Spit Card Game Variations and House Rules

Spit is passed from player to player rather than read from a book, so the details change from one family to the next. This page explains the options in our Spit game (open Settings and look under "For this game") and the other differences you are likely to meet. For the standard game, see the full rules.

The Computer's Pace: Relaxed, Steady and Brisk

At a real table Spit is a race between two pairs of hands, and the quicker player usually wins. That is fine for teenagers, but it leaves out anyone whose hands or eyes are a little slower. So in our game the race is kept, but you set the speed of the computer:

• Relaxed (the default): the computer waits several seconds between its plays. You have time to read the labels, find your card and tap it.
• Steady: a play roughly every three seconds, like a friendly family game.
• Brisk: closer to real Spit, though still gentler than a quick human player.

The pace changes only how long the computer waits. It never changes the rules or which cards the computer chooses, and you can switch between these three at any time, even mid-round. You can also press Pause whenever you like; the game pauses by itself when you switch to another tab or app.

Separately, the Easy, Normal and Hard setting decides how well the computer chooses its cards. Easy often plays the first card that fits and is a touch slower; Hard turns up hidden cards, avoids handing you plays and is a touch quicker. None of them can see your face-down cards.

Take Turns: Spit With No Clock

Choose Take turns as the pace and the race disappears completely. You and the computer play one card each, in turn, and nothing happens until you tap. The rest of the rules stay the same, with three small changes that make turns work:

• On your turn you may move cards into empty spaces first; that doesn't use up your turn. Playing a card onto a centre pile ends it.
• If none of your cards fits but the computer can play, you tap Pass. When neither of you can play, you tap Spit! as usual.
• There is no race to slap. When someone empties their stock piles, the smaller centre pile is taken for them automatically.

You go first in the first round, and the first turn alternates after that. Taking turns is slower, so it pairs well with a round limit. If you switch to or from Take turns during a round, the change starts with the next round.

Ace and King: Do They Wrap Round?

In most families the ranks go round in a circle, so an Ace can go on a King and a King on an Ace. That is our default. Some people play with the Ace strictly low: then nothing goes on a King except a Queen, and nothing on an Ace except a 2. Turning off Ace and King go on each other gives you that game. It makes getting stuck a little more common and the Kings and Aces a little harder to get rid of.

Finish Quickly

In the usual game, the player who empties their stock piles first takes the smaller centre pile. With Finish quickly switched on, they take no pile at all, and the other player picks up both. Winning a round is worth a lot more, so games are about half as long, and a strong round or two can settle things. It's a good choice when you want a game to fit into a coffee break.

Round Limit

A full game ends only when someone has no cards left, which usually takes three to six rounds but can run longer when the lead swaps back and forth. Choose a limit of 3, 5 or 10 rounds and the game ends after that round: the player holding fewer cards wins, and the same number is a draw. It is especially handy with Take turns.

Other Rules You May Meet

Racing to slap

In many homes, when one player empties their stock piles, both players race to slap the smaller pile, and whoever's hand lands first takes it. That is great fun, and a good way to hurt a hand. In our game only the player who finished first slaps, and only the smaller pile can be chosen, so there is no rush.

When a player runs out of spit cards

Families handle this in several ways. In ours, a player who runs out of spit cards in the middle of a round simply keeps playing, and when everyone is stuck only the other player spits. A player who starts a round with 15 cards or fewer has no spit pile at all, so that round uses a single centre pile. Some families instead let the player with spit cards spit onto both piles in turn, or have the short player borrow from the centre piles.

When nobody can move at all

With no spit cards left and nobody able to play, some players turn the centre piles over and use them as new spit piles. We end the round instead, with each player picking up the centre pile on their own side, which keeps every game moving towards a finish.

Speed

Speed is a close relative usually played with a hand of five cards drawn from a stock, rather than five stock piles laid out on the table, and with extra cards set aside to flip when both players are stuck. The play of one rank up or down onto two centre piles is the same idea.

Moving cards between stock piles

Some players allow stacking stock cards on each other or moving cards back and forth freely. In ours, you may only move a card into an empty space, and only one that has another card under it, because the point of a move is to turn up a hidden card.

Our Defaults at a Glance

House rules take effect with your next game (or straight away if you haven't played a card yet). If you enjoy two-player card games against the computer, War is pure luck and Crazy Eights is all about matching.