How to play Spit
Spit — also known as Speed or Slam — is a two-player card game with no turns at all. Both players play at the same time, as fast as they can, and the faster player usually wins. Each of you gets 26 cards: fifteen become five stacks of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 cards with only the top card face up, and the other eleven are your face-down spit deck.
- Start the round — you both turn one deck card into the middle, making two centre piles.
- Play up or down — a card may go on a centre pile if it is one rank higher or one lower. Aces are high and low: Q-K-A-2-3 all connects. Suits never matter.
- Either pile — the centre piles belong to nobody, so both of you may play on both of them. If you both go for the same pile, the card that lands first wins and the other one comes back.
- Open your cards — flip the newly exposed top of a stack, stack a face-up card onto another stack's card of the same rank, or move a card into an empty stack slot to dig out what is underneath.
- Spit again — when neither player can move, you each turn one more deck card onto your own pile and the race restarts.
- End of the round — the first player to empty all five stacks takes one centre pile (take the smaller one!), the opponent takes the other, and both players deal five new stacks from what they hold. The piles are never shuffled, so ordered runs come straight back.
- Winning — sooner or later a player is too short to make five stacks and has no deck, so only one centre pile appears. Shed everything in that state and you have won the game.
In this version you play against Emma, and her speed is yours to choose: Easy, Medium, Hard or Impossible. The setting is honest about what it changes — how long she thinks between moves and how fast her cards travel — so on the slower settings you can genuinely beat her to a pile mid-flight. Click a card to play it, or drag it if you prefer; both always work.
Strategy tips for winning at Spit
- Scout before you spit. The round does not start until you click your deck, so use those seconds to memorise your five face-up cards and spot the pairs you can stack together.
- Dig, don't dump. A move that exposes a face-down card is worth more than a move that merely sheds one. Your five hidden cards are five moves you cannot make yet.
- Watch both piles. Beginners lock onto one pile and miss half their legal plays. The second pile is usually where your stuck card fits.
- Spread your cards between the piles. Whoever empties their stacks picks a pile blind — if you have kept the two piles roughly level, that pick cannot hurt you much either way.
- Play the pile your opponent isn't reaching for. Simultaneous plays are decided by who lands first; taking the free pile guarantees the card sticks.
- Keep a stack empty when you can. An empty slot is a parking space that lets you unbury a covered card the moment you need it.
- Play the endgame calmly. Once you are down to a handful of cards with no deck, a single missed play can hand the game back — accuracy beats speed on the last round.
Frequently asked questions
What are the rules of the card game Spit?
Both players get 26 cards. Fifteen go into five stacks of one, two, three, four and five cards with only the top card face up; the remaining eleven are your spit deck. You each turn one deck card into the middle to make two centre piles, then — with no turns at all — you both race to play cards one rank higher or one rank lower than the top of either pile. Aces count high and low, so A-2 and K-A are both legal. Empty your five stacks to win the round; win a round while you have no deck and only one centre pile is on the table and you win the whole game.
Is Spit the same game as Speed or Slam?
Yes. Spit, Speed, Slam and the Icelandic "Kleppari" are the same two-player real-time shedding game. Some houses call the deck the "spit pile" and the centre piles the "spit piles" — the play is identical: fastest hands win, there are no turns to wait for.
What happens when both players get stuck in Spit?
When neither player has a legal move you both "spit": each of you turns one card from your own deck onto your own centre pile, and the race restarts instantly. If you are both stuck and both decks are empty, the round ends there and then — whoever has fewer cards left in their stacks wins the round (a coin flip if you are level) and gets to choose a pile.
Which centre pile should I take at the end of a round?
Always the smaller one, because everything in the pile you take goes under your deck and has to be shed again. The catch is that you may not count the piles — you have to judge thickness by eye, which is why dumping your cards evenly across both piles during the round is a real strategy.
Why is a Spit round dealt smaller than the last one?
Because each round you only get the pile you took plus whatever was left of your deck. Once a player has fewer than fifteen cards they cannot fill five full stacks and have no deck left, so only one centre pile is created that round — and if that player sheds everything first, they win the game outright.
How do I get faster at Spit?
Look at your face-up cards before the round starts and plan chains, keep one eye on both centre piles rather than one, and open a face-down card at the first opportunity — every hidden card is a move you cannot make. Against the Impossible setting you also want to play into the pile your opponent is not reaching for, because whoever lands a card first wins the exchange.
More free card games
If you like shedding your hand fast, try Crazy Eights or Switch. For another duel against Emma with a nastier sting in the tail, play Idiot.