Spades

Bid with a partner and take that many.

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How to play — Spades

Spades online for 4 players — free, in your browser, no sign-up needed (you play as a guest right away). Join a table or open your own.

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  1. In short

    Spades is a card game for four players in two partnerships. Your partner sits opposite. Before play, everyone says how many tricks they intend to take, and the pair scores points for making its shared bid. Spades are always trumps.

  2. The deal and the goal

    Everyone gets 13 cards. Spades are always trumps, which means they beat the other suits. A pair scores points for making the number of tricks bid and tries to be first to reach 250 or 500 points.

    Spades are trumps: even the 2♠ beats an ace of another suit, here the A♥.

  3. Bids

    Before play, everyone states the number of tricks they intend to take. Partners' positive bids add up to the pair's shared target. Zero, called nil, is a separate promise not to take a single trick. It is worth counting strong spades and high cards, but not bidding every possible trick as certain.

  4. Tricks

    Each player in turn plays one card. You must follow the suit led if you can. If you cannot, you may play any card, including a spade. The highest spade wins, or if there is no spade, the highest card of the suit led. The order is A, K, Q, J, 10 down to 2. The winner leads the next trick. You may not lead spades until they have been broken by a play on another suit, unless you hold only spades.

  5. Points for the bid and nil

    Making the bid scores 10 points for each trick bid and 1 for each extra trick. Failing the bid subtracts 10 times the bid. A successful nil gives an extra 100 points, and a failed one subtracts 100. In this version the tricks of a player who bid nil do not help make their partner's positive bid and are not counted as its extra tricks.

  6. Bags and the end

    Extra tricks make bags. With the penalty enabled, collecting ten bags subtracts 100 points and the rest carry over. The match ends after a deal in which one pair reaches the target or falls to minus 200. The pair with the higher total wins, and equal scores give a draw. Before a new deal the bids and the trick count are reset.

  7. When someone leaves

    There is no resigning. Leaving a game in progress, or running out of time, is a forfeit by that player (in a pairs game, by their pair too) and ends the game for the whole table. The others win.