you score up to 2,000 points, less 2 for each second the game takes and 20 for each wrong slap (never less than 500 for a win). If you lose, you score 25 for each Jack you slapped first.

• Keep your eyes on the pile, not your deck: the Jack can come from anyone.
• Don't slap at a Queen or a King on reflex. A wrong slap costs you a card.
• When you're down to your last few cards, every Jack matters: miss the next one after you run out and you're out of the game.

Slapjack, also called Slaps, is a card game usually played by children, and according to Wikipedia it can often be a child's first introduction to playing cards. Wikipedia describes it as a cross between Beggar-My-Neighbour and Egyptian Ratscrew, and related to the simpler slapping games often called Snap. Pagat.com notes that there are at least two games by the name: the one here, in which the first to slap a Jack collects the cards, and Irish Snap, in which cards are slapped when they match a called rank. The rules here follow pagat.com's description of the first, written in our own words.

Slapjack is a free browser version of the classic slapping card game, played against three computer players at the speed you choose, with a daily game and online leaderboards. There's nothing to download and no sign-up.

A free, original browser game on PlayPendium. No download, no install.