spades

If you have never played a trick-taking game before, do not worry: this guide starts from zero, with worked examples that walk you through it step by step.

The aim of the game

A match is a race to 400 points, and the table owner can change that number before the start. The first to reach it wins.

But the road to points is not "collect as much as you can". Points come from accuracy: knowing your hand, naming a number, and hitting it. Someone who bid four and took four scores more than someone who bid four and took seven — the strangest thing about the game, and the best.

A whole round, in short

Before the details, here is the whole round in six steps. Read it once, then come back to it whenever you get lost:

1. The cards are shuffled and dealt, and every player has their hand.
2. Each player looks at their hand and names a number: how many tricks will I take this round? That is their bid, and everyone hears it.
3. One player plays a card, then everyone after them plays one card each. That is a trick.
4. Whoever played the strongest card takes the trick, and leads the next one.
5. Tricks follow one another until the hands are empty, and the round is over.
6. Every player is scored: did they take what they bid? Their points are added or taken away, and a new round begins.

That is all of it. The rest of this guide is the detail behind those six steps.

The cards and their strength

Spades is played with the full deck, 52 cards and no jokers. There are four suits: hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs, with thirteen cards in each.

The order from strongest to weakest is the same in all four suits, spades included:

ace, then king, then queen, then jack, then 10, then 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2.

A natural order with no surprises. The whole surprise is in the spades:

• Any spade beats any card of any other suit, however big the gap between them. So the 2 of spades — the weakest card in the whole deck — takes the trick from the ace of hearts.
• And if more than one spade is played to a trick, the strongest of them takes it, by the same natural order.

Three examples

In each example, the players play their cards in the order given. Who takes the trick?

Example one: the first plays the queen of diamonds, the second the jack of diamonds, the third the 3 of diamonds.

Answer: the first. They are all diamonds, with no spade among them, so the strongest takes it — and the queen is stronger than the jack and the 3.

Example two: the first plays the queen of hearts, the second the 7 of spades, the third the 9 of hearts.

Answer: the second. And here is the whole lesson: the 7 is a weak card, but it is a spade — and a spade beats any other suit, whatever it is. Neither the queen nor the 9 is any use against it.

Example three: the first plays the ace of hearts, the second the 10 of hearts, the third the jack of spades, the fourth the 7 of spades.

Answer: the third. Two spades were played, so the hearts drop out of the reckoning entirely — even the ace. And between the two spades, the jack is stronger than the 7.

Notice that cards have no point value in this game. It does not matter which cards you collect, only how many tricks you take.

The deal

The deck is 52 cards, and that does not divide evenly for every number of players. So as many 2s as needed are taken out, until everyone gets the same:

• Three players: the 2 of clubs is taken out, leaving 51 cards: 17 each, and 17 tricks in the round.
• Four players: nothing is taken out, the deck is complete: 13 each, and 13 tricks in the round.
• Five players: the 2 of clubs and the 2 of diamonds are taken out, leaving 50: 10 each, and 10 tricks in the round.
• Six players: all four 2s are taken out, leaving 48: 8 each, and 8 tricks in the round.

Notice that the number of tricks in a round is always the number of cards in your hand — which is natural: every trick costs you one card.

The dealer rotates: each round the deal moves one seat along. The player who bids first and leads the first trick is the player after the dealer, and the dealer bids last. So the advantage never stays with one seat.

Playing in teams

By default you play alone against everyone, and every player has their own score. The table owner can make it a team game if there are four or six players:

• Four players: two teams of two.
• Six players: two teams of three, or three teams of two.

The players name their own teammates before the start, then the seats are rearranged so that nobody ever sits next to a teammate — the players on your right and your left are always opponents, and that is what makes the order of play matter.

In a team game there is one score. No personal score, and nobody wins alone or loses alone.

Bidding

After the deal, and before the first card is played, each player looks at their hand and says how many tricks they think they will take. That is the bid, and it is a commitment you are scored on at the end of the round.

• It starts with the player after the dealer and goes round everyone, once for each player.
• A bid is a number from zero up to the number of cards in your hand.
• There is no "pass" — every player has to bid.
• Your bid has nothing to do with anyone else's. You do not have to go higher or lower than the player before you, and the bids at the table can add up to more or fewer than the number of tricks. That is not a flaw, it is the heart of the tension: if the total is over, somebody has to fall; if it is under, there are spare tricks nobody wants.
• Every bid is announced to everyone the moment it is made, so nobody bids in secret.

