Spit Card Game Rules: How to Play Spit

Spit is a card game for two people in which nobody waits for a turn. Both players lay out their cards, both flip a card into the middle with a cry of "Spit!", and then both play at once, as fast as they can, trying to be first to get rid of their cards. It is loud, quick and a lot of fun at a kitchen table, and many people learned it as children under one name or another. You may know it as Speed, which is a close cousin.

This page explains the rules step by step, with worked examples. They are the rules our free Spit game uses. Families play Spit in slightly different ways, so where there is a common difference we point it out, and the rule variations page covers each one, including the gentler paces you can choose when playing here.

What You Need

• Two players.
• One standard deck of 52 cards, jokers taken out.
• A table with room for each player's five piles and two piles in the middle.
• Ten minutes or so. A game is usually over in three to six rounds.

The Aim of the Game

Get rid of all your cards. Each round you race to empty your stock piles by playing their cards onto the two piles in the middle. Finishing a round first means you pick up fewer cards for the next round. Keep doing that, and eventually you will have no cards left at all. That is a win.

The Ranks

Only the ranks matter in Spit; the suits are ignored. A card can go on a centre pile when it is one rank higher or one rank lower than the card on top. The ranks run Ace, 2, 3 and so on up to 10, Jack, Queen, King, and in the usual rules they go round in a circle, so the King and the Ace are neighbours too.

You can go up and down as you please: on a 7 you may play an 8, then a 7 on that 8, then a 6 on the 7. There is no need to keep going in one direction.

Setting Up

Shuffle the deck and give each player 26 cards, face down. Each player then lays out their own cards:

1. Deal five piles in a row in front of you, holding 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 cards, all face down.
2. Turn the top card of each pile face up. These five piles are your stock piles.
3. The 11 cards left over stay in a face-down pile beside you. This is your spit pile.

Leave space in the middle of the table for two piles, one on your side and one on your opponent's.

Spit! Starting the Play

When both players are ready, one of you says "One, two, three, spit!" and on "spit" you each turn the top card of your spit pile face up onto the middle of the table, on your own side. These two cards start the two centre piles.

Playing Your Cards

Now both players play at the same time. There are no turns. Using one hand, you take a face-up card from the top of any of your stock piles and put it on either centre pile, as long as it is one rank higher or lower than the card on top of that pile. You may play onto your opponent's side just as freely as your own.

When you play the top card of a stock pile and a face-down card is underneath, turn that card face up. It is now ready to play.

Empty spaces

When you play the last card of a stock pile, that space is empty. You may move the top card of another stock pile into it. This is worth doing when the moved card had a face-down card underneath, because that card now gets turned up and might fit somewhere. You can never have more than five stock piles.

In our game you can only move a card that has another card under it, because moving a lone card from one space to another would change nothing.

When nobody can play

Sooner or later both players get stuck: none of your face-up cards fits either centre pile, and none of your opponent's does either. Then you both spit again, turning the next card of your spit pile onto your own centre pile, on top of what is there. Play carries on as before.

If one player has no spit cards left, only the other player spits, onto one pile. If neither has any spit cards left and nobody can play, the round is over: each player picks up the centre pile on their side.

Ending a Round: the Slap

The round ends the moment a player plays the last card of their five stock piles. That player slaps the smaller centre pile, putting a hand on it to claim it. The other player takes the bigger pile. If the two piles are the same size, the slapper takes either.

Each player then adds their centre pile to whatever cards they still have (stock cards and spit pile), shuffles them, and lays out again: five stock piles of 1 to 5 cards, and the rest as a spit pile. Then spit, and the next round begins.

Every card is always somewhere: your cards, your opponent's cards and the two centre piles together are always the full 52. Our game keeps the count for you on the table ("Cards left: you 13, computer 39").

Short of cards

As the game goes on, the player who keeps winning rounds has fewer and fewer cards. If you have 15 or fewer at the start of a round, you lay out what you can in your stock piles and have no spit pile. That round has only one centre pile, and only your opponent spits onto it.

• If you, with no spit pile, empty your stock piles first, you have no cards left. You win the game.
• If your opponent empties their stock piles first, there is no smaller pile to slap: they take nothing, and you pick up the one centre pile along with the cards you have left.

Winning the Game

The first player to get rid of every card wins. In practice that means emptying your stock piles at a moment when your spit pile is empty too. A game usually takes between three and six rounds, although a close one can swing back and forth for longer.

Some families stop after an agreed number of rounds and count: the player holding fewer cards wins. Our game offers this as a house rule.

How Our Game Keeps It Gentle

Real Spit is a test of quick hands, which isn't everyone's idea of fun. In our version you choose how fast the computer plays. On the Relaxed pace, where every game starts, it waits several seconds between plays, so you have time to look. Steady and Brisk are quicker. If you would rather not race at all, choose Take turns: you and the computer then play one card each in turn, and the smaller pile is taken for you at the end of a round.

• Under each centre pile a label says what it needs, such as "needs 6 or 8".
• A card that fits one pile goes there when you tap it. A card that fits both is picked up first and you tap the pile you want, so nothing is ever played by mistake.
• The big Pause button stops the computer at once, and the game pauses itself when you switch to another tab.
• Tap Spit! when the status box says "Both stuck". If no spit cards are left, the same button reads End Round.

Quick Reference

Ready to try it? The strategy guide has tips for winning more rounds, and if you enjoy building up and down by one rank at your own speed, TriPeaks Solitaire is a relaxing game for one.