Spite and Malice

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Playing a turn
5. Kings
6. Full centre stacks
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Spite and Malice is a competitive patience for two: you play like a solitaire, but against an opponent. Each player has a pay-off pile of 20 cards. Both of you build shared piles in the middle, from Ace up to Queen, and use them to get rid of your pay-off cards. The first to play the last card of their pay-off pile wins.

• Players: 2.
• You need: two standard 52-card decks, no jokers – 104 cards.

The cards

• Cards rank A (low) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q (high). Suits don't matter.
• Kings are wild: a King can stand for any card you need.

Setup

1. Shuffle both decks together.
2. Deal each player 20 cards face down in a pile: this is your pay-off pile. Put it in front of you and turn its top card face up.
3. Deal each player 5 cards as a hand. Keep your hand hidden.
4. Put the rest face down in the middle as the draw pile (stock).

During the game three kinds of piles appear, all face up:

The player whose face-up pay-off card is higher (a King counts highest) goes first. If they are equal, both shuffle their pay-off piles and turn up a new top card. Then you take turns.

Playing a turn

1. Refill your hand: if you have fewer than 5 cards, draw from the stock until you have 5.
2. Play to the centre: as many cards as you like, one at a time. A card may come from your hand, from the top of one of your side stacks or from the top of your pay-off pile. It must be: - an Ace, to start a new centre stack (if fewer than three exist), or - exactly one higher than the top card of a centre stack.

When you play the top card of your pay-off pile, turn up the next one – it may be playable too. 3. End your turn by putting one card from your hand face up on one of your side stacks (or starting a new one, if you have fewer than four). As soon as you do that, your turn is over.

Rules for the side stacks:

• Only cards from your hand may go there – never your pay-off card, and never a card moved from another side stack.
• If you already have four side stacks, you must put the card on top of one of them.

Empty hand: if you manage to play all five cards from your hand to the centre (without playing to a side stack), draw five more at once and keep playing.

Example: a centre stack shows 4♣. Your pay-off card is the 6♥. You play the 5♠ from your hand on the 4, then the 6♥ from your pay-off pile. The next pay-off card is a 9. You have no 7, so you play a King as the 7 and the 8♦ from your side stack, then the 9 from your pay-off pile!

Kings

• A King may be played on a centre stack as the next card needed – on a 7 it counts as an 8, and so on.
• A King always counts as the card above the one it covers, so it cannot start a centre stack: every centre stack begins with a real Ace.
• A King may also go on a side stack like any other card.

Full centre stacks

When a centre stack reaches Queen (or a King played as the Queen), it is complete. Your opponent shuffles its 12 cards into the stock. This frees the space for a new centre stack, and you keep playing.

Winning the game

• You win as soon as you play the last card of your pay-off pile to the centre.
• If the stock runs out before that, the game is a draw.

Scoring (optional): if you play several games, the winner scores 5 points plus 1 point for each card left in the opponent's pay-off pile.

Example: you win while your opponent still has 7 cards in their pay-off pile: 5 + 7 = 12 points.

Tips for beginners

• Your pay-off card is the most important card on the table. Every other move should help you reach it.
• Look at your opponent's pay-off card before you play: don't build a centre stack up to one below it.
• Save Kings for the moment when they free your pay-off card.
• Keep your side stacks tidy: put cards on them in descending order (for example 9, then 8, then 7), so you can later play them off one after another.
• Keep one side stack empty as long as you can – it gives you more choice later.

Variants

Optional – agree before you start.

• More centre stacks: there is no limit on the number of centre stacks, and full stacks stay where they are until the stock runs out.
• Ace must be played: you must start a new centre stack as soon as you can play an Ace.
• Other pile sizes: at some tables the pay-off piles have 21 or 25 cards, according to pagat.com; fewer cards make a shorter game.
• Jokers: add jokers as extra wild cards; like Kings, they cannot be played as an Ace.
• More players: three or more players can play; take turns clockwise.