How to play Spades

Objective

Win at least as many tricks as your partnership bids while avoiding too many unwanted overtricks, called bags. Spades are always trump. The first team to reach 500 points after a completed hand wins.

This page uses four-player fixed partnerships, nil bids and the ten-bag penalty. Blind nil, shorter targets and joker decks are variants described separately.

Setup

Use one standard 52-card deck without jokers. Four players form two partnerships; partners sit opposite each other. Choose the first dealer, then move the deal clockwise after every hand.

The dealer gives every player 13 cards, one at a time, clockwise. There is no stock. Players may sort their own cards but must not show them or discuss specific cards with a partner.

Starting left of the dealer and moving clockwise, each player makes one bid from 0 to 13. A regular bid states how many tricks that player expects to take. Partners’ regular bids are added to make the team’s contract. A bid of zero is nil and is scored separately.

Turns

The player left of the dealer leads the first trick. Play continues clockwise, one card each.

• Follow the suit led if you can.
• If you cannot follow suit, play any card, including a spade.
• The highest spade wins a trick containing one or more spades.
• If no spade is played, the highest card of the suit led wins.
• The trick winner leads the next trick.

Aces are high. Spades cannot be led until they are broken by being played on a trick whose led suit a player could not follow. A player holding only spades may lead one even if spades have not been broken; that play breaks them.

There are 13 tricks in every hand. Keep each partnership’s won tricks together so bids and bags are easy to count.

Nil bids

A player who bids nil tries to take no tricks. A successful nil scores a 100-point bonus; taking even one trick fails it for a 100-point penalty. The nil bidder still plays normally and must follow suit.

The nil bidder’s tricks still count when deciding whether the partnership made its combined regular contract. Tricks beyond that contract become bags. This means a failed nil can still help the team make its ordinary bid, although the nil penalty remains.

Scoring

Score the partnership’s regular contract first:

• If the team takes at least its bid, score 10 points for each bid trick plus 1 point for every extra trick.
• If the team falls short, lose 10 points for every trick bid. Do not add points for tricks taken.
• Add 100 for each successful nil and subtract 100 for each failed nil.

Every overtrick scored as 1 point is also a bag carried from hand to hand. Whenever a team’s running bag total reaches 10, subtract 100 points and remove 10 bags. Any extra bags remain.

Worked example

A team bids 5 and takes 7 tricks. It makes the contract, scores 50 for the bid and 2 for the overtricks: 52 points and two bags.

If the team began the hand with nine bags, those two new bags bring it to 11. Apply one 100-point penalty and carry one bag forward. The hand changes its score by 52 − 100 = −48.

Winning

After all 13 tricks, record both teams’ scores and bag totals. Deal another hand unless at least one team has reached 500.

If only one team is at 500 or more, it wins. If both teams reach 500 in the same hand, the higher score wins. If their scores are tied, play another complete hand.

The target applies after a hand, so reaching 500 during mental arithmetic does not stop play early. Finish all 13 tricks and score every contract, nil and bag penalty.

Common mistakes

• Adding four independent bids. Partners combine their regular bids into one team contract.
• Leading spades too early. Spades must be broken unless your hand contains only spades.
• Forgetting to follow suit. Trump does not let you ignore a suit you still hold.
• Treating bags as harmless bonus points. The tenth accumulated bag triggers a 100-point penalty.
• Dropping a failed nil bidder’s tricks. Those tricks still count toward the partnership’s regular contract and possible bags.
• Ending as soon as a running total appears to reach 500. Complete and score the hand first.

Variants

Blind nil lets a player bid nil before looking at their cards, usually for a 200-point bonus or penalty. Tables differ on when it is allowed and whether partners exchange cards. It is not used in the primary game above.

Short games commonly end at 200 or 250 instead of 500. Some groups remove the bag rule, change the penalty, or score a failed bid by losing only the bid value. Others add jokers, remove low cards or allow two- and three-player games; those changes alter the deal and card ranking.

Passing cards to a nil bidder and special bids such as ten-for-200 are house rules. Agree every added bid and its score before the deal rather than introducing it after cards are seen.