Speed is a fast-paced game of recognition and response, sometimes known as Spit.

Deck: 1, no jokers
Players: 2
Objective: Deal out in a line and face down, 4 piles of cards. The first and last piles will contain 5 cards each and the middle two piles which each only be made up of one card.

The middle cards will become discard piles while the piles of 5 each will become the spit piles.

The remaining cards will be dealt into 4 piles: 2 containing 15 cards and 2 containing 5. These piles are the draw cards and the players’ hands, respectively. The draw piles will always remain face down while the player will be able to hold and look at all of the 5 cards in his hand.

To begin the game, the players will simultaneously flip up each of the cards which form the discard pile. Generally, players will take the card on their right (and also the spit pile to their right).

Each player will scan their cards for a card that is either 1 higher or 1 lower than the cards on the discard pile; if a player has an adjacent card, he can place is on the discard pile. Players can play cards o neither discard pile.

Aces can either be high or low so a legal play on an Ace can be a king or a 2 while a legal play on a king can be a queen or an Ace. Colours and suit suit are irrelevant.

As soon as a player removes a card from his hand, he can replace it from another card from the draw pile. A player can only ever hold 5 cards in his hand.

Whoever plays all the cards from his hand and draw pile first wins.

Stand Still: Whenever neither player has a card adjacent to the cards on top of the discard piles, each player will flip the top card from his spit pile onto 1 of the discard piles, providing 2 new potential plays. This may be done up to 5 times with the original spit pile. If the spit piles are used and there is on winner, players may shuffle their hands and deal new spit piles with 5 of their own cards.

This game is often played without scoring but one could keep score by adding the cards left in the loser’s hand and adding that to the winner’s score. Numeric cards are face value whereas face cards have a value of 10.

Variations:

Spit Pile Stalemate

In the event that the spit piles are used up, there is no winner and the game is over.

Automotic Points for Winner

The winner may automatically receive an agreed upon number of points: for instance – 25 points for each round won

Stand Still Spit

When a player no longer has any playable cards, he touches his spit pile and yells “Spit” or “Speed” to signal so

Count Down Only

Instead of playing a card 1 higher or lower than the card on the discard pile, players must count down; aces are low.

1 Point score:

The winner receives 1 point for each card left in the loser’s hand and draw pile.

Winner Yells Spit

When one plays all of one’s cards from one’s hand and draw pile, one yells “Spit” or “Speed” to signal the end of the game.