Spider Malice
A modern turn on Spite and Malice, a game with Victorian roots in Russian Bank. Four players; four shared web piles; one face-down payoff pile standing between you and the win.
I · The Game
A web of malice spun by eight hands
The Race
Each player keeps a face-down payoff pile of twenty. The first to play its last card wins; unless a Spider answers.
The Web
Four piles in the middle belong to everyone. Each is opened by a 1 or a 12, then keeps its direction; climbing, or falling.
The Wild
The yellow Wild stands either side of the card beneath it; on a pile showing 7 it can be a 6 or an 8, and whichever you call becomes that pile's new direction.
The Malice
Any play can be cancelled by a Spider, even the card that would win the game, and a Spider itself can be contested by another. The red Thirteen and the blue Extra Turn turn the table over.
The Length
Two to four players; twenty to thirty minutes. Ten minutes to teach.
The 8 Spider cards carry Victorian engravings from Biologia Centrali-Americana: Arachnida Araneidea; a different plate on each one. ClickTap a plate for a closer look.
Card 1 of 8
Card 2 of 8
Card 3 of 8
Card 4 of 8
II · Play Tonight
Play the basic game tonight with four ordinary decks
You do not have to wait for the printed cards. Take four regular decks, keep eight jokers in, shuffle the whole lot together, and you have the basic game: the numbers, the Wild and the Spiders. The red Thirteen and the blue Extra Turn are the advanced cards, and they need the printed deck.
4
Standard decks
208 cards; only the number on the card matters.
8
Jokers
Two from each deck; every joker is a Spider.
216
Cards in play
The four-player basic deck. Three players use three decks and six jokers; two players, two decks and four.
The conversion
Ace
reads as 1
2 to 10
read at face value
Jack
reads as 11
Queen
reads as 12
King
is the yellow Wild
Joker
is the Spider
Not in an ordinary deck: the red Thirteen, four of which always play, and the blue Extra Turn, one per player from three players up. Both come only in the printed deck; the basic game plays without them.
III · The Table
The table, seen from above
Four players, dealt and ready, before the first turn.
- 1The stock. Everything left after the deal, face down in the middle. Everyone draws from it.
- 2The four web piles. On the corners, shared by all. Each is empty until a 1 or a 12 opens it; here one has opened climbing on a 1, one falling on a 12.
- 3The payoff piles. Twenty cards face down, nearer each player, top card turned face up. Empty yours first and you win.
- 4The discard stacks. Four before each player, empty to start. Your turn ends by laying cards from your hand onto them, any card to any stack.
- 5The hand. Six cards, drawn back up to six at the start of every turn.
IV · Rules of Play
How a turn goes
Setup
Take a payoff pile of twenty cards face down, its top card turned face up, and a hand of six. Four empty discard stacks sit before you; four shared web piles sit in the middle. The rest is the stock.
The turn
- Draw back up to six.
- Play as many cards as you like to the web; from your hand, from the face-up card of your payoff pile, or from the top of any of your own four stacks.
- End by laying cards from your hand onto your stacks, any card to any stack, or hold them and pass. This is the only way to end a turn and the only time a stack may be added to.
Stacks, stock and winning
Only the top card of a stack is playable; buried cards wait. Finished piles and spent cards wait face down in the reshuffle pile; when the stock runs out, shuffle it and it becomes the new stock. The first player to play the last card of their payoff pile wins.
The four web piles
Opening. An empty pile is opened with a 1 or a 12; a 1 opens it climbing, a 12 opens it falling. A Wild cannot open.
Direction. A pile keeps its direction. Climbing and showing 6, it takes only a 7; falling and showing 6, only a 5.
Finishing. A pile finishes at the far end; a 12 on a climbing pile, a 1 on a falling one. It goes to the reshuffle pile, and anyone may open that space again on their turn.
Closing pays. Closing with a 1 or a 12 draws you three cards at once, above the hand limit, and your turn continues. Opening pays nothing.
A Wild goes either way
The yellow card. On a pile showing 7 it may stand as a 6 or an 8, and your choice becomes that pile's direction. It may finish a pile in place of a 1 or a 12, but draws nothing; and it cannot open an empty pile.
A Spider closes a pile
It cancels the play it interrupted; that card returns to its owner's hand, payoff pile or stack. From your hand a Spider may be played at any moment, even in another player's turn, and may stop a winning payoff card. From a stack, only on your own turn. A Spider may be contested and cancelled by another Spider; a cancelled Spider is spent to the reshuffle pile, never returned.
A Thirteen chooses one of three
The red card; four always play, at any count. Kite. Set aside all of your own stacks. Ensnare. Set aside all of one opponent's stacks. Burrow. Take the top card of one of an opponent's stacks and bury it in their payoff pile. Then it goes to the reshuffle pile.
An Extra Turn turns the table
The blue card; one per player, none with two. Play it into the reshuffle pile to end your turn; from the top of your payoff pile it is played the same way, at any time in your turn. You take the next turn as well, and from then on play runs the other way round the table.
V · The Deck
230 cards, standard poker size
Hover overTap a card to see its detail and what it does.
192
Numbered
1 to 12 · 16 of each
16
Wilds
4 per player
8
Spiders
8 specimen plates
4
Thirteens
All 4 always play
4
Extra Turns
1 per player (3–4p)
6
Rule Cards
Title on reverse
Number Ranks · 1 to 12 (16 of each)
1
Quantity: 16
2
Quantity: 16
3
Quantity: 16
4
Quantity: 16
5
Quantity: 16
6
Quantity: 16
7
Quantity: 16
8
Quantity: 16
9
Quantity: 16
10
Quantity: 16
11
Quantity: 16
12
Quantity: 16
Special Cards · Thirteen, Extra Turn & Wild
Thirteen
Quantity: 4
Extra Turn
Quantity: 4
Wild
Quantity: 16
The Eight Spider Plates · Biologia Centrali-Americana
Spider 1
Quantity: 1
Spider 2
Quantity: 1
Spider 3
Quantity: 1
Spider 4
Quantity: 1
Spider 5
Quantity: 1
Spider 6
Quantity: 1
Spider 7
Quantity: 1
Spider 8
Quantity: 1
The Rulebook & Card Backs
Rules I
Quantity: 1
Rules II
Quantity: 1
Rules III
Quantity: 1
Rules IV
Quantity: 1
Rules V
Quantity: 1
Rules VI
Quantity: 1
Title face
Back of each rule card
The back
All 224 play cards
VI · Order the Deck
Spider Malice 1.0
230 high-quality linen-printed standard poker size cards, in a rigid printed box. Limited print run.
$100
per deck, plus $10 shipping
- In stock
- 9
- Arriving
- 0
- Sales open
- November 22
Limited quantity, one deck per customer.
Payment is taken by Stripe on its own secure page; we never see your card. One deck per customer. $10 UPS shipping anywhere in the United States, or free pickup in Las Vegas with Nevada sales tax. Shipping and your details.
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