Games - Spit

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	Games - Spit

Spit, also known as Speed or Slam, is a card game for two players in which the aim is to get rid of your cards as fast as possible. The players do not take turns - physical speed and alertness are required to play faster than your opponent. On each deal, by being first to play all your stock pile cards you can reduce the number of cards you have in the next deal. By being successful for several deals you can eventually get rid of all your cards, thereby winning the game.

Players and cards

Two players only, using a regular deck of 52 playing cards. Older decks are ideal because the cards may become damaged in play. Shuffle well and divide the cards equally - 26 to each player.

The layout

Each player now deals a layout consisting of five stock piles in a row. The first stock pile has 1 card, the second 2 ... the fifth 5. Deal these piles face down and then turn the top card of each stock pile face up (or deal them that way in the first place). That leaves a pile of 11 cards in each player's hand, where they remain. These are the spit cards, and the players should not look at them. When neither player can play or neither wants to, flip one of these and continue.if there is a time that you cannot do anything you bring a card up from the spit pile. after you bring a card up you would go on and on about the game..........

The Play

After both players acknowledge readiness, both shout "Spit!" while turning over the top card in their hand (their first spit card). These two cards are placed side by side between the players' stock piles. These two cards and the cards that will be played on top of them are the spit piles.

The players now play simultaneously as fast as they want. The object is to get rid of all the cards in your stock piles onto the spit piles. Using only one hand, and moving only one card at a time, you can:

play the face up card from the top of one of your stock piles onto either spit pile. To play a card on a spit pile it has to be next in sequence up or down. Suit and color do not matter. Cards can turn the corner - for example on an ace you can play a two or a king
if one (or more) of your stock piles has its top card face-down, turn the top card of such a pile face-up
move a face up card from the top of a stock pile into an empty stock pile space if there is one - note that you can never have more than five stock piles.

A card counts as played as soon as it touches the pile or space onto which it is to be placed. A played card cannot be retracted and as soon as it is played the opponent is entitled to play on it.

If a position is reached where neither player can play (i.e. none of the exposed stock pile cards can be played to either of the spit piles and it is not possible to turn up another stockpile card after moving cards into spaces if necessary) then both players shout "Spit!" again, and each turns up their next spit card and places it on top of the spit pile they started. Play then continues as before.

If neither player can play and one player has no spit cards left, then the other player spits alone on only one spit pile. The player can choose either pile, but having chosen, must continue to spit on that pile whenever no play is possible until one player runs out of stock cards. In the event that both players run out of spit cards, the player with the fewer stock cards remaining has choice of spit pile.

New layout

When one of the players manages to get rid of all their stock pile cards, both players choose a spit pile by slapping it with their hand - normally both players will try to slap whichever pile they think is smaller. If the two players choose different piles, each player takes the pile they chose; if both choose the same pile, the player who gets there first (i.e. whose hand is underneath) takes the chosen pile and the other player takes the other pile. The player who still has stock cards also picks these up. Both players then shuffle their cards well, and deal new layouts as before from the cards they have, but one player will probably have more spit cards left in hand than the other. When ready, both players shout "spit" and play continues as before.

If one player has fewer than 15 cards, that player will not be able to deal a complete set of stock piles. In this case the player deals the cards into five stock piles as far as they will go, and turns over the top card of each. However, such a player can no longer spit, so there will only be one spit pile, started by the other player.

End of the game

When playing with only one spit pile, the first player to get rid of their stock cards does not take any cards from the centre; the other player takes the single spit pile and the unplayed stock pile cards. When playing with only one spit pile, if the player with no spit cards in hand also gets rid of their layout cards first, then that player has no cards left at all and has won the game.

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