Speed Cards
Play a card one higher or one lower. Empty your hand first. Best of 3 deals.
Speed Cards is a two-player real-time card game, also known as Speed or Spit, in which both players play at once onto two middle piles. Play a card one higher or lower than a pile, and the first to empty their cards wins the deal.
Both of you slam cards onto the same two middle piles at once, one higher or one lower, no turns. Runs flow, hands collide on the same pile, and the first to get rid of every card wins the deal.
Also known as Speed, Spit, Slam, Speed card game.
- How you hold it
- Face-off
- Match
- Best of 3 deals
- Length
- About 2 minutes
- Play
- Friend or bot
How to play Speed Cards: quick rules
About 2 minutes for best of 3 Classic deals. Full rules, options and bot levels are further down.
- 1Play a card one higher or one lower than a middle pile.
- 2Drag it, or just tap it.
- 3Nobody can play? Both tap your spare pile.
- 4Empty your hand and stock first to win the deal.
Speed Cards rules
Setup
- A standard 52-card deck is shuffled fresh for every deal (plus two jokers with the Jokers extra).
- Each player gets a hand of 5 face-up cards, a face-down stock (15 cards in a Classic deal, 5 in a Short deal) and a face-down spare pile of 5.
- Two middle piles sit across the centre, each started with one face-up card.
- Only rank matters; suits are just for looks. Ace counts as 1 and King as 13.
Play
- There are no turns: both players play at the same time from GO.
- Play a hand card on either middle pile if it is exactly one higher or one lower than the top card. With Wrap K–A on, King and Ace also connect.
- A joker plays on anything, and anything plays on a joker.
- Whenever your hand has a gap, it refills from your stock.
- A card that can't go on a pile just snaps back to your hand. It costs nothing but time.
- If both players play on the same pile at the same moment, the card that got there first lands and the other bounces back with a "Snap!".
When nobody can play
- When neither player has a card that fits, both spare piles pulse. Each player taps their own spare.
- When both have tapped, each flips one spare card onto a middle pile and the race starts again.
- If one spare runs out, that player's flip card comes from the other player's spare. If both are empty, the cards under the two pile tops are gathered and split back into the spares.
- If no card is played by anyone for 15 seconds, new middle cards flip on their own.
Winning a deal
- The first player to empty both their hand and their stock wins the deal: "Out!".
- If a deal gets completely stuck with nothing left to flip, the player with fewer cards left wins it.
- Every deal is dealt fresh and equal; the loser of the last deal gets no head start.
Ties and the match
- A stuck deal with equal cards left is replayed. If three deals in a row are replayed, the third is settled by a coin toss.
- The match is best of 1, 3 or 5 deals; best of 3 means first to win 2 deals. A match never ends drawn.
- Pausing keeps the deal exactly as it was; play picks up after a fresh countdown.
Tips to win at Speed Cards
- 1Watch both middle piles, not just your hand: a card that won't fit one pile often fits the other.
- 2Look for runs in your hand, like 6, 7, 8, and play them in order on one pile before your rival changes the top card.
- 3Play a card the moment it fits. Pile tops change in a split second, so a play you save may be gone.
- 4When nobody can play, tap your spare at once so the new cards flip the instant you've both tapped.
Where Speed Cards comes from
Speed is a fast cousin of Spit, also called Slam, a traditional card game for two in which both players play at the same time with no turns. Nobody is quite sure where it started, but it has long been a popular quick card game in English-speaking countries.
Controls
Phone flat between you. Each player owns a half, and the far half faces the far player.
- Your hand sits in a row at your edge. Touch a card and drag it onto a middle pile; every pile it can go on glows while you drag.
- Or tap a card to play it on a pile it fits, your own left pile first.
- You move one card at a time. Drags that cross the middle line still belong to you.
- When you're stuck, your spare pile becomes a button: tap it to say you're ready to flip.
Options
Every option is free. Defaults are marked.
| Option | Choices | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Deals | 13 (default)5 | Best of 1, 3 or 5 deals. |
| Cards each | Short (10)Classic (20) (default) | How many cards each player has to get rid of in a deal. |
| Wrap K–A (extra) | On (default)Off | King and Ace connect, so runs keep going and deals stall less. |
| Jokers (extra) | OnOff (default) | Two jokers in the deck; a joker plays on anything. |
| Combo flame (extra) | On (default)Off | 3 plays within 2 seconds show flames and a ×n badge. Looks only. |
Play Speed Cards against the bot
The bot plays Blue. It sees only its own face-up hand and the pile tops, never the face-down stock, spares or shuffle, and it never plays the instant something changes on the table.
Easy
Looks at the table slowly, often misses a play and picks any card that fits.
Normal
Plays at a steady pace and only now and then misses a play.
Hard
Plays quickly, never misses a play and picks the card that keeps its own runs going. A quick player can still beat it.
Online, tournaments and hints
- Online
- One phone onlySpeed is played by both players at once, with races to the same pile decided in split seconds, so it stays on one phone.
- Tournament
- Can be drawn in a tournamentIn a tournament it is always best of 3 Classic deals, with Wrap K–A and Combo flame on.
- Hints
- No hints here: it's all about your own reactions.
How it feels
- A card slap on every landing and a rising tick as your combo builds.
- A "Snap!" burst over the pile when two cards race for it.
- Two soft dings when you're both stuck, then a whoosh as fresh cards flip in.
- Haptics follow your phone's settings and the in-app vibration switch.
Accessibility
- Suits differ by shape as well as ink, and only rank matters for play.
- Card colours are never the players' red or blue; your side is shown by the rim of your hand tray.
- Tap-to-play means you never have to drag.
- Middle pile ranks are drawn large, and with reduced motion on, animations become fades.
Speed Cards questions
In Speed Cards you both play at once, putting cards one higher or one lower onto two middle piles. When nobody can play, you both tap your spare to flip new cards, and the first to empty their hand and stock wins the deal.
They're close cousins. Both are played with no turns onto two middle piles; Speed Cards uses the Speed layout of a 5-card hand, a stock and a spare pile for when nobody can play.
With the Wrap K–A option on (the default), yes: you can play an Ace on a King and a King on an Ace. Turn it off and the ends stop.
No. A stuck deal goes to the player with fewer cards left, an equal stuck deal is replayed, and after three replays in a row a coin toss settles it.
Yes. Speed Cards in Duo Clash is built for two players on the same phone. Phone flat between you. Each player owns a half, and the far half faces the far player.
Yes. The bot plays Blue. Choose Easy, Normal or Hard.
Play Speed Cards on one phone
Free on Android. Sit face to face, or take on the bot on Easy, Normal or Hard.
