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 t