How to Play Speed: A Comprehensive Guide

Are you up for an exciting and challenging game of cards? If you still haven’t heard about speed, you’ve been missing out on some serious fun!

Thankfully, we created a guide that will show you how to play Speed and grasp its general rules. We’ll even point out some variations so your games will never get boring. 

Let’s get into it!

What is Speed?

Speed is a fun and simple card game, guaranteed to entertain all generations. The game’s main goal is to get rid of all your dealt cards faster than your opponent does. That said, this game doesn’t require any fancy techniques, only alertness. 

How to play Speed?

The Speed card game setup is simple. To get started, you’ll need:

• At least two players
• A regular 52 card deck
• Fast reflexes

Dealing Speed Cards

First of all, both players receive twenty cards each. The cards should be facing down so neither player can see them. 

Next, the dealer lays down four piles in one row in the middle. The far-left and the far-right pile consist of five cards, while the middle-left and the middle-right ones contain one card.

To begin, each player takes five cards out of the 20-card pile they got at the beginning of the game. The five cards make up the hand you’ll be playing from, while the fifteen remaining cards will be your drawing pile.

Speed Rules

Let’s go over some Speed card game rules. 

Ranks and suits are not important in Speed – we pay attention to sequence. According to Speed rules, cards are sequenced in the following order: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King. 

For instance, if there is a Queen in the middle-left or middle-right pile, players can only play a Jack (descending sequence) or a King (ascending sequence) next. The Ace can come before the two and after the King. This way, the sequence can continue in a loop. 

During a Speed game, there is no time for turn-taking. Both players play simultaneously, which can make the game chaotic. However, that’s all part of the fun. 

How to win at Speed?

The game’s main objective is to get rid of all the cards in your hand and your pile. Even though Speed rules recommend playing a two-out-of-three game, most players end up playing over five or ten rounds due to the game’s addictive nature.

The player who gets rid of all their cards is considered the winner of the game. But before playing your last card, make sure you yell SPEED! 

Speed Gameplay

First, players flip the two middle cards in the row. Then, they need to discard cards from their drawing hand to fit a sequence of one of the flipped middle cards.

Both players can add to either the middle-left or the middle-right file. If two players attempt to stack cards in one pile simultaneously, the valid card is the one that touched the stack first, even if it’s only for a second! 

Should players have less than five cards in their hands, they can draw from their respective piles. If both players have no more cards left in their drawing stacks, they may draw cards from the far-left and far-right piles. In case they are also empty, you can shuffle the middle piles and start the drawing process all over.

If you want to understand the gameplay thoroughly before playing it with friends, you can try out the Speed card game online! 

Speed Variations

If the classic game doesn’t do it for you, there are some variations you can throw in to spice up your game. 

• To make the game more challenging, you can play more than one card in a pile in an ascending or descending order.
• Use the Jokers as wild cards and put them on top of any stack to reset the sequence if you’re stuck.
• Play with three or four players by adding middle piles for each of them.
• Each player may have only four cards in their hand instead of five.

Before you get Dealing

That’s about it! Hopefully, our guide helped you get a better understanding of how to play Speed. Now it’s time to get your game on and put this newfound knowledge to good use!