How to Play Spit

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Spit is a fast-paced, simultaneous two-player card game played with a standard 52-card deck. Unlike turn-based games, both players act at the same time, slapping cards onto shared central piles as quickly as they can. There are no pauses, no politeness, and no waiting your turn.

It is popular with children and adults alike because it is easy to learn, impossible to play slowly, and genuinely exciting. A kitchen table, a garden, or a long car journey break are its natural home. Games are short enough that a best-of-five session takes under half an hour.

A little history

The exact origins of Spit are unclear. It belongs to a broader family of speed and patience games that became popular in Britain and North America during the twentieth century, and it appears in general card game compendia from at least the mid-1900s. Some sources group it with games derived from Spite and Malice, though the connection is not firmly documented. It has been passed on largely through family and playground tradition rather than any single authoritative publication.

Setting up

1. Remove the jokers and shuffle the full 52-card deck thoroughly.
2. Deal all 52 cards face down equally between the two players: 26 cards each.
3. Each player takes their 26 cards and, without looking at them, deals four face-down piles in a row in front of themselves: one pile of 1 card, one of 2, one of 3, and one of 4. These are the tableau piles.
4. Turn the top card of each tableau pile face up.
5. Each player holds their remaining cards face down in one hand as their stockpile. These are the 'spit cards'.
6. Place both players' setups facing each other across the table, leaving a clear central area for the two spit piles.

How to play

1. To start, both players simultaneously flip the top card of their stockpile face up into the centre, side by side. These two cards form the spit piles. Both players shout 'Spit!' as they do so.
2. As soon as the spit cards are turned, both players play simultaneously, as fast as they like. There are no turns.
3. A player may move a face-up card from their tableau onto either central spit pile if the card is one rank higher or one rank lower than the top card of that pile. Suits are irrelevant. Sequences wrap: an Ace can be played on a 2 or a King.
4. Only one card may be moved with one hand at a time. You may not scoop or stack multiple cards in a single move.
5. When a face-up tableau card is moved away, flip the card beneath it face up immediately.
6. A face-up card in a tableau pile may also be moved onto another tableau pile if it is one rank higher or lower than that pile's top card. This can free up space and uncover buried cards.
7. Empty tableau columns may only be filled from another tableau pile, not directly from the stockpile.
8. If both players are stuck and cannot play any card from their tableau onto either spit pile, both players simultaneously flip a new card from their stockpile onto the spit piles and shout 'Spit!' Play resumes immediately.
9. A player whose stockpile runs out does not call Spit when a new round is needed. Only the player who still has stockpile cards flips one. If both stockpiles are empty and play is stuck, the round cannot continue and is restarted.
10. The round ends the moment one player has no cards left in either their tableau or their stockpile. That player slaps one of the two central spit piles to claim it.
11. The other player takes the remaining spit pile.
12. Both players add their claimed spit pile to any cards remaining in their tableau and stockpile, shuffle them together, and deal a new tableau for the next round using the same layout. If a player has fewer than 15 cards, they deal as many tableau piles as they can, leaving some columns empty from the start.
13. If a player has so few cards they cannot fill even one tableau pile, the round is played with a single central spit pile.
14. Play continues in rounds until one player has no cards at all. That player wins.

Winning and scoring

The winner is the first player to get rid of every card they hold: all tableau cards, stockpile cards, and any accumulated spit pile cards from previous rounds. At the end of each round, the player who empties their tableau first slaps the smaller of the two central spit piles. Choosing the smaller pile is the aim: the player left with fewer cards has the advantage in the next round. The overall winner is the player who empties their hand completely across however many rounds that takes.

The fine points

The most common dispute is simultaneous slapping: if both players slap the same central pile at the end of a round, the player whose hand is lowest on the pile wins it. Establish this rule before play begins. A second common argument concerns illegal moves: if a player places a card on a spit pile that is not a legal rank, the card must be returned to the tableau pile it came from and the spit piles are not adjusted. It is good practice to call this out immediately rather than letting play continue.

One-hand-at-a-time is a rule that younger or newer players frequently break by holding a card in each hand ready to play. This is not permitted: a player must complete one move before picking up the next card. Similarly, a player cannot hover a card over a spit pile while waiting for a better moment; once the card touches the pile, the move is made. If a player accidentally knocks a card face up from their stockpile, it is returned face down to the top of the stockpile without penalty.

How to win more often

• Watch both spit piles at once, not just one. Peripheral vision is a genuine skill here and improves with practice.
• Prioritise clearing your tableau over building long sequences. An empty tableau column can be refilled from a pile you want to break up.
• At the end of a round, do not automatically slap the nearest pile. Take the fraction of a second to identify which is smaller: carrying fewer cards into the next round is a compounding advantage.
• Keep your stockpile fanned slightly in your hand so you can flip cards smoothly rather than fumbling. Faster flipping means more Spit calls go your way.
• When moving cards between tableau piles, think one move ahead. Exposing a buried card that unblocks three moves is worth more than a quick play onto the spit pile.

Variations

Speed

Speed is a closely related game sometimes confused with Spit. Each player is dealt 20 cards: 15 as a draw pile and 5 as a hand. Play is simultaneous onto two central piles, but players may only play from their five-card hand and draw back up to five from their personal draw pile. The winning condition is the same: empty all your cards first. The key difference is the fixed hand size, which adds a small element of hand management absent in Spit.

Spit with a single central pile

When one player is running very low on cards and a full two-pile game becomes unbalanced, some households play with only one shared central pile. Both players still play simultaneously onto the single pile in ascending or descending sequence. The player who empties their cards first wins the round outright rather than slapping for pile choice. This variant keeps late-game rounds from dragging.

Three-pile Spit

A slightly more complex version uses three central spit piles instead of two. When neither player can move, both flip a card onto any empty or existing spit pile of their choice. This creates more options and tends to produce longer, more tactical rounds. The slap-to-claim rule at round end still applies: the finishing player picks one pile, the other player picks one, and the third is shuffled away and lost to both. This makes the endgame slap considerably more consequential.

Quiet Spit

Identical to the standard game but played without speaking or making any sound at all. Players use a silent tap on the table to signal a Spit call instead of shouting. Popular for playing in shared spaces or with younger children who find the shouting overwhelming. No other rules change.

Spit: frequently asked questions