Speed is a fast-paced card game played by two or more players using standard playing cards. Being a shedding type game, it requires players to play tactfully in order to win. For those who are not familiar with Speed, here are the rules that will help you understand the game and play it correctly.
A Piece of Advice
If playing with jokers, use one only when you run out of playable cards. In case a player uses a joker in spite of having a playable card, and is caught by the opponent, he must move two cards from the opponents draw pile to his draw pile.
The Speed card game requires either one or multiple decks of standard playing cards, depending on the number of players. If more than two players wish to play, a new deck must be added. The game is called Speed for two important reasons. Firstly, players need to think and predict the opponents’ moves pretty quickly; and secondly, the amount of turn-taking is comparatively lesser, and players can play multiple cards in a single turn.
If you’ are familiar with Klondike, you’ll probably understand this game easily. However, unlike Klondike, players don’t need to play either red under black or vice versa. In Speed, players simply need to play cards in an ascending or descending order irrespective of suit or color.
Confused? Take a look at the rules and instructions given below to play the Speed card game.
Speed Card Game Rules
Game Setup
➔ Deal five cards face-down to each player. Each player uses his/her hand of five cards to play. Players can look at these five cards after all the cards have been dealt.
➔ The play area consists of four piles―two central piles and two side (or reserve) piles. Place five cards in both the side piles, and a single card in the two central piles. The central piles are the active piles on which players would play their cards.
➔ Next, deal each player a draw pile of 15 cards. Players draw cards from this pile in order to restore five cards to their respective hands.
➔ In case more than two players wish to play, use an extra deck, and add an extra central pile and side pile per additional player.
How to Play the Speed Card Game
➔ Begin the game by flipping the two central cards. Each player has to look at his/her hand for sequential cards; players can play cards over the central cards in an ascending or descending order. For instance, if one of the central cards is a queen, players can either play a jack or a king (irrespective of suit or color).
➔ Both players simultaneously play by placing one card each of either one greater or one lesser value than the central card. Aces can be considered both high and low leading to a loop-style play.
➔ In cases where none of the players have a playable card in their hand, both can pick a card from the side piles and place them face up over the two central piles. Doing this could possibly allow players to look for new playable combinations in their hand. However, if the players still don’t find any playable cards, they can use two more cards from the side piles.
➔ If the side piles exhaust, players can shuffle the cards in the center, and use them as new side piles. Then, players can flip one card each from the side piles (which would be placed in the center) and resume play.
➔ When a player runs out of cards in his hands and draw pile, he would slap both the side piles and yell ‘Speed!’ in order to win.
Variations
Doubles
Introducing this variation tweaks the rules in order to allow players to play cards of value equal to the one in the central pile. For instance, if a card in the center is a jack, and a player has a jack in his hand, he can play it over the central jack.
Sequences
This variation allows players to place multiple sequential cards in either ascending or descending order. For example, if a player has a sequence of 6, 7 , and 8; he can either place it over a 5 or under a 9.
Wild Jokers
Jokers can be played as wild cards. They can be used as cards of any value desired by the player. Also, cards of any value can be placed over them. When playing with jokers, the draw piles should be dealt 16 cards instead of 15. Also, a joker cannot be the last card of play.
That’s it! We’re done with the rules. In case you feel you haven’t understood the game completely, you can play a couple of demo rounds to understand it better.