Spite & Malice is a competitive patience game for two players. Each player starts with a hand containing 5 cards, a pay-off pile containing 20 cards and 4 empty side stacks.
In the middle of the table there are 3 empty center stacks and the stock pile containing the remainder of the cards.

The object of the game is to be the first to empty your pay-off pile.

The centre stacks are build up from the ace upwards, independent of suit. So the first card can be the ace of diamonds
followed by the two of spades, the three of hearts, etc. Kings are wild. This means that you can play king
on any centre stack and it will turn into a card that fits on the card already on the stack. For instance
if you play the king of spades on a ten of clubs the king will turn into a queen.

When a centre stack is completed (by playing a queen or king on a jack) the stack is shuffled into the stock pile.

You can place any card on the side stacks, independent of which cards are already there. Only the top card of each side
stack is accessible though, see below.

At the start of your turn you receive cards from the stock pile to bring your hand back up to a total of 5 cards.
In your turn you can play a number of possible moves:
- Play the top card from your pay-off pile onto one of the center stacks.
- Play the top card from one of your side stacks onto one of the center stacks.
- Play a card from your hand onto one of the center stacks.
- Play a card from your hand onto one of your side stacks. This ends your turn.

The game ends when one player plays his/her last card from the pay-off pile onto one of the centre stacks.
This player wins the game and receives the number of cards on the other players pay-off pile as points.

The game also ends when the stock is depleted. When this happens the game ends in a tie and neither player scores any points.

The first player to reach 50 points wins the match!