Spit

How to play Spit

Split 52 cards equally. Each player deals five piles containing 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 cards; only their tops are visible. The rest are spit cards. Press Spit to expose the centre piles, then race without taking turns.

Select your top card, then a highlighted centre pile one rank higher or lower. Suits do not matter; king and ace connect. Empty spaces accept any top card. Newly uncovered cards turn up automatically. Matching ranks cannot stack. Use 1–5 to select a pile and Q/W for the left/right centre. Tab and Enter also work; Escape clears selection. Pause stops the computer.

When neither player can advance, press Spit again. If only one reserve remains, choose its centre pile once. With no reserves left, redeal. We use the first-finisher-choice variation: the first to empty their layout chooses a centre pile; if blocked, fewer layout cards gets first choice (ties alternate). Each player shuffles their chosen pile and remaining cards into a new layout.

With at most 15 cards, a player has no reserve and only one centre pile starts. The first finisher takes no centre cards. Empty your layout and reserve to win. Counts track progress; 500 rounds is a safety draw.

Rules reference: Pagat’s Spit rules. This page uses original text and card artwork.

Questions

Is Spit the same as Speed?

This is the five-pile game Spit. Speed commonly uses a five-card hand instead.

How do I win Spit?

Reduce your cards across deals, then empty your layout in a one-centre-pile round while having no spit cards left.