A competitive patience | |
Alternative name | Slam, Speed |
---|---|
Type | Shedding-type |
Players | 2 |
Skills | Counting, sequencing, manual dexterity [1] |
Age range | 8+ [1] |
Deck | Standard 52-card deck |
Playing time | 5-15 min. |
Related games | |
Speed |
Spit is a card game of the shedding family for two players. It is a form of competitive patience. The game is played until all of a player's cards are gone. [2] It has a close variant known as Speed. Spit appears to have originated in the UK in the 1980s. [3]
The goal of Spit is to get rid of one's cards as quickly as possible. The players do not take turns; physical speed and alertness is required to play faster than the opponent. On each deal, the player who is first to go through all of their starting cards can reduce the number of cards for the next deal. By being successful for several deals, clearing all of one's cards becomes possible, and if this is carried out successfully, one wins the game. [4]
Spit is played by two players. The entire pack is split between them, and each player makes five stacks in front of themselves in a row as follows: [5]
There is an alternative setup where each person lays down four cards face up separately, and a stack of ten face-down cards with one face-up card on top, similar to the setup for Canfield.
The object of the game is to move all of these cards into two "spit piles" that start empty in between the two player's rows of cards. Each player's eleven remaining cards not dealt into stacks are placed face down in a pile next to the play area; these are the spit cards. Within each player's row of cards, face-up cards of the same value (the same card but a different suit) may be placed upon each other. Then, the face-down cards revealed from this are turned over. This process continues until each player's row has face-up cards of five different values.
Players must leave their stacks on the table, and only one card can be played at a time. Players may either use both or just one hand while playing Spit; however, both players need to agree on either one or both.
To begin, both players say "spit" (or "slam" or "speed", depending on the variation) simultaneously as each player flips over the top card from their spit cards into the centre to start the two spit piles. Then, the two players attempt to play the cards from their rows of cards into the spit piles as fast as they can; there are no turns.
Each player can play their face-up cards from their row onto either spit pile, if the previous card in that spit pile is of a consecutive value. For example, a 5 can be placed upon a 4 or a 6, but not another 5. An Ace is considered consecutive to both King and 2. When a face-up card is used, the next card under it in its stack can be turned over and then played. If a stack of the rows is empty, a player can transfer any face-up card into that space and turn over the following card. As during setup, face-up cards of the same rank may be placed on top of each other within the rows.
Once either player has depleted the cards from their row, each player tries to slap the spit pile that they think is smaller. Whoever slaps first gets the pile slapped, and the other player takes the other spit pile. (In some variants the player who plays all their cards just chooses a pile.) These cards are added to the remainder of the player's spit cards and then shuffled together and dealt into rows as done at the start of the deal. There is no set number of rounds because the first to lose all of their cards is the winner.
If the run reaches a point where both players are stuck or choose not to play a card, both players once again say "spit" simultaneously and each player turns their top spit card face up, placing it on one of the spit piles. Play then resumes as described above. [6]
When one player starts with fifteen cards or fewer, there will only be one spit pile, and the first player to get rid of their rows doesn't take anything from the center. The opponent takes the spit pile and their tableau cards.
If the player with no spit cards in their hand is also the one who gets rid of their rows first, they win the game. If their opponent gets rid of their tableau first, the game continues. [6]
Spit is similar to the game Speed in the sense that players attempt to get rid of all their cards first. Speed requires 4 stacks, two having five or ten. If there are five cards in the outer stacks in the middle each player is dealt twenty cards, while if there are fifteen cards, ten are dealt. Speed permits players to use Jokers as wild cards, where in Spit, the Jokers are removed from the deck.
When playing Speed, while slapping the final pile, players have the option of shouting the word “Speed” as they slap the deck. This rule can be carried over to Spit, however it is not mandatory. The difference between Spit and Speed is in the arrangement of the stock piles. In Spit, each player has a row of piles, usually five, each with the top card face up. In Speed, each player has a single face down stock pile and a hand of five cards. [4]
Games of patience, or (card) solitaires as they are usually called in North America, have their own 'language' of specialised terms such as "building down", "packing", "foundations", "talon" and "tableau". Once learnt they are helpful in describing, succinctly and accurately, how the games are played. Patience games are usually for a single player, although a small number have been designed for two and, in rare cases, three or even four players. They are games of skill or chance or a combination of the two. There are three classes of patience grouped by object.
