Speed
A frantic real-time card race: dump your whole hand onto the piles before the computer does.
How to play Speed
Speed (also called Spit) is a real-time race against the computer: there are no turns, so play as fast as you can. You each have a hand of up to five cards and a face-down stock, and two piles sit in the centre. Play any hand card that is exactly one rank higher or lower than the top of a centre pile (Ace wraps around, joining both the King and the two), and your hand refills from your stock automatically. Click a card and it drops onto the only pile it fits, or pick the pile yourself if it fits both. If neither player can move, fresh cards flip onto the centre piles to break the jam. The first player to get rid of every card in their hand and stock wins.
No turns, no waiting, just go
Speed earns its name honestly: there are no turns. You and the computer play at the same instant, both racing to dump every card as fast as your eyes can find each one a home. Two piles sit in the middle, and you can play any card from your hand that is exactly one rank above or below the top of either pile. A nine goes on a ten or an eight. An Ace wraps around, sitting on both a King and a two.
You hold up to five cards, backed by a face-down stock that refills your hand automatically the moment you make room. Empty your hand and your stock before the computer clears its own, and you win the game. Ties in raw pace get broken by planning: the player who already knows their next two plays wins the scramble after every flip.
Playing faster
- Watch both centre piles at once. The card that will not fit the left pile often drops straight onto the right one, so scanning both doubles your options every second.
- Prioritise plays that let your hand refill. Pulling fresh cards off the stock is the only way to actually shrink it, and the stock is what you have to empty to win.
- Look for chains. If you can play a card, glance at whether its new top rank sets up the very next card sitting in your hand.
- Keep your hand sorted in your head by rank neighbours. Knowing instantly that your 6 and 8 both hang off a 7 saves the half-second that decides jams.
- When you are truly stuck, both players flip a fresh card onto the piles to break the jam, so do not freeze. Be ready to pounce the instant the new tops land.
Order matters: one hand, two outcomes
Watch how the same cards can win or lose depending on the order you play them. Say a centre pile shows a 9 and you are holding an 8, a 10, and a Jack. Play the 8 first and the pile now reads 8: your 10 and Jack are stranded, because nothing connects an 8 to a 10. Play the 10 first instead, then the Jack, and you have dumped two cards and left the 8 waiting for the next 9 or 7 to appear. Same hand, double the plays, purely because you looked one step ahead. That is the whole skill in miniature. When two of your cards fit the same pile, play the one whose neighbour you are also holding. And when a single card fits both piles, drop it on the pile whose new top keeps your next play alive. Clicking a card plays it automatically to the only pile it fits, but when both piles want it, the choice is yours, and it is worth the extra half-second.
Spit, Slam, and the family tree
Speed goes by a lot of names around kitchen tables: Spit, Slam, and a pile of house variants in between. Spit, the best-known cousin, deals each player a row of little solitaire piles and ends each round with both players slapping the smaller centre pile, which is exactly as chaotic as it sounds. This version is the cleaner two-pile race: hand, stock, no slapping, first out wins. The family is old, simple, and needs nothing but one deck and two people who both claim to be faster. Against the computer you get a rival who never fumbles the shuffle, and the difficulty setting decides how merciless it feels. Rules drift from table to table in this family, as they always do with games passed down by playing rather than by reading, so if you learned Speed somewhere else, expect a small difference or two. The racing heart of it is exactly the same.
Reflexes over tactics
There is no deep plan to build here. Speed is recognition and fast hands. The winner is usually whoever spots the legal play a half-second sooner and clicks without hesitating. That makes it a completely different animal from the patient solitaires, because your pulse actually climbs, and a tight race comes down to the final couple of cards flying onto the piles. Bump the difficulty up if the computer starts to feel slow, and it will punish any hesitation you leave on the table.
Speed leaderboard
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Speed: frequently asked questions
How do you win at Speed?
Be the first to play every card from both your hand and your face-down stock. Because both players go at once with no turns, winning comes down to spotting legal cards and placing them faster than the computer.
Which cards can I play?
You can play a hand card onto a centre pile only if it is exactly one rank above or below that pile's top card. The Ace is treated as circular, so it connects to both the King and the two.
What happens when nobody can move?
If neither you nor the computer has a legal play, the game flips a new card onto each centre pile from the side stacks to open up fresh matches, then the race continues.
Can I make the computer easier or faster?
Yes. The difficulty selector controls how quickly the computer plays: on easy it places a card roughly every 1.5 seconds, while on hard it plays about every half second, making the race much tighter.
Are there turns in Speed?
No. Both you and the computer play at the same time in real time, so it is a race rather than an alternating game. Whoever finds and plays their cards faster takes the edge.
What card can I play on a centre pile?
Any card exactly one rank higher or lower than the pile's current top. An Ace is special, because it wraps around, so it can go on either a King or a two, which keeps sequences flowing when a pile stalls at the ends.
How does my hand refill?
From your face-down stock, automatically. As soon as you play a card and drop below a full hand, a new one comes off the stock, and emptying that stock is exactly what you need to do to win.
If a card fits both centre piles, where should it go?
On the pile whose new top sets up another card you are holding. Clicking a card plays it automatically when only one pile fits, but when both fit you get the choice, and stringing two or three plays together is what pulls you ahead.
What happens if nobody can move?
Both players flip a fresh card onto the two centre piles at the same time, creating new tops and new plays. The jam breaks instantly, so stay alert to grab the first legal move.
How do I win?
Be the first to get rid of every card in both your hand and your stock. The computer is doing the same thing at the same moment, so a second of hesitation can cost you the game.
Is Speed free to play?
Yes. Speed is completely free on Inkplay, with no download, no sign-up, and no in-game purchases. Open the page and play instantly on desktop or mobile.
Can I play Speed unblocked?
Yes. Speed runs entirely in your browser with no download, install, or plugins, so it loads instantly and keeps working even on school or work networks where bigger game sites get blocked.
More games to play
In the mood for more? Try Chess, Tic Tac Toe, Connect Four, Reversi, or browse all board games and the full games list on Inkplay. Speed also appears in Card Games.