Spades

Origin & history

Spades developed in the United States in the late 1930s as a member of the Whist family. Its fixed trump suit and individual bids made it easier to start than games with a trump auction. It became popular among military personnel and college students during and after the Second World War.

Objective

You and North form one team; West and East form the other. Predict how many tricks your partnership will take, make that contract, and reach 500 points before your opponents. Extra tricks give small points but accumulate as bags.

Equipment & setup

Use a standard 52-card deck without Jokers. Deal all 52 cards, giving each of the four players 13. Partners sit opposite each other. Cards rank Ace high down to Two low. Spades are always the trump suit.

Each player then bids from zero to 13 for the number of tricks they expect to take. A zero bid is called Nil and means that player will try to take no tricks. Add the two non-Nil bids in each partnership to make its team contract. Bids are public before the first card is played.

Gameplay

In the first trick, the opening player must lead their lowest Club if they have one. Without a Club, they may lead a Heart or Diamond; only a hand containing nothing else may open with a Spade. On later tricks, the winner of the previous trick leads.

Play proceeds clockwise. You must follow the led suit if you can. If you have none, you may play any card, including a Spade. The highest Spade wins a trick containing Spades; otherwise the highest card of the led suit wins.

A Spade cannot be led until one has been played on a non-Spade trick, breaking Spades, unless the leader holds only Spades. Once broken, Spades may be led like any other suit. After 13 tricks, the hand ends.

Scoring & points

Count both partners' tricks together. If the team meets or exceeds its contract, it earns 10 points per trick bid plus one point per extra trick. For example, a team bidding 5 and taking 6 scores 51 before any Nil bonus or bag penalty. If it falls short, this online version deducts 10 points for each trick missing: bidding 5 and taking 4 scores −10.

Every trick above the team contract is also one bag. Bags carry across hands. Reaching ten bags deducts 100 points immediately and removes ten bags from the count. For example, if a team bids 2 and takes 12 with no previous bags, its hand scores 20 for the bid, 10 for extra tricks, then −100 for ten bags: −70 overall, before any Nil result.

A player who bids Nil and takes no tricks adds 50 points to their team's score. Taking even one trick fails Nil and deducts 50. A Nil bidder's tricks still count toward the team's total and bags; Nil is scored separately from the team contract.

End of game & winning

After each 13-trick hand, add both teams' scores. When at least one team reaches 500, the match ends. If both reach 500 in the same hand, the higher total wins; equal totals are a tie in this online version.

Variants

The opening rule, Nil bonus, failed-contract penalty and bag penalty above are specific to this playable table. Many groups allow any non-Spade lead on the first trick, score failed contracts at −10 times the full bid, and award or deduct 100 for Nil. Blind Nil, cutthroat play, other targets and decks with Jokers are also played elsewhere. These alternatives are not selectable here.

Category

Trick-Taking · Partnership · Bidding · Plain-Trick

Documented countries

United States

Bibliography

• Spades — Wikipédia
• How to Play Spades — HowStuffWorks