#Skip bo instructions pdf series#

The card played may come from your hand, from the top of one of your side stacks, or from the top of your pay-off pile, and is played face-up on top of the centre stack. To play an ace to an empty centre stack, or to play to a centre stack the next higher card than the card showing (for example a six on a five, or a jack on a ten, irrespective of suit).

#Skip bo instructions pdf series#

You may then make a series of moves, the possible moves being: If you have fewer than five cards in your hand you begin your turn by drawing cards from the stock to bring your hand up to five cards. The player whose first pay-off card is higher plays first, and thereafter the players take alternate turns. The only limitation is that you cannot have more than four side stacks. The side stacks can contain cards in any order, and when playing to a side stack you may put your card on whichever stack you choose. There cannot be more than three centre stacks at one time. The first card in each centre stack must be an ace, then 2, 3, and so on in sequence up to queen, each card played being one higher than the card it covers. Only the top card of your pay-off pile is available for play at any time when you have managed to get rid of the top card, you turn the next pay-off card face up and try to get rid of that. The object of the game is to be the first get rid of all the cards in your pay-off pile by playing them to the centre stacks. At this stage the centre stacks and side stacks are all empty. 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.