Section 1: Introduction
Spades is a partnership trick-taking game for four players in two teams, sitting opposite each other. Spades are always trump, and before each hand every player bids the number of tricks they expect to take.
The tension is in bidding accurately: you are penalised for falling short, and rewarded only slightly for going over — until those overtricks accumulate and cost you a hundred points at once.
Player counts on this page are per side — two partners each, four at the table.
Section 2: The Deck
- One standard 52-card deck, no jokers in the base game.
- Cards rank ace (high) down to two.
- Spades are permanently trump — there is no trump selection.
Section 3: Setup & Deal
- Four players in two partnerships, partners seated opposite.
- Deal the whole deck — 13 cards each.
- Starting left of the dealer, each player bids the number of tricks they expect. The team bid is the sum of both partners'.
- A bid of nil claims zero tricks and scores separately.
- The player to the dealer's left leads the first trick.
Section 4: Gameplay
Playing Tricks
- You must follow suit if able. If not, you may play anything, including a spade.
- The highest spade wins the trick; if none is played, the highest card of the suit led wins.
- The trick's winner leads the next.
Breaking Spades
Spades cannot be led until they have been "broken" — played on a trick where the leader could not follow suit. The exception is a player holding nothing but spades.
Nil
A player who bid nil is trying to win no tricks at all. Their partner plays the hand normally and may try to cover them. Blind nil — declared before looking at your cards — scores double and is usually restricted to a team that is well behind.
Section 5: Scoring & Winning
Making the Bid
- Meet or beat your team's combined bid: 10 points per trick bid.
- Fall short: lose 10 points per trick bid — the whole bid, not the shortfall.
Bags (Overtricks)
Each trick above the bid is a bag, worth 1 point but tracked cumulatively. Every 10 bags costs 100 points. Deliberately taking extra tricks is therefore a slow-burning liability, not a bonus.
Nil Scoring
- Nil made: +100. Nil failed: −100.
- Blind nil: +200 or −200.
Play to 500 points, or to an agreed target.
Section 6: Variants & House Rules
- Cutthroat (three-handed): no partnerships, everyone scores for themselves.
- Two-handed spades: a draw-based variant for two players.
- Jokers: two jokers added as the highest trumps, with two low cards removed.
- Suicide: one partner on each team must bid nil every hand.
- Bag penalty: some groups use 5 bags or vary the penalty — it materially changes strategy, so agree first.
