How to Play Spit

Spit is a card game for two players. There are no turns: both of you play at the same time. Over several deals you try to get rid of all your cards. You need one normal 52-card deck. Play it now in our Spit game.

The deal

Shuffle and give each player 26 cards.
Each player lays out five stock piles in a row: the first has 1 card, the second 2, then 3, 4 and 5. Turn the top card of each pile face up.
The other 11 cards stay in your hand face down. These are your spit cards. Don’t look at them.

Playing

When both are ready, both shout “spit” and turn their top spit card face up into the middle. These start the two middle piles (the spit piles).
Now play as fast as you like, with one hand and one card at a time. You can:
- play the top card of one of your stock piles onto either middle pile if it is one rank higher or lower (suit and colour don’t matter; an ace goes on a king or a 2);
- turn up a face-down card that is now on top of one of your piles;
- move a face-up top card into an empty space in your row. You can never have more than five piles.
A card counts as played as soon as it touches the pile. Then your opponent may play on it.

9♣10♥J♠

On a 10 you can play a 9 or a jack.

When nobody can play

Both players shout “spit” again and turn their next spit card onto the middle pile they started. If one player has no spit cards left, the other spits alone onto one pile and keeps using that pile.

End of a deal

A deal ends when one player has cleared all their stock piles, or when both players are out of spit cards and nobody can play.

Then both players slap a middle pile, usually the smaller one. If you slap different piles, each player takes the pile they slapped. If you both slap the same pile, the first hand there takes it and the other player takes the other pile.

Each player adds their leftover stock and spit cards to the pile they took, shuffles, and deals a new layout.

Fewer than 15 cards

If you have fewer than 15 cards, deal them into the five piles as far as they go. You have no spit cards, so only your opponent spits and there is one middle pile.

With one middle pile, the first player to clear their stock piles takes no cards. The other player takes the middle pile and their own leftover cards.

Winning

If the player with no spit cards also clears their layout first, they have no cards left at all and win the game.

How our Spit game plays

Face-down cards turn up by themselves, and the game spits for both players as soon as nobody can play.
When only one player has spit cards, that player always spits on the pile they started.
The rules don’t say who takes the single middle pile if a one-pile deal gets stuck. We follow David Shapp’s version on Pagat.com, where the player with fewer cards left gets the better choice, so the player with more cards left takes the pile.

Variations

Four piles: some play with four stock piles of 1 to 4 cards.
Bicycle’s Spit: each player uses their own deck and lays out four face-up cards in a row, playing new cards from their deck into the row.
Alternating colours: some play that cards on the middle piles must alternate red and black.
Speed: the five-card hand version. Play it in our Speed game.

Questions

How many stock piles are there in Spit?

Five in the Pagat.com rules: piles of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 cards. Some players use four piles (1 to 4 cards). Bicycle’s version uses a row of four face-up cards and a deck for each player.

Can you have more than five piles?

No. You may move a top card into an empty space, but you never have more than five stock piles.

Who takes which pile at the end of a deal?

Both players slap a middle pile. If you slap different piles, each takes the one they slapped. If you both slap the same pile, the hand underneath (the first one there) takes it and the other player takes the other pile.