Who goes first in Spicy?

Rule details

Any player may challenge the top card. The challenge loser draws two cards and starts the next spicy stack; the youngest-player rule selects the opening turn only.

The standard game sets aside the Spice It Up! cards. That variant adds cards to the normal setup: Copy Cat lets a player copy another player's declaration, after which play continues with the player to the copy cat's left. Start It Up! changes allowed number declarations, not who takes the opening turn.

The rulebook's shared victory for tied final scores is an endgame rule, not a tie-break for selecting the youngest player.

If there’s a tie

The rulebook doesn’t say. If you need a tie-break, pick a player at random.