Spades
Bid your tricks with a partner. Spades are always trump.
How to play Spades
Spades is a trick-taking card game for four players in two teams. You sit at the bottom and your partner sits across from you. The players on your left and right are a team too. All 52 cards are dealt, 13 to each player. Spades are always trump.
Goal
Your team wants to win at least as many tricks as it bid. The first team to reach 500 points wins. A team that falls to −200 loses.
Bidding
Before play, each player bids how many tricks they think they will win, from 1 to 13. Your bid and your partner's bid are added together into one team contract. You can also bid Nil: you promise to win no tricks at all.
Turn by turn
- The player to the left of the dealer leads the first trick. The dealer moves one seat each hand.
- Each player plays one card. You must follow suit if you can. If you can't, you may play any card, including a spade.
- The highest spade wins the trick. If no spade was played, the highest card of the suit that was led wins.
- Spades can't be led until a spade has been played on an earlier trick ("spades are broken"), unless you only have spades.
Scoring
- Make your contract: 10 points per trick bid, plus 1 point for each extra trick.
- Miss your contract: you lose 10 points per trick bid.
- Extra tricks are called bags. When a team collects 10 bags, it loses 100 points.
- Nil made: +100. Nil failed: −100. Tricks won by a Nil player do not help the partner's bid; they count as bags.
Playing on this site
Pick your bid with the number buttons, then click a card to play it. On a touch screen, tap a card to lift it and tap again to play. Undo takes back your last bid or card, and the game is saved if you close the page.
Strategy tips
- Count sure tricks when you bid. Aces and high spades are almost certain tricks. Count long spades beyond three, and add a little for a short side suit you can trump.
- Don't overbid to be safe. Bags cost 100 points at ten. A contract made exactly is worth more over a game than a few extra tricks.
- Protect your partner's Nil. Play high cards when your partner bid Nil, so they can throw low cards under yours.
- Attack the other team's Nil. Lead low cards in suits the Nil player still holds, and play under their cards so they are forced to win.
- Remember which spades are gone. Once the high spades are out, your middle spades become winners.
Spades FAQ
What are bags in Spades?
Bags are the tricks your team wins beyond its bid. Each one scores 1 point, but every time your team collects 10 bags you lose 100 points.
What does bidding Nil mean?
A Nil bid says you will win no tricks. If you take none, your team gets 100 points; if you win even one trick, your team loses 100.
Can I lead a spade at any time?
Only after spades are broken, which means a spade has been played on an earlier trick. If you have nothing but spades, you may lead one anyway.
Who is my partner?
Your partner is the computer player sitting across from you at the top of the table. The players to your left and right play as a team against you.
