Speed (card game)

Speed
Type	Shedding-type
Players	2
Skills	Speed, Memorization, Counting
Deck	Anglo-American
Playing time	5-15 min.
Chance	Easy
Related games
	Spit, Spoons

Speed is a game for two or more players of the shedding family of card games, in which each player tries to get rid of all of his cards. Speed is a game associated with the game Nertz.

Dealing

Each player is dealt five cards to form a hand, and each player is dealt 15 cards face down to form a draw pile. If you are playing with jokers, you use them as wild cards and give each draw pile 16 cards. A stack of five cards, placed face down on each side between the players, serves as a replacement pile. Finally, two cards are placed face down in the center between the replacement piles (see diagram at right).

Game play

Players flip the two center cards and proceed to put down cards (each player gets the stack of cards on their left). After a card has been played, another is drawn from the draw pile to maintain as much cards in the hand.

However, when the game is played with Doubles rules (see below), players can place cards of the same number value on top of each other. For example, if there is a 3 in a center pile, all 3s in a player's hand can be played. For aces, the two traditional game choices would be a king and a 2, but if you are playing Doubles you can put down an ace as well.

The objective is to be the first person to play all of his or her cards. Players do not take turns and may play as many cards in a row as possible. Although it is considered unfair to put down more than one card at a time, a player may place them immediately after each other. For example, a player may not put down 3, 4, and 5 in one motion or stack, but the three cards can be put down in three separate motions.

If neither player can put down any cards, each player must flip a card from his or her replacement pile at the same time and continue. If all cards are used up, the two center piles are shuffled and then used as the replacement decks. A card is drawn from the top of each deck and play resumes.

Variations in play

Because Speed is usually learned from friends who learned from other friends, the rules will vary for just about every family or group of friends. However, the following variations are much more common and widely known.

Four cards in a hand

Each player gets only four cards in his/ her hand. Having one fewer card makes it easier for a player to hold her cards, but it also makes the game more difficult because the player has a smaller selection of cards to play with.

Doubles

In addition to ascending or descending order, players may play a card identical to the one in the pile. For example, if the card on top of the pile is a 4, the player may put down a 3, 4, or 5.

Jokers

Speed can be played with jokers as wild/free cards. For example, if there is a 2 in the center, a joker can be used as a 3, an ace, or, in Doubles rules, a 2. When a joker is played, then anything can be played on that joker. In any other case, a joker can also be whatever a player wants it to be.

Jokers are mixed in the card deck while shuffling. The game must be played with only two jokers.

Verbal Win

The player that runs out of cards has to bang both middle stacks and say "Speed!" to officially win. If a player fails to do it, like bang one stack or none at all or not shout "Speed!", play continues and the seemingly losing player could win.

Game variations

Speed is almost always played in a best two-out-of-three set. Only occasionally is it played with only one game.

California Speed

Also known as Super-Speed in Wisconsin, Speed 2 in Texas and Rush in Missouri, California Speed is a fast paced shedding card game that has the added bonus of shuffling the deck.

The two players sit at opposite sides of a horizontal playing surface. The dealer deals half of the cards to each player. The cards are held face down. Every round, each player plays four cards face up vertically in between both players and slightly closer to themselves. Once both players have done this, they look for two or more cards having the same number. When a player finds one, he places another card on top of the cards with that number until all of the cards with the common number are covered. If a player runs out of cards then that player wins. When there are no more groups of cards remaining, each player scoops up the four piles directly in front of him or her and places them face down on the bottom of his or her deck. That round ends and the next begins.

In some versions of the game, there is a move called "doubles" in which the player is allowed to place a card on a stack of cards with two of the same number on top of each other. It is common that they call "doubles" to inform the other player what they did.

Strategy

Many people suggest playing on the cards on your opponent's side instead of your own so they pick up the cards. This doesn't do much as all of the possible cards are eventually played. A common strategy is to memorize the cards as they go down so you don't have to see them all to start playing cards. This strategy is especially useful at the very beginning of each round. If you have a better memory than your opponent, it might be a good idea to put the cards really close together at the beginning of the round and not accurately playing cards so that your opponent can't tell the piles apart and only knows a fraction of the top cards. If you are better at multi-tasking, you can try to distract your opponent by making conversation during the game. Playing your cards quickly also tends to distract your opponent.

References

http://www.pagat.com/patience/spit.html

External links

Speed Card — A free, online Flash version of Speed
Speed Fiend — A version of Speed for the iPhone and iPod Touch
Speed Demon — Speed for the iPhone and iPod Touch