About The Double-Daring Book for Girls

How to play Spit

This is a game for two players using a regular fifty-two-card deck. Deal the cards evenly, twenty-six cards to each player. To begin, each player sets up five piles of cards facedown directly in front of her, with one card in the first pile, two cards in the second, three cards in the third, four cards in the fourth, and five cards in the fifth. Turn over the top card in each of the five piles. The eleven cards left over for each player are their spit cards, which should be held by the players at all times. (If you’re right-handed, hold the spit cards in your left hand; if you’re left-handed, hold them in your right hand.)

When both players are done setting up their five piles, the game is started by saying, “One, two, three, spit!” Then both players must take the top card from their spit cards and place it down in the middle of the playing area, between the players’ five-pile setups. These are now spit piles.

Using the cards facing up on their five-pile setup, players can play either spit pile by putting down a card either one rank higher or one rank lower than the card on the spit pile. (For instance, if a spit pile has a seven, a player can put down an eight or a six.) After taking a card from the five-pile setup, turn over the next card from that pile so that you have five cards facing up at one time. The goal is to play as fast as you can, to get rid of all the cards in your setup. If neither player can play a card on either spit pile, say, “One, two, three, spit!” and draw two new spit cards for the spit piles.

When a player has no cards left in her setup, pause the play and pick up the spit piles (the smaller pile goes to the player with no cards left; the bigger pile goes to the other player). Shuffle the cards and make another five-pile setup, as in the beginning of the game. Count, “One, two, three, spit!” and begin again.

Continue play until one player has too few cards to make a complete setup. When this happens, she should lay out as many of the five piles as possible and turn over the top card of each. Since she won’t have any cards left over for a spit pile, there will only be one spit pile (the other player’s) instead of two. Play on until one person wins by getting rid of all her cards.