Speed (card game)
| Type | Shedding-type |
|---|---|
| Players | 2+ |
| Skills required | Speed, Memorization, Counting |
| Deck | Anglo-American |
| Playing time | any time |
| Random 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 or her cards.
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 playing with jokers, they are used as wild cards and give each draw pile 16 cards. Two stacks of five cards, placed face down on each side between the players, serve as replacement piles. Finally, two cards are placed face down in the center between the replacement piles.
The round begins when the players each flip one of the face-down cards in the center at the same time. Using cards from their hand, the players must simultaneously place cards one above or one below (or, optionally, of the same value) on top of either of the center stacks without hesitating to shuffle cards or otherwise delay the game (however a player may only play one card at a time). For example, a pile with a six on top may have a five or a seven placed on it, but not another six (unless using the optional rule). Ace is both a high and low card, considered one value above a King as well as one below a two, so that the cards form a looping sequence. Whenever the number of cards in a player's hands drops below five, he or she has to draw back up to five cards until that player's draw pile is depleted. When both players run out of options for play they simultaneously flip a card from the side piles onto the top of the central piles. If these piles become depleted, the central stacks are shuffled individually and are placed face-down as new side piles from which cards can be flipped..
A player wins by running out of cards in his hand and draw pile before the other player. Speed is typically played in a two-wins-out-of-three set.
Because Speed is usually learned from friends who learned from other friends, the rules will vary from person to person. However, the following variations are much more common and widely known.
An easy way to make Speed more child friendly is to allow cards of the same value to be played on top of each other, so that if a King were on top, it would now be legal to play a Queen, King or Ace. It is also an option to increase the amount of cards a player can hold in their hand to six or seven.
Speed can be played with jokers as wild 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. It is often prudent to save a joker in one's hand for when one is otherwise out of options or for when it would act as a missing link for a long string of moves. This is cheating if both players flip the outside cards onto the center. Players are only allowed to flip once they cannot play anything else, and because the joker is a wild card, it can be played. A joker cannot be the last card a player puts down, because jokers cannot "top" the deck.
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Wikipedia