If they are equal, both players shuffle their pay-off piles and turn up a new top card. Whichever player has the higher card showing will play first. The top card of each pay-off pile is turned face up and placed on top. The remainder of the cards are placed face down between the players to form the stock. To begin the game both packs are shuffled together and 20 cards are dealt face down to each pay-off pile, and a further 5 cards are dealt to each player as their hand. The layout of the game is shown in the following diagram: The cards in each pack rank from low to high: A-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q, with kings wild. Versions for larger numbers of players are described later. Spite and Malice was originally a two player game, and it is easiest to describe this version first. Then I will describe some of the more popular variations, and finally I will explain the rather different version which appears in most of the card game books. First I will give what seems to be the most widely played version of the game.
There are quite a few different versions of Spite and Malice around. This is not a physical race (as in Spit or Racing Demon where play is simultaneous) - in Spite and Malice the players take turns. Both players try to be the first to get rid of a pile of 'pay-off cards' by playing them to centre stacks which are begun with an ace and continue in upward sequence to a king. This is a kind of competitive patience (solitaire) game for two players.