Klondike, also known as Canfield, is a card game for one player and the best known and most popular version of the patience or solitaire family, as well as one of the most challenging in widespread play. It has spawned numerous variants including Batsford, Easthaven, King Albert, Thumb and Pouch, Somerset or Usk and Whitehead, as well as the American variants of the games, Agnes and Westcliff. The distinguishing feature of all variants is a triangular layout of the tableau, building in ascending sequence and packing in descending order.
Shithead is a card game, the object of which is to lose all of one's playing cards. Although the basic structure of the game generally remains constant, there are regional variations to the game's original rules.
Cheat is a card game where the players aim to get rid of all of their cards. It is a game of deception, with cards being played face-down and players being permitted to lie about the cards they have played. A challenge is usually made by players calling out the name of the game, and the loser of a challenge has to pick up every card played so far. Cheat is classed as a party game. As with many card games, cheat has an oral tradition and so people are taught the game under different names.
Slapjack, also known as Slaps, is a card game of the matching family, generally played among children. It can often be a child's first introduction to playing cards. The game is a cross between Beggar-My-Neighbour and Egyptian Ratscrew and is also sometimes known as Heart Attack. It is also related to the simpler 'slap' card games often called Snap.
Spite and Malice, also known as Cat and Mouse, is a relatively modern American card game for two or more players. It is a reworking of the late 19th century Continental game Crapette, also known as Russian Bank, and is a form of competitive solitaire, with a number of variations that can be played with two or three regular decks of cards.
Paskahousu is a popular Finnish card game for two to six players, but three to five are best. The object of the game is to play higher cards than the previously played cards, first to get replacement cards from the stock pile, and, after the stock pile has exhausted, to get rid of one's cards.
Golf is a card game where players try to earn the lowest number of points over the course of nine deals.
Rummy is a group of games related by the feature of matching cards of the same rank or sequence and same suit. The basic goal in any form of rummy is to build melds which can be either sets or runs and either be first to go out or to amass more points than the opposition.
Snap is a card game in which players deal cards and react quickly to spot pairs of cards of the same rank. Cards are either dealt into separate piles around the table, one per player, or into a single shared pile. The game may be a simplified version of the older Snip Snap Snorem.
Russian Bank, Crapette or Tunj, historically also called Wrangle, is a card game for two players from the patience family. It is played with two decks of 52 standard playing cards. The U.S. Playing Card Company, who first published its rules in 1898, called it "probably the best game for two players ever invented".
Gargantua is a patience or solitaire card game that is a version of Klondike using two decks. It is also known as Double Klondike.
Crescent is a solitaire card game played with two decks of playing cards mixed together. The game is so called because when the cards are dealt properly, the resulting piles should form a large arc or a crescent. An alternative and less common name for the game is La Demi-Lune.
Speed is a game for two players of the shedding family of card games, in which players try to get rid of all of their cards first. It is a form of competitive patience similar to Spit.
Westcliff is the name of two closely related patience or card solitaire games of the simple packer type, both of which are played using a deck of 52 playing cards. One version is particularly easy to win, with odds of 9 in 10; the other is harder with odds closer to 1 in 4. The game has a variant, Easthaven.
Tonk, or tunk, is a matching card game, which combines features of knock rummy and conquian. Tonk is a relatively fast-paced game that can be played by 2-4 players. It can be played for just points or for money wagered.
Nerts (US), or Racing Demon (UK), is a fast-paced multiplayer card game involving multiple decks of playing cards. It is often described as a competitive form of Patience or Solitaire. In the game, players or teams race to get rid of the cards in their "Nerts pile" by playing them in sequences from aces upwards, either into their personal area or in a communal central area. Each player or team uses their own deck of playing cards throughout the game.
Egyptian Ratscrew (ERS) or Slap is a modern American card game of the matching family and popular with children. The game is similar to the 19th-century British card game beggar-my-neighbour, with the added concept of "slapping" cards when certain combinations are played, similar to and perhaps borrowed from Slapjack.
Travellers is a card game of the patience or card solitaire genre which uses a single card pack of either 52 or 32 playing cards. It is an interesting game based on "an entirely new principle" which Parlett describes as a "rhythmical feature that might be called 'shuttling'", as in the game of Weavers. It should not be confused with the twin-pack patience game, also called Travellers.
Hund is a card game, which is especially common in Silesia but not well known in Germany. It is played between four players using a standard French pack of 52 cards. The aim of the game is to get rid of all one's cards as quickly as possible to one's opponents. The game has no winner, only a loser: when one player has all the cards in his hand, they lose the game and are known as the "dog" (Hund) hence the name of the game.