Berkeley War is a variant of Egyptian War with extra rules, mostly based on arithmetic. The full list of rules is available on a live Notion page.

Because Berkeley War is derived from Egyptian War, the rules of Egyptian War apply. Egyptian War is an out-of-turn trick-taking game in which cards are shed in turn. The first person to “slap” the pile in a valid “slappable” state “collects” the entire pile. Invalid slaps require the player to discard a card to the bottom of the pile. Players play cards in a first-in-first-out fashion and are not allowed to view the cards before shedding. Typically, once a player sheds a card, the next person is in turn to shed a card. However, if the player sheds a face card, then the next player is considered “trapped” and must shed cards according to the table:

• J - 1
• Q - 2
• K - 3
• A - 4

If the trapped player finishes shedding cards without any player correctly slapping, then the player that played the last face card collects the pile. However, if the trapped player plays a face card, then a new trapped player emerges, and this cycle restarts.

The pile of cards is considered to be in a valid slappable state when the last few cards satisfy one of the “rules”. The base rules are the following:

• Pairs, meaning the last two cards are the same rank
• Sandwiches, meaning the last and the third-to-last cards are the same rank

These two rules are always applicable, including when the newly shed card is a face card.

The Sum 2 = 11