Some play that the number of centre stacks is limited to one more than the number of players - i.e. Depending on the number of players and how many cards you deal to the payoff piles, more decks may need to be added - for example some play with one deck per player. Spite and Malice can easily be adapted for any number of players. The game can also end if the stock runs out of cards, in which case the result is a draw. The game ends when someone wins by playing the last card of their pay-off pile to the centre. If you complete a centre stack by playing a queen (or a king representing a queen) your opponent shuffles the completed stack into the stock, creating a space for a new centre stack, and you can continue playing. If during your turn you manage to play all five cards from your hand, without playing to a side stack, you immediately draw five more cards from the stock and continue playing. When a king is placed on a centre stack it represents the next higher value than the card it covers. You can discard a king to a side stack without committing yourself as to what it represents. Kings are wild and can represent any card. Note that you can never play a pay-off card to a side stack, or to move a card from one side stack to another, or move a card from a centre stack to anywhere. You may play as many cards to the centre stacks as you want, but as soon as you play a card to a side stack your turn ends, and your opponent may play. A player cannot have more than four separate side stacks at one time if you have no empty side stacks then you must discard onto a side stack that already contains cards, making the card you cover temporarily unavailable for play.
Skip bo rules draw pile series#
You may then make a series of moves, the possible moves being: If you have fewer than five cards in your hand you begin your turn by drawing cards from the stock to bring your hand up to five cards. The player whose first pay-off card is higher plays first, and thereafter the players take alternate turns. The only limitation is that you cannot have more than four side stacks. The side stacks can contain cards in any order, and when playing to a side stack you may put your card on whichever stack you choose. There cannot be more than three centre stacks at one time. The first card in each centre stack must be an ace, then 2, 3, and so on in sequence up to queen, each card played being one higher than the card it covers. Only the top card of your pay-off pile is available for play at any time when you have managed to get rid of the top card, you turn the next pay-off card face up and try to get rid of that. The object of the game is to be the first get rid of all the cards in your pay-off pile by playing them to the centre stacks.
At this stage the centre stacks and side stacks are all empty. If they are equal, both players shuffle their pay-off piles and turn up a new top card. Whichever player has the higher card showing will play first. The top card of each pay-off pile is turned face up and placed on top. The remainder of the cards are placed face down between the players to form the stock. To begin the game both packs are shuffled together and 20 cards are dealt face down to each pay-off pile, and a further 5 cards are dealt to each player as their hand. The layout of the game is shown in the following diagram: The cards in each pack rank from low to high: A-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q, with kings wild. Versions for larger numbers of players are described later. Spite and Malice was originally a two player game, and it is easiest to describe this version first. Then I will describe some of the more popular variations, and finally I will explain the rather different version which appears in most of the card game books. First I will give what seems to be the most widely played version of the game. There are quite a few different versions of Spite and Malice around. This is not a physical race (as in Spit or Racing Demon where play is simultaneous) - in Spite and Malice the players take turns. Both players try to be the first to get rid of a pile of "pay-off cards" by playing them to centre stacks which are begun with an ace and continue in upward sequence to a king. This is a kind of competitive patience (solitaire) game for two players.