Competitive patience game for two players!

Spite & Malice is a competitive patience game designed for two players. Each participant begins with five cards in hand, a payoff pile containing twenty cards, and four empty side stacks.

In the center of the table sit three empty foundation piles and the stock pile holding the remaining cards.

The goal is to be the first player to completely clear your payoff pile.

Foundation piles are built up from Ace to King, regardless of suit. The sequence starts with an Ace, followed by a Two, then a Three, and so on. Kings act as wild cards, meaning you can place any King onto a foundation stack, where it will transform into the card needed to continue the build-up. For example, if you play the King of Spades on top of a Ten of Clubs, that King becomes a Queen.

Once a foundation pile is completed by playing a Jack (followed by a Queen or King), all cards in that stack are shuffled back into the stock pile.

You may place any card onto your side stacks, regardless of what is already there. However, only the topmost card on each side stack can be played; see below for details.

At the beginning of every turn, you draw from the stock pile until your hand contains five cards again.

During your turn, you have several possible moves:

• Play the top card from your payoff pile onto one of the foundation piles.
• Move the top card from a side stack to a foundation pile.
• Play any card from your hand directly onto a foundation pile.
• Place a card from your hand onto an empty spot in a side stack; this action concludes your turn.

The game ends when a player successfully plays their final card from the payoff pile onto a foundation pile. That player wins and earns points equal to the number of cards remaining in the opponent's payoff pile.

If the stock pile runs out, the game ends in a tie, and no points are awarded.

The first player to accumulate 50 points wins the match!