Speed

Players and equipment

Two players and a standard 52-card deck. A shedding race with no turns: both of you play at once, as fast as your hands allow, and the polite version of the game does not exist. Suits are never read, so a worn or mixed pack does fine. Children can play from about six, once they know the order of the cards without stopping to think.

The deal

Each player gets twenty cards: five in hand, fifteen face down as a personal draw pile. In the middle sit two single cards face down between two stacks of five replacement cards. That is all fifty-two: twenty each, two starters and ten replacements. Pick up your five and look at them; the rest stays face down.

Play

Both centre cards are flipped at once and play begins immediately. Play any card from your hand onto either centre pile if it is one rank above or below the card showing — suit never matters, and the order wraps both ways, king to ace to two. Refill your hand from your draw pile to keep five.

One hand on the cards. There are no turns: whoever gets there first, plays. A card that is down first stands; if you both land on the same pile at the same moment, the card underneath stays and the other player takes theirs back. When neither player can move, both flip a replacement card onto the centre piles and play resumes. When the replacement stacks are gone, the two centre piles are shuffled together and split to make fresh replacement stacks, and one card from each is turned to restart the middle.

If your draw pile empties before your hand does, carry on playing out of your hand — there is simply nothing to refill from.

Scoring

There is no score. There is a race, and it is usually over inside two minutes. Tap the winner when it is over, and the app counts games won.

One up or one down

Card gone

On either pile, either player, any moment

Both stuck

Play on

Flip the replacements together

Hand and pile empty

Won

Say the name of the game

A worked game

Alice and Ben each hold five cards over a draw pile of fifteen. The two starter cards are turned: an eight on the left pile and a jack on the right. Alice has a nine and a ten and gets the nine onto the eight and the ten onto the nine before Ben has moved; Ben puts a queen on the jack and a king on the queen, then an ace on the king, because the order wraps. The count below is the cards each player still has to get rid of, hand and pile together.

Start

20 and 20

Five in hand, fifteen face down, each

First run

14 and 15

Alice plays six cards, Ben five

Both stuck

Play on

One replacement card each onto the piles, four left in each stack

Second run

9 and 8

Alice plays five, Ben seven

Third run, after another flip

5 and 5

Alice four, Ben three, and Alice's draw pile is empty

Fourth run, after another flip

2 and 3

Alice three, Ben two

Last run, after the fourth flip

0 and 3

Alice's two go down and she says "Speed"

Read the count and not the flurry. After the first run Alice has played six and drawn six, so she still holds five with nine face down; Ben has played five and has ten face down. Neither can move on the two piles showing, so each flips a replacement card, and the piles show new ranks that one of them can build on. By the third run Alice's draw pile is gone and she is playing from her last five, with nothing to refill from. At the end Alice has laid all twenty, Ben has three left, the eight flipped replacements and the two starters are in the centre piles, and one card is left in each replacement stack: fifty-two, all counted.

Ending

First player to play out their hand and draw pile — traditionally slapping the last card down and saying "Speed" — wins. Best of five, because nobody stops at one.

Sort your hand

Hold your five cards in order of rank, low to high, and put each new card into its place as you draw it. When a pile shows a seven you want to see at once that you hold a six and an eight, and a sorted hand shows you without a search. Runs are the thing to look for — a six, seven and eight in hand is three cards onto one pile before your opponent can get a card in.

Play both piles

Two piles means two chances every moment. A player who watches only the pile in front of them plays half a game. Keep both ranks in your head and change them as cards land, because the pile you are not looking at is the one your opponent is changing. When a card of yours fits either pile, put it on the one that leaves the other pile open for your next card, and not on the one that would give your opponent a run.

Keep a card in reserve

There is no rule that you must play a card because it fits. If you hold two cards of the same rank, play one and keep the other: a pile that shows a nine now will show something near a nine again soon, and a card already in your hand is faster than one you have to draw. Being the player with a card ready when the replacements are flipped is worth more than being the player who emptied their hand a moment sooner. Do not carry it too far: a card in hand is a card not gone.

Watch the flip

When both of you are stuck, the flip is a fresh start and the fastest hand takes it. Have your hand sorted and your eyes on the piles before the replacement cards land, so that the first card down after the flip is yours.

Call it

The last card is not the end of the game; the word is. Slap the last card down and say "Speed" in the same movement, because a player who empties their hand and forgets to say it has, at a strict table, not yet won.

Spit

The other racing patience for two, and a different game: each player has five small piles laid out like a patience game, with the top cards turned up, and both play onto the two centre piles at once, spitting a fresh card when stuck. It has a page of its own here, and is the game to try when Speed feels too simple.

Three-card hands

Deal three cards to the hand instead of five, with the seventeen left over as the draw pile. Fewer cards to choose from makes stalls more frequent and the flip more important, and the runs shorter. A harder and slower game, used by some tables to make a fast opponent think.

Jokers wild

Add the two jokers and deal them in with the rest, twenty-one cards each. A joker plays on any card and any card plays on a joker, so it is a way out of a stall for whoever holds one. Agree beforehand whether a joker may be played on a joker.

Fewer or more replacement cards

Five replacement cards to each stack is the standard middle. Some tables deal the stacks bigger, so the game goes longer between reshuffles of the centre, and some smaller, so that the centre is shuffled and split more often. The rule is the same at any size: when the replacements run out, shuffle the two centre piles together, split them into two stacks, and turn one card from each.

Best of five

One game of Speed is a minute or two and proves nothing. Play the first to three games, keeping the draw of who sits where, and the loser of each game shuffles. On SquareScores each game is one tap on the winner and the table shows the count.

How do you play Speed?

Deal twenty cards each, five in hand and fifteen face down; put two cards face down in the middle with a stack of five replacement cards either side. Flip the two middle cards and both play at once, with no turns, putting a card from your hand onto either middle pile if it is one rank above or below the card showing, and drawing to keep five in hand. When neither of you can move, both flip a replacement card onto the piles. The first to get rid of hand and pile says "Speed" and wins.

What happens when both players are stuck in Speed?

Each player takes the top card of one replacement stack and flips it onto the nearest centre pile, both at the same moment, and play carries on from the new ranks. If the replacement stacks are empty, shuffle the two centre piles together, split them into two new replacement stacks, turn a card from each and go again.

Can you play a king on an ace in Speed?

Yes. The order wraps at both ends: a king or a two may be played on an ace, and an ace or a queen on a king. Nothing else about the card is read, so suits and colours never matter.

Do you take turns in Speed?

No. Both players play at the same time, as fast as they can, using one hand. Whoever gets a card down first has played it, and a card that is down stays down. If you both land on the same pile in the same moment, the card underneath stands and the other player takes theirs back.

Is Speed the same as Spit?

They are cousins, not the same game. In Speed each player holds a hand of five and draws from a pile; in Spit each player's cards are laid out in five small piles like a patience game, and cards are played from the tops of them. Both are raced onto two centre piles with no turns, and both are over in minutes. Spit has its own page here.

How many cards do you deal in Speed?

Twenty to each player: five in the hand and fifteen face down as a draw pile. The other twelve go in the middle: two single cards face down, and two stacks of five replacement cards beside them. That accounts for the whole pack of fifty-two.

Can more than two people play Speed?

The game is for two. With more people, play a knockout: two play while the others watch, and the winner stays on to meet the next challenger.