Spite and Malice
Quick Pitch
Spite and Malice is a competitive two-player card race where both players build shared foundation piles from Ace to Queen — while blocking each other at every turn.
Hook
Imagine Solitaire, but your opponent is actively trying to stop you from winning while racing toward the same goal. Spite and Malice is everything that makes solo solitaire satisfying, plus the delicious frustration of watching your opponent play the exact card you needed right before your turn. Expect laughter, groaning, and lots of cries of "Are you serious?!"
Equipment Needed
- Two standard 52-card decks (104 cards total, Jokers removed)
- A large flat surface — you'll need space for several piles
Setup
- Shuffle both decks together into one big combined deck.
- Deal 26 cards face-down to each player. This is your Goal Pile — the stack you're racing to empty.
- Flip the top card of each player's Goal Pile face-up so you can see it.
- Deal 5 cards face-down to each player as their starting Hand.
- Leave the remaining cards in a central face-down pile as the Stock.
- Leave space in the center for up to 4 Foundation Piles (they'll be created during play).
- Each player also has space for up to 4 personal Side Piles in front of them.
Rules
Objective
Be the first player to empty your entire Goal Pile by playing all its cards onto the shared foundation piles.
The Foundation Piles
In the center of the table, up to 4 foundation piles can exist at once. Each foundation starts when someone plays an Ace and builds upward: Ace → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 → 6 → 7 → 8 → 9 → 10 → Jack → Queen. Once a pile reaches Queen, it's complete and removed (shuffled back into the stock if needed).
Both players can play onto any foundation pile — so you're always racing your opponent to play the next card in sequence.
Your Turn
On your turn, you may play as many cards as you like from your hand or the top of your Goal Pile onto the foundations (if the cards fit in sequence). Your goal is always to get your Goal Pile's top card onto a foundation.
You may also park cards from your hand onto your own personal Side Piles — up to 4 piles, built in any order. Side Piles are only for storage; you can only play the top card of each Side Pile onto a foundation (not onto other Side Piles). This is your blocking tool — a card sitting on your Side Pile is one less card your opponent can use.
After you've made all the plays you want to make, you must end your turn by playing one card from your hand to one of your Side Piles. Then draw back up to 5 cards.
If you can't make any foundation plays, just place one card on a Side Pile and end your turn.
Winning
The first player to play every card from their Goal Pile onto the foundations wins. The Goal Pile card is the key — you win by getting rid of it, not by emptying your hand.
Expert Player
Tips
Your Goal Pile is everything. Every strategic decision should be filtered through the question: does this help me play my Goal Pile card sooner? If your Goal Pile shows a 5 of hearts, you need a 4 of hearts somewhere on the foundations first. Look ahead — what card needs to be played before yours?
Use Side Piles to block, but not too aggressively. Parking cards strategically on your Side Piles can prevent your opponent from getting the card they need. But Side Piles are also storage for cards you plan to play later, so clogging them with useless cards leaves you no flexibility.
Keep your Side Piles organized. Try to put high cards on one side and low cards on another, so you always know what's accessible. A Side Pile that's been randomly stacked quickly becomes a pile of unusable cards.
Watch your opponent's Goal Pile. Knowing what your opponent needs to play next tells you which foundation sequences to focus on first. If your opponent's Goal Pile shows a 6, you might avoid rushing that particular foundation to 5, forcing them to wait longer.
Draw timing matters. You draw back to 5 cards at the end of your turn. Timing when you use your hand cards (versus waiting for better cards) affects how powerful your next turn's hand will be.
Variations
- Three-Player Spite and Malice: Use three decks and adjust Goal Pile sizes accordingly. Each player gets their own Side Piles; foundations can grow to 5 or 6 piles.
- Larger Goal Piles: For a longer game, deal more than 26 cards per player.
- Speed Variant: No turns — both players play simultaneously as fast as they can. Chaotic and fun with the right people.
Learn More — History & Origins
History & Origins
Spite and Malice emerged as an American folk card game in the 20th century, likely evolving from earlier competitive solitaire games. The game belongs to a family sometimes called "double solitaire" — games where two players race to complete solitaire-like tasks simultaneously, using shared foundations. The competitive element transforms the solo contemplation of solitaire into an interactive game where your opponent's success directly threatens your own.
The evocative name captures the game's spirit perfectly: "spite" for the satisfaction of blocking your opponent, "malice" for the glee of playing the card they desperately needed right before their turn. By the 1980s, the game had been commercially produced by several card companies, and it remains available as a published card game called "Skip-Bo," which uses a numbered deck and slightly simplified rules.
Cultural Context
Spite and Malice occupies a comfortable middle ground between the meditative solo experience of traditional solitaire and the full social engagement of a trick-taking or bluffing game. It's competitive without being confrontational, and the blocking mechanic — while frustrating — never feels truly mean-spirited because both players are equally subject to it. This makes it an ideal two-player game for couples and siblings who want genuine competition without the tension of a purely strategic duel.
The game has a loyal following among people who grew up playing it with a parent or grandparent — part of a category of "card table classics" that get passed down through families without ever becoming famous enough to be widely taught or written about.