Spite and Malice
Race the computer to empty your pay-off pile, and block it when you can.
The two-player competitive patience, against the computer. Two packs of cards, a pay-off pile each with its top card face up, five cards in hand and four discard piles of your own. Build the shared centre stacks up from ace to queen, suits ignored, with kings wild, and play your pay-off cards onto them whenever they fit. Every turn ends with a discard, and the first to empty their pay-off pile wins. Play an easy, medium or hard computer, with pay-off piles of 13, 20 or 26 cards, and every day brings a new deal, the same for everyone.
- Category
- Cards & Board
- Modes
- Easy · Medium · Hard · Daily
- Controls
- Mouse · Touch · Keyboard
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How to play
Each of you has a pay-off pile with its top card face up, a hand of five and up to four discard piles; there are up to three centre stacks, shared. A centre stack starts with an ace and is built up one rank at a time to the queen, whatever the suits. Kings are wild: a king stands for the rank after the card it covers, but cannot start a stack. On your turn you first draw back up to five from the stock, then play as many cards to the centre as you like, from your hand, the top of your pay-off pile or the top of a discard pile. Play out your whole hand and you draw five more at once. End the turn by putting one card from your hand on one of your discard piles: any card on any pile. Pay-off cards never go on a discard pile, and a discard never moves to another pile. A stack that reaches the queen is shuffled back into the stock. Whoever turns up the higher pay-off card starts, and the first to empty their pay-off pile wins. If a draw is due and the stock is empty, the game ends and fewer pay-off cards left wins. Your score: 5 for every pay-off card you play, and for a win 100 more and 10 for every card left in the computer's pay-off pile.
What is Spite and Malice?
Spite and Malice, also called Cat and Mouse, is a competitive patience for two: both players race to get rid of the same kind of pile while building on the same cards in the middle of the table. It grew out of the old Continental game Crapette, or Russian Bank, and became popular in the United States in the twentieth century. Here you play it against the computer, with the rules of the main game on pagat.com.
You need two packs of 52 cards, without jokers. Each player has a pay-off pile with its top card face up, a hand of five and four discard piles; the centre holds up to three shared stacks. Whoever empties their pay-off pile first wins. The computer comes in three strengths, each with its own pile size, and every day brings a new deal, the same for everyone.
How to play
Whoever turns up the higher pay-off card takes the first turn (ace low, king high).
- Centre stacks. There are at most three at a time. A stack starts with an ace and goes up one rank at a time, 2, 3, 4 and so on to the queen. Suits never matter.
- Kings are wild. A king stands for the rank after the card it covers, and shows that rank here. A king cannot start a stack in place of an ace.
- Your turn. First draw from the stock until you hold five cards. Then play as many cards to the centre as you like: from your hand, from the top of your pay-off pile, or from the top of any of your discard piles.
- A fresh hand. If you play all five cards from your hand to the centre, you draw five more at once and carry on.
- Ending the turn. Put one card from your hand on one of your four discard piles. Any card may go on any pile, in any order. Pay-off cards never go to a discard pile, and discards never move from one pile to another.
- A finished stack. When a stack reaches the queen (a king can stand for it), it is shuffled back into the stock and the space is free for a new ace.
- Winning. The first to play the last card of their pay-off pile wins.
- The stock runs out. If a player must draw and the stock is empty, the game ends, and whoever has fewer pay-off cards left wins (equal piles are a draw). This is one of the variants pagat lists; in the book game such a game is simply drawn.
- Levels. Pay-off piles hold 13 cards on easy, 20 on medium (the book size) and 26 on hard.
- Score. 5 points for every pay-off card you play; if you win, 100 more and 10 for every card still in the computer's pay-off pile. A stock-decided win scores 10 for every card of difference.
Strategy tips
- Play your pay-off card first. Every card off that pile brings you closer to winning; everything else serves it.
- Count the way up. If your pay-off top is a 9 and a stack stands at 6, look for a 7 and an 8 in your hand, on your piles, or a king.
- Do not feed the computer. Its pay-off top is face up: avoid leaving a stack one below it, and play past it when you can.
- Build your discard piles downward. A 9 on a 10, or a pair of the same rank, unwinds neatly later; burying a useful card under a stranger one locks it away.
- Keep your kings. A wild card is worth most when it bridges the last gap to your pay-off card.
FAQ
Is Spite and Malice free to play?
Yes. Like every game on Play, it runs free in your browser, with no download and no account needed.
Can the computer see my cards?
No. It sees what you see from your chair: its own hand, both pay-off tops, every discard pile on the table and the centre stacks. Your hand, the stock and the cards under each pay-off top stay hidden from it.
Why does a king on a stack show another rank?
Kings are wild. A king played to a stack stands for the next rank needed there, so a king on a 6 is a 7, and the small label on it says so.
What happens to a finished stack?
Once a stack reaches the queen, its twelve cards are shuffled back into the stock and the space waits for a new ace.
Does my game survive a reload?
Yes. A game is kept on your device after every move, so closing the page or reloading it brings you back to the same table.
What is the daily deal?
Every day everyone gets the same deal against the same computer, so scores compare directly on the leaderboard.