How do you know what to bid? Look at your strong cards: every ace you hold is an almost certain trick, a king is close behind, and every spade beyond four becomes a likely trick because you will trump with it. With experience, judging a hand becomes second nature.

Nil

A bid of zero has its own name: Nil. It means you undertake to take not a single trick this round. It is the riskiest bid and the most rewarding:

• You succeed and take nothing: +100 points.
• You fail and take even one trick: −100 points, and every trick you took becomes a sandbag against you (more on that below).

When should you bid Nil? When your hand is genuinely weak: no ace, no king, and few spades, all small. Because the real danger in Nil is being forced to take a trick you do not want — if you hold the ace of hearts and hearts are led, you have to follow suit, and you may have nothing but the ace, so you take the trick against your will.

Nil is scored entirely on its own. Whoever bids Nil leaves their team's contract: their bid is not added to it, and the tricks they take if they fail never count for their team.

An example makes it clear: you bid Nil and your teammate bids 4. So your teammate has to make those four alone. If you take one trick and they take three, you have broken your Nil and their contract has fallen as well — and your trick did not help them, because it does not count for them.

The contract in a team game

When you play in teams, the team's bids are added into one number called the contract, and the team is scored on it together.

So if you bid 2 and your teammate bids 4, your contract is 6 — and neither of you has a "share" of your own. Which means you cannot "go over your part" at all:

• You took 2 and they took 4? That is six. The contract is made.
• You took 3 and they took 3? That is six. Made as well, and exactly the same points.
• You took 4 and they took 2? That is six. Made again. Who took what changes nothing.

In fact your "extra" trick may be the very one that saves the contract when your teammate falls short. So do not hesitate to take a trick because you have "gone over your number" — there is no number of your own.

How a trick is played

One player plays a card, and the suit of that card is the led suit for this trick. Then every player after them plays one card, and whoever played the strongest card takes the trick and leads the next.

What are you allowed to play?

One rule governs everything, and it has two cases:

• Do you have the led suit? Then you must play it. This is compulsory, with no exceptions. But you may choose any card of that suit, weak or strong — nobody forces you to win.
  Example: the first player plays the 7 of hearts, and you have hearts. So you must play a heart. You may play the ace of hearts to take the trick, or the 2 of hearts to get rid of a weak card and leave the trick to someone else. The choice is yours.
• You do not have the led suit? Then you are completely free, and may play anything from any suit. You have two ways to go:
  • Trumping: playing a spade. The trick is then yours — unless someone after you trumps with a stronger spade.
    Example: the ace of diamonds is led, you have no diamonds, so you play the 3 of spades. The trick is yours, and the ace did its owner no good.
  • Discarding: playing a third suit. Your card cannot take the trick however strong it is, so this is your chance to get rid of a dangerous card.
    Example: the ace of diamonds is led, you have no diamonds, so you discard the king of clubs. The king takes nothing — but you are rid of it, and sometimes that is exactly the point.
• You may not trump while you have the led suit. Trumping is only for a player who has run out of that suit.

Breaking spades

The player who leads a trick has one restriction: you may not lead a spade until spades have been "broken". The players who follow are not bound by it.

• Spades are broken the first time a spade is played in the round — usually by trumping, because someone has run out of the led suit.
• Once they are broken, you may lead them whenever you like.
• The rule has one exception: a player with nothing but spades left in their hand may lead one even if they are not broken.
• Spades go back to "not broken" at the start of every round.

The point of the rule is to stop a player with lots of spades from opening with them on the first trick and sweeping the round; it makes them play their other suits first.

Scoring

At the end of the round every player — or every team — is scored on their bid. The rule is simple: the number × 10 for those who make it, and the number × 10 taken away from those who do not.

A worked example: a player who bid 4

Let us follow one player who bid four tricks, and see their result in three cases:

• Took exactly 4: +40 points. They made their bid, so they get 4 × 10.
• Took 6: +42 points, and two sandbags with them. They got the forty because they made it, and each extra trick gave them only one point — not ten — and a sandbag along with it.
• Took 3: −40 points. They did not make it, so they lost their whole bid.

And watch out: how many tricks you took changes nothing about the penalty. Someone who bid 6 and took 5, and someone who bid 6 and took nothing — both lose 60. So an ambitious bid cuts both ways: every number you add raises your win if you make it, and raises your loss if you do not.

