How to play Spades
Spades is a trick-taking card game for four players in two teams. You and North are partners against West and East, all played by the computer. Each hand, your team tries to take exactly as many tricks as it bid.
- Bidding: after the deal, each player bids how many of the 13 tricks they expect to win. Your bid and your partner's are added together, and that's your team's target.
- Tricks: one player leads a card, and everyone else plays one card in turn. You must follow suit (play the suit that was led) if you can. The highest card of the suit led wins, unless someone plays a spade.
- Spades are trump: any spade beats any card of another suit. If you can't follow suit, you may play a spade to win the trick, or throw away any other card.
- Breaking spades: you can't lead a spade until one has been played on a trick of another suit, unless your hand holds nothing but spades.
Scoring
- Made your bid: 10 points for each trick your team bid, plus 1 point for each extra trick.
- Missed your bid: your team loses 10 points for each trick it bid.
- Bags: every extra trick is a "bag." When your team collects 10 bags, it loses 100 points, so bidding too low is costly too.
- Nil: bidding Nil (zero) means you promise to take no tricks at all. Make it and your team gets 100 points; take even one trick and it loses 100. Your partner's bid is scored separately, and any tricks you take count as bags.
The first team to reach 500 points wins. The game also ends when a team falls to -200 or below, and the higher score wins. Our guide to how to play Spades walks through every rule with worked scoring examples.
Playing on Poozee
- Pick a level. Easy makes lots of mistakes. Medium plays by solid rules of thumb. Hard imagines many possible deals of the cards it can't see, plays each option out and picks the one that scores best for its team. It never looks at your cards.
- Bid with the buttons under the table. Bids that would take your team past 13 tricks are grayed out.
- Cards you can't play are dimmed on your turn. Tap one anyway and the game tells you why.
- Hint suggests a bid, or the card the Hard computer would play.
- Your game is saved in your browser, so you can close the tab and finish later.
Spades tips for beginners
- Count your tricks, then round down. Aces are nearly always tricks. A king is a good bet if you hold one or two other cards in its suit, and high spades are strong because they're trump. Round your total down: falling short costs your whole bid, while an extra trick only costs a bag.
- Short suits are worth tricks too. If you have no clubs and a few spades to spare, you can trump clubs and win those tricks.
- Don't waste high cards. When you can't win a trick, or North is already winning it, play your lowest card. A king thrown away now is a trick you can't take later.
- Once you've made it, look at the other team. If they could still fall short of their bid, keep taking tricks and try to set them. Otherwise, play your low cards and avoid collecting bags.
- Protect a partner's Nil. If North bids Nil, take the tricks North would otherwise win: play high when you play before North, and beat North's card when North is winning the trick.
Our Spades strategy guide tests these habits over 10,000 computer hands, with a card-by-card way to count your tricks and a checklist for when to bid Nil.
Pro tip: Keep track of the spades that have been played. Once the ace and king are gone, your queen of spades becomes a sure trick.
About Spades
Spades was devised in the United States in the late 1930s and spread widely during World War II, when soldiers played it in their spare time. It's still one of the best-known card games in the country.
Spades FAQ
How do you score in Spades?
If your team takes at least as many tricks as it bid, it scores 10 points per trick bid, plus 1 point for each extra trick. If it takes fewer, it loses 10 points per trick bid. The first team to 500 wins.
What are bags in Spades?
Bags are the extra tricks your team takes beyond its bid. Each one is worth a point, but every 10 bags costs your team 100 points, so it pays to bid accurately.
What does bidding Nil mean?
Nil is a bid of zero: you promise not to take a single trick. If you manage it, your team gets 100 points. If you take even one trick, your team loses 100. Your partner's bid is scored on its own.
When can you lead a spade?
Not until spades are broken, which happens when someone plays a spade on a trick because they had no cards of the suit that was led. If your hand holds nothing but spades, you may lead one anyway.