How to Play Spit

Spit is a fast-paced, simultaneous card game for two players that rewards quick reflexes and sharp observation. Unlike most card games, there are no turns — both players play at the same time, racing to be the first to get rid of all their cards. Played with a standard 52-card deck, Spit is one of the most energetic and exciting card games you can play with just two people. The game is sometimes called Slam or Speed (though Speed is technically a different game with similar mechanics).

Setup and Dealing

Shuffle the deck and deal 26 cards to each player. Each player then deals five stockpiles in a row in front of them. The first pile has 1 card, the second has 2, the third has 3, the fourth has 4, and the fifth has 5 cards — for a total of 15 cards across the stockpiles.

Turn the top card of each stockpile face-up. The remaining 11 cards form your spit pile, which you hold face-down in your non-dominant hand or place face-down to the side. Leave space between the two players for two center spit piles where cards will be played during the game.

Both players set up simultaneously. Once both players are ready, the game begins.

Starting the Round

To start, both players count down together — "one, two, three, spit!" — and simultaneously flip the top card of their spit pile face-up onto the center of the table. This creates two shared spit piles. Play begins immediately and continues without pause. There are no turns in Spit; both players play as fast as they can at the same time.

Playing Cards

Players use only one hand to move cards from their stockpiles onto the center spit piles. A card may be played onto a spit pile if it is exactly one rank higher or one rank lower than the current top card on that pile. Suit does not matter — only rank counts.

• One Up or One Down — A 7 can be played on a 6 or an 8. A Queen can be played on a Jack or a King.
• Aces Wrap Around — An Ace can be played on a King or a 2. This means the sequence wraps: K-A-2 or 2-A-K are both valid.
• Either Spit Pile — You may play on either of the two center spit piles, not just the one you started.
• Top Cards Only — You may only play the face-up top card of any of your five stockpiles. When a top card is removed, flip the next card in that stockpile face-up.
• Moving Between Stockpiles You may move a face-up card into an empty stockpile slot, and only into an empty slot. Rank does not matter for this move, and you may never stack a card onto a pile that still holds cards. Vacating a slot early gives you somewhere to park a blocker and turn over the card beneath it.

When Both Players Are Stuck

If neither player can make a legal move, both players simultaneously spit again by flipping the next card from their spit pile onto the center spit piles. This provides new cards to play on and restarts the action.

If a player has used up their entire spit pile but still has stockpile cards remaining, only the other player spits. If both spit piles are exhausted and neither player can move, the round ends.

Ending a Round

A round ends when one player empties all five stockpiles, or when neither player can move and both spit piles are gone. Then it is a race: either player may slap, and whoever gets there first claims the smaller of the two center piles. The other player takes the larger one. Players want the smaller pile because fewer cards means fewer cards to deal in the next round.

Each player collects the spit pile they claimed plus any cards remaining in their own stockpiles and spit pile. Shuffle your collected cards and deal new stockpiles for the next round. With fewer than 15 cards you deal as many complete piles as the 1-2-3-4-5 pattern allows, and whatever is left over becomes your spit pile. Only the exact totals of 1, 3, 6, 10 and 15 leave you with no spit pile at all, which is the strongest position in the game.

Winning the Game

The game continues across multiple rounds. Each round, players re-deal their collected cards into stockpiles. The first player to completely run out of cards, with an empty layout and nothing left to deal, wins the game. A player with no spit pile has an advantage: they cannot be forced to feed the centre, so clearing the layout is the only thing left between them and the win.

Common Variations

Spit is a folk game, so tables play it with small differences. The standard 1-2-3-4-5 layout above is the most common, but these variations show up often.

• Four stockpiles. Deal four piles of 1, 2, 3, and 4 cards instead of five for a quicker, slightly easier game.
• Alternating colours. A card played to a center pile must alternate red and black as well as move one rank up or down, which tightens every play.
• Equal-rank stacking. Some players let you stack a card of the same rank onto another of your own stockpiles to free a slot or expose a hidden card.
• Ace low only. A minority of house rules drop the wrap and treat Aces as low, so a King no longer connects to an Ace.
• California Speed. A separate matching game where players flip four center cards and race to cover pairs of equal rank, with no sequence building at all.

Spit is often confused with Speed. Both are real-time two-player races, but Speed replaces the open stockpiles with a hidden five-card hand and a face-down draw pile, usually allows same-rank plays, and has no slap for the smaller pile. Slam is simply another name for the same game.

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