Sandbags

Every trick you take beyond your contract becomes a sandbag. A single sandbag looks harmless — it even gives you a point — but it is a debt that comes due later:

The sandbag counter stays with you for the whole match, not just the round. The moment it reaches ten, you lose 100 points on the spot and your counter drops by ten. So ten extra tricks spread over six rounds end up costing you a hundred points.

That is why they say that half of winning at Spades is taking what you bid, and the other half is not taking more than that. And a well-known trick among experienced players is to leave a trick to an opponent on purpose — not out of kindness, but to fill their counter with sandbags until it bursts.

Two extra bonuses

• Small contract bonus, +20 points: if your contract is exactly 1 or 2 and you make it with nothing over and nothing under. So someone who bid 2 and took 2 gets 20 for the bid and 20 bonus, 40 in total. Had they taken a third, the bonus would be gone and their total would be 21 points and a sandbag. The reason for it is that taking exactly one or two tricks is harder than it looks. This bonus only applies with three or four players.
• Hard contract bonus, +10 per trick: if you bid a big number and make it, you get ten extra points for every trick above a certain number.

How the hard contract bonus is worked out

Each number of players has its own number after which the bonus starts, and the fewer the players, the higher that number — because you hold more cards, so a big bid is easier for you. The calculation is the same in every case: subtract that number from your bid, and multiply what is left by ten.

• Four players — the bonus starts after 6: bid 6 and made it? No bonus, your result is 60. Bid 7 and made it? Seven minus six is one, and one times ten is ten, so your result is 70 + 10 = 80. Bid 10 and made it? Ten minus six is four, and four times ten is forty, so your result is 100 + 40 = 140.
• Three players — the bonus starts after 9: you hold 17 cards, so a big bid is expected of you. Bid 9 and made it? No bonus, your result is 90. Bid 10? 100 + 10 = 110. Bid 13? Thirteen minus nine is four, so your result is 130 + 40 = 170.
• Five players — the bonus starts after 5: you hold only 10 cards. Bid 5 and made it? No bonus, your result is 50. Bid 6? 60 + 10 = 70. Bid 9? Nine minus five is four, so your result is 90 + 40 = 130.
• Six players — the bonus starts after 4: you hold only 8 cards, so four tricks alone is an achievement. Bid 4 and made it? No bonus, your result is 40. Bid 5? 50 + 10 = 60. Bid 8 — every trick in the round — and made it? Eight minus four is four, so your result is 80 + 40 = 120.

Both bonuses are only given when the contract is made. Someone who bid 7 and took 6 loses 70, with no bonus.

The end of the match

After each round is scored, whoever has reached 400 wins. If two reach it in the same round, the one with more points is the winner. And if they are tied at the top, there is no winner yet: another round is played and scored again until one stands alone.

The turn timer

The table owner can switch on a turn timer before the match starts; it is off by default. If it is on and your time runs out:

• The game plays for you: a bid that suits your hand if you are bidding, or the weakest card you are allowed to play if you are in a trick.
• And your counter goes up by one sandbag, which is announced to the table the moment it happens.

It is a light penalty the first time and a heavy one the tenth — and that is exactly the idea.

Controls and shortcuts

The iPhone gesture is always the Android gesture with three fingers instead of two.

The played-cards key helps you even when the table is empty: if you press it before anyone has played, it tells you whether spades are broken or not — exactly what you need to know when you are about to lead a trick.

Notes

• Your bid is typed as a number: there is a card in your hand called Bid; tap it and a window opens where you type your number. Nil has its own card right next to it, so you never need to type a zero.
• Your hand is always sorted: hearts, then spades, then diamonds, then clubs, and within each suit from weakest to strongest. The order never changes, so you get used to it quickly and find your card without searching.
• A rejected card does not cost you your turn: if you tap a card you are not allowed to play, you hear a rejection sound, your turn stays as it was, and nothing in your hand changes. So try freely.
• Spades have their own sound: every spade played — whether trumping or leading — has a sound different from the other cards. When you hear it, you know the trick has gone to trump.
• Finished tricks cannot be reviewed: you can ask about the trick that is open now, but a finished one has been gathered up and put away, just as at a real table. How many tricks each player has taken, though, is always kept for you in the round status.