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Spit (AKA Speed/Slam/Stress)

20:15 Sun 19 Aug 2012
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Spit is a two-player card game played with a standard 52-card deck. It is a game of speed, and is conceptually similar to a competitive two-player version of patience. The rules I lay out below are close to the Irish two-handed version, with minor tweaks that evolved along with intense play of the game. This is one of my favorite card games.

Objective

Each player begins with 26 cards. The goal is to get rid of all of them, and doing so wins the game. The game is divided into rounds, and theoretically a game could be over in as few as two of these. Typically a round takes a few minutes.

Game Setup

Shuffle a standard deck (no jokers) and divide it, face down, into two decks of 26 cards. Each player takes one deck.

The players play opposite each other, usually a few feet apart, on some surface. A table with no raised edges is ideal.

Each player has their own area directly in front of them, and these are divided by a common area where both players may interact with the cards. The players should agree on which side of the common area they will put their decks, as opposite-handed players may both want to occupy the same space.

Round Setup

Each player takes their deck and lays it out in their area in a five-stack patience-like setup, i.e. a stack containing a face-up card, then a stack containing a face-up card and a face-down card, continuing until the fifth stack of four face-down cards on top of each other with a face-up card on top of them.

Assuming each player has cards remaining after those 15 cards are laid out, they put these cards—their deck—into the common area. When play begins, each player will take the top card of their deck and turn it face up, placing it next to their deck in the direction of their opponent’s deck; these face-up cards are the pile for each player.

The initial setup here sounds much more complicated than it is, and the next section is best read with cards at hand to try it.

Assuming players who are drawing from their right side and using left-to-right increasing layouts, the initial setup would look like this:

O

H

O

H

H

O

H

H

H

O

H

H

H

H

O

D1

P1

P2

D2

O

H

H

H

H

O

H

H

H

O

H

H

O

H

O

O
Face-up (Open) card.

H
Face-down (Hidden) card.

D1, D2
The decks for players 1 and 2.

P1, P2
The piles for players 1 and 2.

The cards in each stack in a player’s layout can be on top of each other, just as in patience, and do not need to be entirely separate as suggested by the diagram. The row furthest away from the player should have the cards that are at the bottom of each column, with later rows going on top of them.

If any of the face-up cards have the same number, they can be moved so that they’re on top of each other. If this means a face-down card is now the highest card in its stack, it can be turned face up. Thus, if the initial layout for player two looked like this:

D1

P1

P2

D2

8

H

H

H

H

6

H

H

H

7

H

H

7

H

2

They could move one of the 7 cards onto the other:

D1

P1

P2

D2

8

H

H

H

H

6

H

H

H

7

H

H

7

H

2

And then reveal the card beneath it (in this case, an 8):

D1

P1

P2

D2

8

H

H

H

H

6

H

H

H

7

8

H

7

H

2

Because it’s an 8, the player can do the same again, either moving the 8 in the first column to the fourth column, or moving the 8 in the fourth column to the first. If they do the former, they end up with this:

D1

P1

P2

D2

H

H

H

H

6

H

H

H

7

8

H

7

8

H

2

A player can have up to five columns in their starting area at all times, and since the shifting of the 8 has left them with only four in this case, they may move any face-up cards currently in the same column (i.e. with the same value) to the empty spot, revealing the face-down card this exposes. For example, they could move the 2 and reveal the card beneath it (in this case, a 4):

D1

P1

P2

D2

2

H

H

H

H

6

H

H

H

7

8

H

7

8

4

Now there are no cards in different columns with the same values, so the player has no further actions. However, the rules for the player’s area during setup also apply during the gameplay of each round, so as they get rid of cards they can continue moving and exposing cards.

A round cannot begin until both players signal that they are ready.

Round Gameplay

To start a round, each player gets ready to turn over the top card of their deck and place it face up in their (currently empty) pile[1]. The players must both signal that they’re ready before this can be done, not just at the start of the round but at any time when they go to turn over a card. Traditionally, one or both of the players says “spit” just before turning over the top card of their deck.

Once the cards have been placed face-up in the piles, each player can move cards from their areas to the piles. This is how players get rid of cards. Players can put cards onto either pile. They may only place a card onto a pile if the card they’re putting down has a value of one higher or one lower than the topmost card on the pile. If the pile card is an 8, then a 7 or 9 could be placed on top of it. That card then becomes the topmost card of the pile. The values wrap at A/K, i.e. either a Q or an A can be put on a K, and either a K or a 2 can be put on an A.

The players attempt to do this simultaneously, and whichever players gets their card down first takes priority. If a player is too slow and puts a card down on a pile where its value is no longer one higher or lower than the current topmost card on a pile, they must take the card back.

