Printable Spit rules

Spit in one page

2 players · 1 deck

Split the deck so each player has 26 cards, and lay out five piles of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 cards with the top card of each face up, keeping the other 11 cards as your spit cards. Both players shout "Spit!" and flip a card to the center, then play at the same time, putting any face-up card one rank higher or lower onto either center pile. When a player clears their layout, both slap the center pile they want, and the first player to get rid of every card wins.

In brief

• 26 cards each
• Lay out 5 stock piles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 cards; top card face up
• Remaining 11 cards = your spit cards, face down
• Shout "Spit!" and flip a spit card to the center
• No turns. One hand, one card at a time
• Play one rank up or down; aces wrap to K and 2
• Turn up hidden cards; move a face-up card into an empty space
• Both stuck? Shout "Spit!" and flip new spit cards
• Layout cleared? Both slap a spit pile (take the small one)
• Add leftovers, shuffle, deal a new layout
• Under 15 cards: no spit cards, one spit pile
• No cards left at all = you win

Setup

1. Shuffle a standard 52-card deck and deal it out so each player has 26 cards.
2. Each player deals five stock piles in a row in front of them, face down: the first pile has 1 card, the second 2, the third 3, the fourth 4, and the fifth 5. That's 15 cards.
3. Turn the top card of each stock pile face up.
4. Hold your remaining 11 cards face down in a stack without looking at them. These are your spit cards.
5. Leave space between the two layouts for two spit piles.

On your turn

1. When both players are ready, shout "Spit!" together and each flip your top spit card face up into the middle. The two cards start the two spit piles.
2. There are no turns. Both players play as fast as they like, using only one hand and moving only one card at a time.
3. Play the face-up top card of any of your stock piles onto either spit pile if it's one rank higher or one rank lower. Suits and colors don't matter, and cards turn the corner: a king or a 2 can go on an ace.
4. When you play the face-up card off a stock pile, turn the next card of that pile face up. You can also move a face-up card into an empty space in your row, which lets you turn up the card it was covering.
5. If neither player can move, both shout "Spit!" again and flip a new spit card onto your spit pile. If one player has run out of spit cards, the other player spits alone onto one pile.

Scoring

Winning

The game ends when a player runs out of cards completely. That usually happens late in the game: a player has fewer than 15 cards, so they have no spit cards and only one spit pile is in play. If that player clears their layout first, they don't pick up anything from the center, have no cards left, and win. If the other player clears their layout first, the short-handed player has to take the spit pile and the game continues.