2003.08.20
egyptian rat screw: ERS
or as we most often call it, rat fuck. below the jump are the rules as we played (and has link to official rules). i learned this game in college and had a great time playing it with todd and nate, and whoever else was along at the time (often fraggle and/or paul).
the rules of ERS are simple. it is similar to the traditional card game of war (highest card wins the round) but with a “royal” variation and an element of chance. mind you this is not (apparently) the official version of the game. this version can be played by any number of players, though 3 - 5 is optimal, and four is ideal.
cards are dealt all around. any extra cards are placed face up in the center and are ignored first round.
the player to the dealer’s right starts, placing his first card face up. the next player places his card on top of the pile until it comes to the first person to place his card.
in the case that all the cards are numbered (2 - 10) then the highest number card wins.
the “royal” variation is simple. if someone puts a royal card down (jack, queen, king or ace) then the next player has so many chances to place a royal card of his own. if he doesn’t then the person who placed the last royal gains the pile regardless of any previous plays.
the number of cards to place in the case of a royal follow:
ace: four cards
king: three cards
queen: two cards
jack: one card
as you can see, it is very VERY good to have jacks in your pile as the following person only has one chance to play a royal of his own.
the element of chance is detirmined by the placing of doubles. whenever any two same cards are placed one on top of the other on the pile, the first person to slap the deck gets the pile (like a seven on a seven). in our games we’ve found it necessary to remove rings (and sometimes watches) from our slapping hands to prevent damaging our fellows.
note: if a player slaps when there is no double he must give each player one of his cards from the top of his stack.
the player who wins the pile places it at the bottom of his own stack and starts the next round.
the game is over when other players have no more cards. if someone runs out of cards and more need to be played (for example, on an ace) then the next player finishes.
a sample game between three players:
doug: two
todd: ten
nate: six
(todd wins and starts the new round)todd: four
nate: five
doug: queen
todd: nine, eight
(doug wins this round as todd had two chances to place a royal and failed)doug: seven
todd: king
nate: two, ten, ten
SLAP
(nate slapped the pile first and takes the pile)nate: king
doug: three, nine, queen
todd: jack
nate: ace
doug: six, four, six
(todd, anxious not to lose his jack, mis-slaps and gives doug and nate a card from his pile. doug continues)
doug: queen
todd: jack
nate: king
doug: nine, nine
SLAP
(doug slaps first and wins the piles. todd is heartbroken because he lost two jacks, and doug gloats)
and so the game goes. in this case todd actually won clearing out doug first and then nate.
an additional rule we used is that when you are out of cards you are allowed to attempt to slap back into the game. usually this doesn’t accomplish much, but sometimes a player has slapped in gaining royal cards and done well. however with this rule, if the player mis-slaps, he is out for good. also, in the case that someone mis-slaps and has to give out cards, a player without cards (and eligible) recieves a card.
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3 Responses to “egyptian rat screw: ERS”
- shannon says (January 1st, 1970 at 08:00:00 )
yes!!!!!!
thank you- dugh says (January 1st, 1970 at 08:00:00 )
you’re welcome!
were you looking for the rules?- Rim says (February 6th, 2005 at 15:08:40 )
According to the traditional rules (well, traditional in Virginia, Indiana, and Iowa at least), the round can only be ended with the royal capture (not placing a royal in your 1,2,3, or 4 chances) or by a slap.
Also, many people play “sandwiches” in which you can slap if there is a card separating the doubles…ex. 9,6,9 would be a “sandwich” and can be slapped.
Also, we usually play that if you mis-slap you have to put 1-3 cards at the bottom of the “pot” - the cards that are in play at the time - the actual number varies depending on who’s playing and how frequently people have been “mis-slapping” we usually allow several “mis-slaps” for people w/o cards, however.