Players may not stack cards in their hands to attempt putting down an entire sequence at once. Players may only have one card in each hand at a time, and these cards may not touch each other until at least one of them is on the pile. Players may not throw cards onto piles.

While not inevitable, it is likely that both players will reach a point where they still have cards in their area and cannot do anything else because they cannot move cards in their area and the face-up cards they have cannot be played on either of the two cards topmost in the piles. Note that at this point, if a player has the ability to play a card on a pile or move cards within their area in order to turn over face-down cards, they must do so. Also, both players must be out of options for play in order for play to come to a halt; if only one player cannot play, they must wait.

At this point the players repeat the process from the beginning of gameplay for the round: they signal they are ready to proceed, and they simultaneously turn over the top card of their deck and place it topmost on their pile. Play then continues as before.

Last Card

Placing the final card onto a pile is slightly different: as soon as a player’s last card is placed (legally) on top of a pile, both players have the right to then claim whichever pile they choose. They want the one with fewer cards, as that will be added to their deck, and the unchosen one will be added to their opponent’s deck. A player claims a pile, once either player has gotten rid of their last card, by placing their hand on it and saying “spit”. If the pile they wish to claim is the same pile as the one they place their last card on, it is simply theirs and they take it. If it is the other pile, however, their opponent has a chance to claim it also, by getting their hand on it first. The player playing their last card cannot place their hand on the other pile before they play their last card, nor can they have their hand over the other pile before they play their last card. If they simultaneously hit both piles, or if their last card is placed first, that’s a legal play and they can claim the pile. Otherwise they must take back their last card and try again. If a player places their last card on a pile and their opponent claims the other pile first, it belongs to their opponent.

Once a card touches a pile it can be legally played on, it has been played—players cannot touch a card to a pile and then pull it back. They can however come as close as they like without touching the pile and still change their minds.

Once a pile has been claimed, the round is over. The winning player takes the pile they claimed and puts it face down at the bottom of their deck. The losing player puts the remaining cards from their area face up on the other pile, then takes that pile and puts it face down at the bottom of their deck. Neither player shuffles their deck. The only shuffling done should be at the start of the game.

“Spit Card” Rounds

Eventually, a player will end up with a deck of 15 or fewer cards, meaning that they have no deck with which to create a pile. When this occurs, instead of their pile they get a spit card, normally a joker[2], and put it where their pile would have been. The other player will turn cards from their deck onto their pile as normal, but there will only be one pile in this round.

Note that the player with a deck will still have to wait for their opponent to be ready before turning over cards.

The spit card is the pile that both players will aim to claim at the end of this round. If the player with the spit card gets rid of all of their cards and successfully claims the spit card, they have won the game.

If the player with the spit card gets rid of all their cards but their opponent claims the spit card, then the player who had the spit card takes the pile and it becomes their deck for the next round, while their opponent leaves the spit card aside and puts their remaining cards on the bottom of their deck and continues as normal.

If the player without the spit card gets rid of all their cards but fails to claim the spit card, then the player with the spit card leaves the spit card aside and begins the next round with only the cards in their area as their deck (turned face down and redistributed, although not shuffled).

If the player without the spit card gets rid of all their cards and claims the spit card, they leave the spit card aside and begin the next round with only the cards remaining in their deck, while their opponent places the cards in their area face up on the pile and then turns the pile over to be their deck for the next round.

Comments

While obviously focused on speed and reaction time, the game also rewards awareness and misdirection. Being aware of what cards are in your opponent’s area is often critical, as you can cut off lines of play for them by choosing what of your own cards to play out. Misdirection most often matters at the end of rounds, most commonly in feigning absorption in your own area and play while your opponent is about to finish, so that they play their last card quickly and you can beat them to the preferred pile.

The lack of shuffling means that after a few rounds long runs of play without breaks become much more likely. During these runs, it’s important to watch both piles so that you can insert an unwanted card onto a pile and break your opponent’s flow.

Variants

One-Handed

This is the most significant variant I know of, and it’s a simple change: players nominate one hand at the start of the game, and can only use that hand to do anything for the rest of that game. Some versions of this variant allow use of the other hand for claiming piles or spit cards.

Two Decks

This variant uses two standard decks of cards instead of one.

Shuffling

Players shuffle their decks after each round. I’ve played this a couple of times and it’s generally not as much fun, and this variant is quite rare in my experience.

On the other hand, a variant where the cards aren’t shuffled between games is more common.

Five in Hand

In this minor variant, players are allowed to pick up the cards in their area once there are fewer than five of them. They must still show these cards to their opponent when asked.

Different Setups

I’ve never played the game with any other setups, but theoretically different numbers of rows and columns could be used.

[1] When turning over cards, players must immediately turn the cards over in a way that reveals them to both players simultaneously. It is illegal to do this in a way such that you can see the card before your opponent.

[2] Although any appropriately-sized token will do.

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