Irish Snap

3+ players

One deck, two decks for 7+ players

Set up

Deal all the cards out equally between the players, and no one is to look at their cards, they remain face down for the game.

How to play

The aim is to get rid of all your cards. The person left of the dealer starts, you take it in turns to flip a card from your hand and place it in the centre face up. At the same time you say aloud the next number in the series starting with ace. So the first player flips a card and says "ace" the second player flips a card and says "two" and so on, when you reach king it loops back around to ace.

On any players turn if the card they flip over matches the number they say everyone must slap the pile, and the person who slaps the pile last has to pick up all the cards. Also if the card you flip over is the same as the previous card everyone must once again slap the pile the quickest, otherwise they are stuck with the cards.

Now if the two types of snap occur at the same time then everyone must slap the pile with BOTH hands and whoever has one of their hands nearest the top loses and must pick up all the cards.

After a snap occurs the game continues starting with the player who just had to pick up the cards, they will start counting from ace again.

One way you can play is the first person to get rid of all their cards is the winner. Alternatively you can make it a bit more challenging by making it so there is only one loser (the person left with all the cards.) So if you manage to get rid of all you cards you are still in and on your turn you will still say the next number you just do not lay a card. The same snap rules still apply therefore if the number you say matches the card down everyone must slap the pile to avoid picking up the cards. Therefore snap can still occur even though you did not actually place the card. This means even if you have managed to get rid of your cards you could end up gaining cards again. In this version the game ends when one player has all the cards and is the loser.