Spades

Players and equipment

Four players in two partnerships, sitting across from each other, is the standard game. Three or four can play cutthroat, each for themselves. A standard 52-card deck, all of it dealt out, and something to keep score on.

The deal

Thirteen cards each, dealt one at a time. Nothing is turned for trumps — spades are always trumps, and the deal passes to the left after every hand.

Play

Starting to the dealer's left, every player bids the number of tricks they expect to take. In partnership play the two bids are added together and the partnership has to make the total between them. A bid of nil is a claim to take no tricks at all. Blind nil is the same claim made before looking at your hand: the nil alone is worth two hundred instead of a hundred, made or failed, and the partner's own bid is scored exactly as it would have been. It is the bid of a side far enough behind to need a deal that changes the evening.

The player to the dealer's left leads. Follow suit if you can; if you cannot, play any card, and a spade wins the trick. Spades may not be led until they have been broken — played on a trick by somebody unable to follow suit — unless the leader has nothing else left. The highest spade wins the trick; if no spade is played, the highest card of the suit led wins. The winner of a trick leads the next.

Scoring

Bid made

10

Each trick you bid

Overtricks

1

Each trick over your side's bid, remembered as a bag

Tenth bag

−100

Lands on the deal that brings it; that side's count restarts

Bid missed

−10

Each trick you bid, whatever you actually took

Nil made

100

No tricks at all

Nil failed

−100

Any trick taken breaks it

Blind nil

200 or −200

Bid before looking — made or failed

Bags belong to a side, not to the table. Each side keeps its own running count across the whole evening, untouched by anything the other side does; in cutthroat every player keeps their own.

A nil is settled on its own, apart from the partnership's contract. The nil bidder counts as having bid nothing, so the contract is the partner's number alone and the partner has to make it unaided — a trick that falls to the nil bidder breaks the nil without counting towards the bid.

So a side can make one and miss the other, and the two are simply added. A nil held beside a contract of seven missed is a hundred on and seventy off, which is thirty to the good; a nil broken beside the same missed contract is a hundred off and seventy off, which is a hundred and seventy against.

A worked deal

Alice and Cara are partners against Ben and Dev. Alice bids 4 and Cara bids 3, so their side needs 7; Ben bids 5 and Dev bids nil, so Ben's side needs 5 and Dev must take none.

Alice and Cara

70 + 1 = 71

Bid 7, took 8: the bid made, one over

Ben

50

Bid 5, took 5: the bid made

Dev

100

Nil made, no tricks

Ben and Dev

150

Together

Alice and Cara enter 71 and carry one bag. On the next deal they bid 6 and take 9: 60 for the bid, 3 for the overtricks, and their bag count is now 4. Three deals later, still winning tricks they did not bid, the count reaches 10 and that deal's score loses 100: a side that keeps taking extra tricks is punished for it, which is what makes an accurate bid the whole game.

Ending

First side to 500 wins. Shorter evenings are commonly played to 250 or 300. If both sides cross the line on the same deal, the higher score wins.

Bidding

Count your sure tricks and bid those, no more. An ace in a side suit is one trick; a king with the ace beside it is another; a king on its own is half a trick and a queen is nothing. Every spade above the ones you can see in your own hand is worth counting: the ace and king of spades are two tricks, and four or more spades usually make an extra one because the others will run out. Bid what you can see and treat anything more as bags waiting to happen. It is better to bid one short and pick up a bag than to bid one over and lose the whole contract.

Bidding as a pair

Your bid tells your partner what you hold, so bid honestly. If your partner bids first and high, you can bid low and keep your spare tricks for covering theirs; if they bid low, do not stretch to make up the difference. Between you, a total of six or seven is normal and eight or more means somebody is optimistic. When your side is well ahead, bid a trick short and play for safety; when it is far behind, a nil is the bid that closes a gap fast.

Playing a nil

A nil wants low cards, an even spread of suits and no long suit that will be led back to you. Throw your highest card on every trick your partner is winning, and when you cannot follow suit, throw a high card of another suit rather than a spade. Your partner's job is to win every trick they can while you are still in danger, playing high early so you can shed your dangerous cards under them.

Setting a nil

When an opponent bids nil, lead low cards in every suit, especially the suit they seem short of, and try to leave them holding the trick. A single trick breaks the nil and costs them a hundred, so it is worth giving up a trick of your own to force one on them. Watch their partner too, who will be winning tricks on purpose to protect the nil.

Spades and bags

Lead spades when you hold the top ones, to pull the opponents' trumps out before they can use them on your good cards. Keep count of the spades played; there are thirteen, and once they are gone your aces and kings in the other suits are safe. Late in a hand, if your side has already made its bid, throw the tricks you do not need: a bag now is a point now and a hundred later, and a trick handed to the opponents may be one they did not bid and cannot use either.

Cutthroat

Three or four players, each for themselves, bidding and scoring alone. With three, remove the two of clubs so the deal comes out even; some tables deal the spare cards face down as a kitty for whoever wins the first trick.

Jokers and deuces

Two jokers are added and the two of clubs and two of hearts removed. The big joker is the highest spade, the little joker next, then the ace of spades. A common variant in the American south and in most online play.

Ten for two

Any player who takes ten or more tricks alone scores two hundred, and a bid of ten is the only bid that pays out for taking more than it. Played where the base game feels too cautious.

Suicide

Every partnership must bid one nil each deal: one partner bids nil and the other bids the side's tricks. It turns every hand into a race to break the other side's nil.

Mirror

No choice about the bid: every player bids exactly the number of spades in their hand, and a hand with no spades is a nil. Quick, and a good way to learn what a spade is worth.

Whiz

Each player must bid either the number of spades in their hand or nil, and nothing else. A halfway house between Mirror and the full game.

Shorter games

Play to 250 or 300 rather than 500, or bags cost fifty at five rather than a hundred at ten. Keeping score on SquareScores, set the target when you launch the game and the app ends the game at the line.

Can you lead spades in Spades?

Not until they have been broken, which means somebody has played a spade on a trick because they could not follow suit. After that anyone may lead a spade. The one exception is a player who holds nothing but spades, who may lead one at any time.

What is a bag in Spades?

A trick your side took over what it bid. Each bag scores one point at the time, and every ten bags cost your side a hundred, so a pair that keeps taking tricks it did not bid is penalised for it.

What does a nil bid mean?

A promise to take no tricks at all that deal. Make it and you score a hundred; take even one trick and you lose a hundred. Your partner's bid is scored separately and they have to make it alone. Blind nil is the same bid made before looking at your cards, for two hundred either way.

How many points do you play to?

Five hundred is the standard game. Tables wanting a shorter evening play to 250 or 300. If both sides pass the line on the same deal, the higher total wins.

Do you have to follow suit?

Yes, if you can. Only when you have no card of the suit led may you play a spade or throw off a card of another suit.

Can you play Spades with two or three players?

Three can play cutthroat, each for themselves, with the two of clubs removed. Two-handed Spades is played by dealing the pack out in a drawing phase where each player keeps or discards cards in turn, and is a different game in feel. Four in partnerships is the game.

What happens if my partner bids nil and I take a trick with them?

Your trick counts toward your own bid. A nil is broken only by a trick the nil bidder wins; a trick you win while trying to protect them is simply one of yours.