Spades

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Bidding
5. Playing a deal
6. Scoring
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Spades is an American trick-taking game for four players in two fixed partnerships. In each deal (one round of dealing, bidding and playing) everyone first bids – says how many tricks they expect to win – and then the cards are played. A trick is one card from each player; the best card wins all four. Spades are always trumps, which is where the game gets its name. Your side scores if the two of you together win at least as many tricks as you bid – but collecting too many extra tricks is punished in the long run.

• Players: 4, in two partnerships. Partners sit opposite each other.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, paper and pencil.
• Goal: be the first side to reach 500 points.

The cards

In every suit the cards rank from high to low:

A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

The cards have no point values – only the number of tricks counts.

Trumps: spades (♠) are the trump suit. Any spade beats any card of the other three suits, and a higher spade beats a lower one.

Setup

1. Partners: agree on partners, or draw cards – the two highest play against the two lowest. Sit so that partners face each other.
2. Dealer: pick the first dealer at random. After each deal, the turn to deal passes to the left.
3. Deal: the dealer shuffles, the player on the right cuts (lifts off part of the deck and puts it underneath), and the dealer deals all 52 cards one at a time, face down and clockwise, starting with the player on the left. Everyone gets 13 cards – their hand. Keep your hand hidden.

Bidding

Starting with the player to the dealer's left and going clockwise, each player makes one bid: a number of tricks from 1 to 13, or Nil (zero). You cannot pass, and you cannot change your bid later.

• Bids do not have to be higher than the previous one – each player simply says how many tricks they expect to win.
• The two bids of a partnership are added together. That total is the side's contract – the number of tricks the two of you must win together. It does not matter which partner wins them.
• Partners may not tell each other anything about their cards – only the numbers they bid.

Example: South deals. West bids 3, North 1, East 4, South 4. North and South must win at least 5 tricks (1 + 4) between them; East and West need at least 7 (4 + 3).

Nil

Bidding Nil means: "I will not win a single trick." A successful Nil earns a big bonus, a failed one a big penalty. The Nil bidder's partner bids a normal number and tries to make it alone – and usually also tries to protect the Nil, for example by winning tricks the Nil bidder might otherwise have to take. If you don't want to risk a Nil, you must bid at least 1.

Playing a deal

1. The player to the dealer's left leads (plays the first card of) the first trick. They may lead any card except a spade.
2. The others play one card each, clockwise. You must follow suit: play a card of the suit that was led if you have one. If you have none, you may play any card – including a spade.
3. Who wins the trick: if the trick contains a spade, the highest spade wins. Otherwise the highest card of the suit led wins. Cards of other suits never win.
4. The winner collects the four cards face down in front of them and leads to the next trick.
5. Spades must be broken: you may not lead a spade until someone has played a spade on another suit (because they could not follow suit) – this is called breaking spades. Exception: if you have nothing but spades left, you may lead one.

Keep playing until all 13 tricks have been played. Each side then counts its tricks.

Example: West leads the J♦. North has no diamonds and plays the 10♠. East has no diamonds either and plays the K♠. South follows with the 3♦. East wins the trick with the highest spade – and spades are now broken.

Scoring

Making the contract: a side that wins at least as many tricks as it bid scores 10 points per trick bid. Every extra trick – an overtrick, called a bag – adds 1 point.

Failing: a side that wins fewer tricks than it bid loses 10 points per trick bid.

The bag penalty: bags are counted from deal to deal. As soon as a side has collected 10 bags, it loses 100 points, and counting starts again (any bags beyond 10 carry over). Handy tip: while the score is positive, its last digit shows the number of bags collected so far.

Nil:

• Nil made (the bidder won no trick): +100 for the side.
• Nil failed: −100.
• This is added to whatever the partner scores for their own bid. If a Nil fails, the tricks won by the Nil bidder do not help the partner make their bid, but they do count as bags.

Example: North and South have 337 points and bid 5 together. If they win 7 tricks, they score 50 + 2 = 52 and have 389. If they win 8 tricks instead, they score 53 – but that is their tenth bag, so they lose 100: 337 + 53 − 100 = 290.

Example (Nil): East bids Nil, West bids 4. East wins no trick, West wins 5: the side scores 100 + 40 + 1 bag = 141. Had East won one of those tricks instead (West 4, East 1), the side would score −100 + 40 + 1 = −59 (East's trick counts as a bag, but not towards West's 4).

Winning the game

The first side to reach 500 points wins. If both sides reach 500 in the same deal, the side with the higher score wins (if they are level, play another deal).

Tips for beginners

• Count sure tricks: Aces, protected Kings and high spades. A void (no cards) in a side suit can give you extra tricks by trumping.
• Don't bid too high, but don't bid too low either – 10 bags cost you 100 points.
• If your side has already made its contract, try to set the opponents (make them fail) instead of piling up bags.
• Nil works best with few, low spades and no high cards in long suits. If your partner bids Nil, play your high cards early to cover your partner.

Variants

Spades is played with many house rules. Agree on them before you start.

• Blind Nil: a Nil bid before looking at your cards, often allowed only when your side is at least 100 points behind. It scores +200 or −200. After the bidding, the Blind Nil bidder passes two cards face down to their partner, who passes two back.
• Losing limit: a side that falls to −500 or below loses the game.
• Shorter or longer games: play to 300 or to 1000 points.
• Jokers: add two distinguishable jokers as the two highest spades (big joker above little joker). With all 54 cards, the dealer gets the two extra cards and discards any two face down.
• Partnership bidding: each side discusses and agrees on one joint bid, but may only talk about numbers of tricks, never about specific cards.
• 10 for 200: a side bidding 10 tricks scores 200 if it makes it and loses 200 if not.
• Moon (Boston): a bid to win all 13 tricks, worth 200 (or the whole game in some circles).
• Misdeal: a player dealt no spades may demand a new deal.