About Free Printable Spit Rules
Free printable Spit (Speed) card-game rules — two-player race with no turns. 1-2-3-4-5 stock layout, Ace wraps high and low, slap the smaller pile to win.
How to use
- Choose your print style. Full color shows red hearts/diamonds and black spades/clubs with a crimson racing-accent header — perfect for a family game-night reference. Ink-saver switches to a clean black-and-white card style for cheap classroom or club handouts.
- Choose whether to show card diagrams. Diagrams on (the default) includes the 1-2-3-4-5 stock pile layout, the full two-player table layout with central spit piles, a six-panel grid of legal plays (consecutive rank + Ace wrap), the stuck-reset 'Spit!' sequence, and the end-of-round slap-the-smaller-pile diagram. Switch to text only for the most compact, fewest-pages version.
- Read the preview to confirm everything looks right — the rules flow from the goal, through materials and setup (1-2-3-4-5 stock layout + 11-card spit pile), how the simultaneous race works, what makes a legal play (consecutive rank, Aces wrap), special rules (one hand, stuck reset, refilling, no spit pile in late rounds), winning the game, and three popular variants: Speed (4-pile two-deck layout), California Speed, and Wild Speed (Jokers).
- Click Print Rules to send it to your printer or save it as a PDF. The illustrated rules print cleanly across two or three letter / A4 pages; choose Text only for a compact one-page summary that fits in a card-game tin.
Frequently asked questions
What is the goal of Spit (Speed)?
Be the first player to get rid of all your cards across multiple rounds. You race your opponent simultaneously — not in turns — to play face-up stock cards onto two central 'spit' piles in consecutive sequence. When a round ends, slap and claim the SMALLER of the two central piles so you carry fewer cards into the next round. Per Bicycle Cards: 'The winner is the first player to get rid of all of their cards.'
How many players is Spit for, and how long does it last?
Spit is for exactly 2 players — a head-to-head race with no turns. Per Pagat: 'Spit and Speed are games for two players in which the aim is to get rid of your cards as fast as possible.' A full game runs about 5 to 15 minutes; individual rounds last under a minute once both players get quick. Suitable for ages 7 and up.
What is the 1-2-3-4-5 setup in Spit?
Each player receives 26 cards. Lay out 5 stock piles in a row: Pile 1 = 1 card face up. Pile 2 = 1 face-down + 1 face-up on top. Pile 3 = 2 face-down + 1 face-up. Pile 4 = 3 face-down + 1 face-up. Pile 5 = 4 face-down + 1 face-up. That uses 15 cards. The remaining 11 cards become your face-down spit pile beside your tableau (do not look). The two central spit piles are formed in the middle when both players shout 'Spit!' to start the round.
What makes a legal play in Spit?
A card may be played onto a central spit pile only if it is exactly one rank higher or one rank lower than the top card of that pile. A 5 plays on a 4 or a 6. Suit and color do not matter. Aces wrap around: an Ace plays on a King or a 2, and a King or a 2 plays on an Ace — this is what keeps long sequence runs possible without dead-ending. You may use only ONE hand and move only ONE card at a time.
What happens when both players get stuck?
If a moment arrives when neither player can make a legal play, both players say 'Spit!' again together and each flips the next card from their personal spit pile onto their respective central spit pile, creating new top cards. Per Pagat: 'If a position is reached where neither player can play… both players shout spit again, and each turns up their next spit card.' Repeat as needed until a legal play exists.
Why slap the SMALLER central pile at the end of a round?
The moment a player empties their tableau, both players race to slap one of the two central piles. The first hand wins that pile and the other player must take the other. Always slap the smaller pile — you must shuffle whichever pile you claim into your cards for the next round, so taking the smaller pile gives you a major advantage. The player who consistently claims the smaller pile gets closer to winning each round.
What is the difference between Spit, Speed, and California Speed?
Spit uses the classic 1-2-3-4-5 stock pile layout from one shared 52-card deck. Speed (per Bicycle) is the 4-pile layout variant played with two decks, one per player — each player lays out the top 4 cards of their deck face up in a row and holds the remainder of their deck in one hand, refilling each row position from the top of the deck whenever a card is played; no slap-the-smaller-pile mechanic; first to deplete their deck wins outright. California Speed is a simpler sibling — instead of consecutive-rank plays onto central piles, players race to cover pairs of equal cards in a shared layout (Pagat). Good for younger children.
What other printable card-game rules do you have?
Part of ToolFluency’s library of free online tools for Printables. No account needed, no data leaves your device.