Snap

Players and equipment

Two to six players and a standard 52-card deck — or any deck, including half of one, which is how it is usually found. Nothing is read but ranks: a seven matches a seven whatever the suits, and a picture-card Snap pack matches picture to picture. Children can play from about three, as soon as they can see that two cards look the same. Two or three players is the game at its best.

The deal

The whole deck, face down, into a pile in front of each player, dealt as evenly as it will go. Nobody looks.

Play

In turn, each player flips the top card of their pile onto their own face-up stack, in one motion away from themselves so nobody sees it early — the flip is where the arguments live. Turn the card towards the table, not towards yourself, and let go of it before you look.

When the top cards of any two face-up stacks match in rank, the first player to shout "Snap!" takes both stacks into the bottom of their face-down pile. Any player may call, not only the two whose cards match. Shout when there is no match and your whole face-up stack goes to the middle of the table as the snap pool.

The pool is not out of play. Whenever the top card of anybody's face-up stack matches the top card of the pool, the first player to call "Snap pool!" takes the lot — so a wrong call hands everybody a target rather than paying anybody directly.

When a player's face-down pile runs out, they turn their face-up stack over and carry on. A player whose face-down pile and face-up stack are both gone is out, and the rest play on.

Scoring

There is no score. There are the cards, and the direction they are travelling.

A correct snap

Both stacks

First voice wins

Snap pool

The whole pool

Your top card matches the pool

A false snap

Your stack to the pool

No match after all

Out of cards

Out of the game

Both piles gone

If you want to keep a record, the thing to record is who won each game. On SquareScores, Snap is a match table: one round is one game, and a tap on the winner's name is the whole entry, so five games come out as three to two.

A worked game

Alice, Ben and Cara play with the full pack. Alice is dealt eighteen cards and the other two seventeen each. They turn cards in turn, and for a while nothing matches.

After four rounds

14, 13 and 13 face down

Twelve cards are face up, four on each stack

Alice turns a seven, and Ben's stack shows a seven

Cara has 26, Alice 13, Ben 13

Cara shouts first and takes both stacks

Ben shouts at a queen and a king

The pool is 3 cards

No match: his three face-up cards go to the middle

Alice turns a king

Alice has 16, Ben 10, Cara 26

It matches the king on top of the pool, and Alice says it first

Follow the cards. When Cara takes Alice's stack of five and Ben's stack of four, nine cards go under her pile: she still has thirteen face down and four face up, so she holds twenty-six of the fifty-two, and Alice and Ben are left with thirteen each, all face down, with nothing showing. Ben's false call costs him the three cards he had turned since, and the pool sits in the middle with a king on top, worth three to whoever matches it. Alice turns a king, calls "Snap pool!" and takes it: she is up to sixteen, Ben is down to ten, and Cara is unchanged on twenty-six.

Ending

One player ends up with everything, and is usually the youngest person at the table. If the game has to end before then, count the cards, and the most cards wins.

Watch the piles, not your own card

The card you are turning is the one you know least about, because it is face down until it lands. The cards you can see are the top cards of everyone else's stack, and that is where to look. Know what is showing on every stack before you flip, so that when your card lands you have one comparison to make and not five. A player who looks at their own card first is always a beat behind.

Say it, do not slap it

Snap is won by the first voice, and the word is quick to say. Slapping the cards is slower, it bends the pack, and it starts fights about whose hand was underneath. Where a table wants hands on cards, the game to play is Slapjack, which has a page of its own here and is built for it. In Snap the rule is the shout, and the parent hearing two shouts at once gets to decide.

The snap pool is the second game

A false call is not the end of a player, because the cards go to the middle and not to a rival, and the pool can be won back by anybody. The top card of the pool is one more card to watch: with three players there are four cards to compare against every turn, not three. A big pool is worth more than any two stacks, so a player who has just lost their cards to it has every reason to stay in and keep watching.

Turning the card fairly

Turn the card away from you and let it go in one movement. Turning it towards yourself shows it to you first and gives you a head start that is not part of the game, and the whole table knows it. With small children the fairest rule is that the turner may not call on their own card.

Only call when you are sure

The cost of a false snap is your whole face-up stack, and a player who calls at everything soon has nothing to call with. A pair of pictures looks alike at a glance, and a six and a nine upside down are the classic trap. The players who win Snap are not the loudest; they are the ones who call every real match and none of the others.

The snap pool

The version on this page: a wrong shout sends your face-up stack to the middle, where it becomes a pool anybody can win by matching its top card. It keeps a player in the game after a mistake and gives everyone one more card to watch. It is the standard British game.

Snap without a pool

Some families skip the pool. A wrong call costs the caller one card to every other player, taken from the bottom of their face-down pile, or simply costs nothing more than a bit of shame. Quicker to explain to a three-year-old, and the game ends sooner because there is nowhere for cards to wait.

Snap with a picture pack

Children's Snap packs carry pictures instead of ranks — animals, vehicles, characters — in matched pairs or sets, and the game is exactly the same with pictures matched instead of numbers. The pictures are bigger and the packs smaller, usually thirty-six or forty cards, so games are shorter and a small child can hold their pile.

Speed Snap

Everybody turns a card at the same moment instead of in turn, on a count or a word. With four players there may be several matches showing at once, and the first shout takes one pair of stacks with the rest still in play. Louder and faster, and the version older children ask for once the ordinary game feels slow.

Slapjack

A different game of the same family, played with hands rather than voices: cards go onto one central pile and everybody slaps when a jack turns up, the first hand down taking the pile. It has a page of its own here. Snap tables that keep slapping the cards are usually playing Slapjack without knowing it.

How do you play Snap?

Deal the pack face down between the players. Take turns to turn your top card onto a face-up stack in front of you. When the top cards of two stacks are the same rank, the first player to shout "Snap!" takes both stacks and puts them under their pile. If you shout and the cards do not match, your face-up stack goes to the middle as a pool that anybody can win by matching its top card. The last player holding cards wins.

What happens if you say snap and it is wrong?

In the usual game your face-up stack goes to the middle of the table and becomes the snap pool. It is not lost for good: when the top card of anybody's stack matches the top card of the pool, the first to call "Snap pool!" takes the whole pool. Some families play that a wrong call costs one card to each other player instead, and some play no penalty at all for small children.

Do the suits matter in Snap?

No. Only the rank matters: a seven matches a seven whether it is hearts or clubs, and a king matches a king. In a picture pack the pictures match instead. Nothing else on the card is read.

What age is Snap for?

From about three. A child needs to be able to see that two cards look the same and say a word quickly, and nothing more. Children of four and five can play against adults on even terms, because an adult's advantage is small and a child's reactions are fast. It is often the first card game a child learns.

How many players can play Snap?

Two to six with one pack. Two or three is the game at its best, because each player has a big pile and the game lasts. With more players deal in two packs shuffled together, or accept a short game. Everybody may call a snap, not only the two players whose cards match.

What is the difference between Snap and Slapjack?

Snap is won by voice: you shout when two cards match, and the cards go onto stacks in front of each player. Slapjack is won by hand: cards go onto one pile in the middle and everybody slaps the pile when a jack appears, the first hand down taking it. They are cousins, and each has a page here. If your table slaps the cards in Snap, agree before you start whether it is the shout or the hand that counts.

Who wins if two people shout snap at the same time?

Whoever an adult at the table says shouted first, and there is no appeal. Where it is truly level, some families split the two stacks between the two callers, and some leave the cards where they are and play on. Agree it before the first shout, because it will happen.