Snap rules

The classic children's reaction game. Two cards of the same rank appear, and the first person to shout takes the pile.

Players

Two to eight. It is the best card game there is for a wide age range, because nobody has to remember anything.

The deck

A 52-card deck dealt out as evenly as possible, face down. Players do not look at their cards.

The play

Going round the table, each player turns their top card face up onto their own pile in front of them, in a single motion away from themselves so everyone sees it at the same moment.

Snap

When the top cards of any two piles show the same rank, the first player to shout snap takes both piles and adds them to the bottom of their face-down stack.

Suits do not matter. Only the rank.

Any two piles count, including two that belong to other people. Spotting a match you are not part of is worth as much as spotting your own.

An example

Ada's pile shows a seven and Bo turns a seven onto his. Either of them may shout, and so may Cleo, who is not involved at all. Whoever is first takes both piles and puts them under their own stack.

Running out

A player who turns over their last card carries on until the piles change hands. A player with nothing at all is out.

Winning

The last player still holding cards wins.

The snap pot — the version worth playing

For a longer game, put the piles in the middle rather than giving them to the winner. When two top cards match, the shout is snap; when a card matches the top of the central snap pot, the shout is snap pot, and that player takes the pot.

False calls

Shouting snap when there is no match costs you a card, face up, to the middle. That penalty is what stops the game from being pure noise, and it should be enforced from the first round.

Playing well

Turn your card away from yourself and at the same speed every time. A player who hesitates on a card they think might match has told the table what is coming, and everybody else is watching their hands as much as the piles.