How to play Spit

One standard 52-card deck and exactly two players. Old cards are best—this game is rough on them.

Get rid of all your cards. Each deal you try to empty your stock piles first; over several deals the winner of each deal ends up with fewer cards, until one player has none.

1. 1Deal 26 cards to each player.
2. 2Each player lays out five stock piles in a row, of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 cards, with only the top card of each pile face up.
3. 3The remaining 11 cards stay face down in your hand: these are your spit cards.

1. 1Both players shout “Spit!” and turn their top spit card face up in the middle. These start the two spit piles.
2. 2Now play simultaneously, one hand only, one card at a time. You can play a face-up stock card onto either spit pile if it is one higher or one lower, regardless of suit. Aces connect to both 2 and king.
3. 3When a stock pile’s top card is face down, turn it up. If a stock pile empties, you may move a face-up card into the gap—but never have more than five piles.
4. 4When neither player can move, both shout “Spit!” again and flip new spit cards onto the piles.

• The first player to empty all five stock piles slaps the smaller spit pile and takes it. The other player takes the larger one.
• Each player shuffles their cards and lays out again for the next deal. If you have fewer than 15 cards, you lay out fewer stock piles and have no spit cards.
• The first player to get rid of all their cards wins the game.

• Speed: a related game where each player holds a five-card hand and draws from a single face-down stock instead of laying out five piles.
• Some tables require stock piles to be built in suit or color.

• Watch both spit piles at once—most missed plays are on the pile you weren’t looking at.
• Fill empty spaces quickly; flipping new cards gives you more options.