Spades

Spades

Spades is a partnership trick-taking game for four players (two teams of two). Spades are permanently trump. Before each hand, each player bids how many tricks they expect to win, and the partnership must collectively make their bid to score positively. Bags (overtricks) accumulate toward a penalty.

Setup

• 4 players in fixed partnerships (North–South and East–West).
• Standard 52-card deck. No jokers (jokers are added in some variants; see below).
• Partners sit opposite each other.
• The player to the left of the dealer leads.

Deal

Shuffle and deal all 52 cards clockwise (13 per player). The dealer rotates clockwise each hand.

Card Rankings

Spades (trump): High to low within Spades: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.

Other suits: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 within each suit.

Spades always beat non-Spades. Among Spades, higher rank wins.

Bidding

Starting with the player left of the dealer, each player bids the number of tricks they personally expect to win (0–13). The partnership’s bid is the sum of the two partners’ bids.

Nil bid: A player may bid Nil (zero), declaring they will win no tricks. If successful, the partnership scores 100 points bonus. If the Nil bidder wins any trick, the bid fails and the partnership scores −100 instead. The partner’s bid is scored separately.

Blind Nil (optional): A player with a very weak hand may bid Blind Nil before looking at their cards. Success: +200; failure: −200. Typically restricted to teams that are at least 100 points behind.

Play

The player left of the dealer leads first. Players must follow suit if able. If unable to follow suit, they may play any card (including a Spade).

Leading Spades: Spades may not be led until:

• Spades have been “broken” (a Spade has been played off-suit in a previous trick), OR
• A player has only Spades remaining in hand.

The highest card of the led suit wins the trick, unless one or more Spades have been played, in which case the highest Spade wins. The winner leads the next trick.

Scoring

At the end of each hand (after all 13 tricks are played):

Made bid: If the partnership won tricks ≥ their combined bid:

• Score = bid × 10 (for each trick bid and made)
• Each trick won above the bid (overtrick / “bag”) = +1 point per bag.

Failed bid: If the partnership won tricks < their combined bid:

• Score = −(bid × 10)

Bags penalty: Every 10 bags accumulated over the course of the game costs the partnership −100 points. The bag counter resets after each penalty.

Nil bid scoring (separate from partnership’s trick score):

End of Game

Play continues until one or both partnerships reach 500 points. The partnership with 500+ points wins. If both reach 500 on the same hand, the one with the higher score wins. If tied, play additional hands until the tie breaks.

Joker Variant

Some versions add 2 Jokers: Big Joker (highest Spade) and Little Joker (second-highest Spade). Rank order becomes: Big Joker > Little Joker > A♠ > K♠ … 2♠. One non-Spade card is removed from the deck to maintain 52 total (typically the 2 of Clubs).

Attribution

Spades. Traditional American partnership card game, popularized in the 1930s–40s. Public domain. Standard rules confirmed from Pagat.com.