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Spite and Malice strategy
Two things win this game: getting your pay-off card down, and not helping the other player get theirs down. Most good moves do the first. The best moves do both.
1. Look for a path to your pay-off card first
At the start of every turn, look at your pay-off card and each centre stack. If a stack shows 4 and your pay-off card is a 7, you need a 5 and a 6 from your hand or side stacks (or a king for either) to play it. Count what you have before you play anything else. Playing a random card first can use up the very card you needed.
2. Watch their pay-off card
The other player's pay-off card is face up for a reason. If it's a 9, never leave a centre stack showing 8 at the end of your turn unless you have no choice. That's the "spite" in the name. Our computer player treats this as its strongest rule, and you'll notice it holding back cards it could play.
The same goes for new stacks. If their pay-off card is a 2, think twice before starting a stack with an ace.
3. Save your kings
A king can be any card, which makes it the most valuable card in your hand. Spend it when it gets your pay-off card down, not to tidy up a stack. A king played early on a whim is a king you won't have when the stack sits one card short of your pay-off.
4. Build side stacks downward
Only the top card of a side stack can be played, so order matters. Put a 9 on a 10, then an 8 on the 9. Later, when a centre stack needs 8, 9 and 10, the whole side stack unloads in one go. Burying a 3 under a jack does the opposite: that 3 is stuck until the jack leaves.
Matching cards stack well too. Two 7s on the same pile means one comes off and the next is ready.
5. Play from side stacks before your hand
When the same card sits in your hand and on top of a side stack, play the side stack copy. It uncovers the card underneath, and you keep the hand card for later. Your hand refills every turn; your side stacks don't.
6. Empty your hand when it's safe
Play all five cards from your hand without discarding and you draw five fresh ones on the spot. That's free cards. Just check each play against tip 2 before you make it.
7. Use the discard to set up next turn
You have to discard one card to end every turn, so make it count. Discard the card you're least likely to need soon, usually a high one, onto a stack where it continues a falling run. Keep low cards, aces especially, in your hand where they're easy to play.
8. Going first barely matters
It feels like an edge to start, but in our test games it wasn't. Of the 971 games that had a winner, the player who went first won 469, about 48%. The other 29 games were draws because the stock ran out.
How long a game takes
| Game | Average turns (both players together) | Draws per 1,000 games |
|---|---|---|
| Standard, 20-card pay-off piles | 63.4 | 29 |
| Short, 10-card pay-off piles | 36.8 | 1 |
Measured on 1,000 games of each length between two copies of our computer player, October 2026. People play differently from our program, so treat these as a rough guide.
Put it to work: play Spite and Malice against the computer.