Spite and Malice rules
Spite and Malice is a two-player race to empty your pay-off pile onto shared stacks that climb from Ace to Queen, with Kings wild. Unlike Speed, you take turns, and the game is about timing: holding a card back so your opponent can't use the stack you just built. The whole game in plain English, a picture of the table, and a keeper that scores each hand.
Spite and Malice in 30 seconds
- Two players, two standard decks shuffled together. Each player gets a face-down pay-off pile of 20 with the top card turned up, and a hand of 5.
- Center stacks are shared. Each must start with an Ace and climbs one rank at a time, suits ignored, up to Queen. Kings are wild.
- On your turn, refill your hand to 5, play what you can to the center from your pay-off pile, your hand or the tops of your side stacks, then end by putting one hand card on one of your four side stacks.
- First to empty their pay-off pile wins the hand. The winner scores 5 plus 1 for each card left in the other pay-off pile.
Own Skip-Bo? The same race, with numbered cards and stockpiles.
The deal
Shuffle two 52-card decks together (no jokers). Deal 20 cards face down to each player as their pay-off pile and turn the top card of each face up. Then deal each player a hand of 5. That uses 50 cards; the other 54 go face down in the middle as the stock.
In the Pagat rules, the player whose face-up pay-off card is higher goes first.
The four kinds of piles
- Pay-off pile (yours). The race. Only the top card is in play, and it can only go to a center stack. Turn up the next card whenever you play one.
- Hand (yours). Five cards, refilled from the stock at the start of each turn.
- Side stacks (yours, up to four). Your discard piles. Any card can go on any of them, in any order. Only the top card of each can be played, and only to the center.
- Center stacks (shared, up to three). Start each with an Ace, then build up one rank at a time, any suit, to Queen.
A turn, step by step
- Draw up to 5 from the stock.
- Play to the center as much as you like: the top pay-off card, cards from your hand, and the top cards of your side stacks. A King can be played as whatever card a stack needs.
- Empty hand? Draw 5 more. If you play all five hand cards to the center, draw five more and keep going.
- End with a discard. Put one card from your hand on one of your side stacks (or start a new one, up to four). That ends your turn.
When a center stack reaches Queen, it is done. The other player shuffles it into the stock, which leaves room for a new stack, and you carry on. A few things are never allowed: playing a pay-off card to a side stack, moving cards between side stacks, or taking a card back off the center.
How a hand ends
The first player to play the last card of their pay-off pile wins the hand. If the stock runs out first, the hand is a draw and nobody scores.
Where the rules differ
- Pile sizes. Pagat deals 20-card pay-off piles from two decks. Wikipedia gives 26 cards (13 for a short game) and notes that the playing-card company's version uses two decks.
- Number of center stacks. Pagat allows three at a time; Wikipedia allows four.
- No Aces on side stacks. Wikipedia's version stops you discarding an Ace, so Aces always reach the center.
- Jokers. Some tables add jokers as extra wild cards. Both sources mention this as a variation.
- More players. Pagat says the game adapts to any number, with turns passing clockwise. With more players you need more cards; the keeper's deal check shows how far the decks stretch.
Spite and Malice scoring
One hand can be a game on its own. For a longer match, the winner of each hand scores 5 points for going out plus 1 point for each card still in the opponent's pay-off pile. The loser scores nothing. A drawn hand scores nothing for anyone.
Example: you play your last pay-off card while your opponent still has 9. You score 5 + 9 = 14. Play continues until someone reaches the target; Wikipedia says 25, 50 or 100 are usual.
Spite and Malice score keeper
Spite and Malice strategy
- Read the other pay-off card before every play. Its top card is face up for a reason. If it shows a 7, think twice before you take a center stack to 6: you would be setting up their next play.
- Hold a King for your own pay-off card. A wild King is most valuable as the one card bridging a center stack to your pay-off pile. Spending it to build a stack your opponent can use helps them as much as you.
- Discard in descending runs. Side stacks take any order, so stack them downward (9, then 8, then 7). Later you can unload a whole stack onto the center in one go.
- Keep one side stack for junk. Cards you will never need soon, like a second Queen, belong on one stack so they do not bury the useful ones.
- Think about the stack you leave. At the end of your turn, look at each center stack and ask whether the next card it wants is the one showing on their pay-off pile.
The name fits: the best moves are often the ones you hold back, so your opponent waits.
Play Spite and Malice online or at home
Play at home: two ordinary decks shuffled together, a table for two, and the score keeper above.
Spite and Malice questions
How many cards are in a Spite and Malice pay-off pile?
Pagat's rules deal 20 to each player from two decks. Wikipedia gives 26, or 13 for a short game. Any size works if you agree before the deal; bigger piles make longer hands.
Are Kings wild in Spite and Malice?
Yes. A King can stand for any card a center stack needs. Pagat's rules start every center stack with a real Ace, and Wikipedia says a King can be any rank except an Ace.
What happens when you finish a center stack?
When a stack reaches Queen (or a King played as a Queen), it is shuffled into the stock, which frees the space for a new stack.
How do you score Spite and Malice?
The winner of each hand scores 5 points plus 1 for every card left in the opponent's pay-off pile. Pagat and Wikipedia agree on this. Wikipedia says games usually run to 25, 50 or 100 points.
Is Spite and Malice the same as Skip-Bo?
Skip-Bo, sold by Mattel, is a boxed game built on the same idea with its own numbered cards. Spite and Malice is the traditional version for ordinary playing cards.
Where does the game come from?
Pagat notes it is also called Cat and Mouse. Wikipedia says the first recorded rules are Richard L. Frey's, in 1965, describing it as a recent game for married couples. Boxed games built on it followed, including Skip-Bo.