Spades

You and your partner North bid how many tricks you will take, then try to make it against West and East. Spades are always trump.

How to Play Spades

Spades is a trick-taking card game for four players in two partnerships. Each player bids how many tricks they expect to win, and each team then tries to make the total of its two bids.

Partners and Seats

You sit South, at the bottom of the screen, with your computer partner North across from you. West and East, also computer players, are partners on the other team. Play goes clockwise: you, then West, North and East.

The Deal

One 52-card deck is dealt out, 13 cards each. Aces are high, and spades are always trump. The deal moves one seat to the left each hand, and the player on the dealer's left bids first and leads the first trick. In the first hand, that is you.

Bidding

Bidding goes once around the table. On your turn, tap a number from 1 to 13 for the tricks you expect to win. Your team's contract is your bid plus your partner's: if you bid 3 and North bids 4, you need 7 tricks between you, whoever takes them.

Bidding Nil

Tapping Nil instead means you expect to take no tricks at all. Nil is a separate 100-point bet and adds nothing to the contract: if you bid Nil and North bids 5, your contract is 5. The computer players never bid Nil.

Playing Tricks

The leader plays a card, and each player in turn adds one. You must follow the suit led if you can. If you can't, you may play any card. Playing a spade on another suit is called trumping.

When Spades Are Broken

You may not lead a spade until spades are broken, meaning a spade has been played on an earlier trick. The one exception: if you hold only spades, you may lead one.

Winning Tricks

The highest spade in a trick wins it. If no spade was played, the highest card of the suit led wins. Say East leads the King of hearts and you have no hearts: your 2 of spades takes the trick unless West or North plays a higher spade. The winner of each trick leads the next.

How Spades Scoring Works

Each team is scored after every hand.

• Making the contract: 10 points per trick bid, plus 1 point for each extra trick. Extra tricks are called bags, short for sandbags.
• Missing it: the team is set and loses 10 points per trick bid.
• Nil: plus 100 if the Nil bidder takes no tricks, minus 100 if they take any. Their tricks still count toward the team's contract and bags.
• The bag penalty: bags carry over from hand to hand. Each time a team's total reaches 10, it loses 100 points and those 10 bags are removed.

Winning the Game

The game ends after any hand in which a team has 500 points or more. The higher score wins, and if the scores are tied, another hand is played.

Spades Strategy Tips

1. Bid by counting sure tricks. In hearts, diamonds and clubs, count each Ace as a trick and an Ace-King as two. Count a King with one or two low cards of its suit as half a trick, and ignore Queens. A long suit is risky: with six clubs, your King may be trumped.
2. Then count your spades. The Ace is a sure trick, and the King nearly so with another spade to protect it. Add about one trick for each spade past your third, and half a trick for a void or single card in a side suit, which you can trump. With the Ace and King of hearts and four small spades, count about three tricks.
3. Add up the bids before yours. There are only 13 tricks, so if the other three players have bid 10, a bid of 4 from you means at least one team must fall short. If they have bid 7, the spare tricks will likely become bags.
4. Bid Nil only with the right hand. Look for no Aces or Kings, no spade above about the 9, three spades at most, and plenty of 2s, 3s and 4s. Then, whenever a higher card is already winning the trick, play your highest card that still loses, such as the Queen of clubs under the King.
5. Protect a partner's Nil. When your partner bids Nil (the computer players here never do), your job is to take the tricks they might get stuck with. Play high ahead of them so they can play under you, overtake any trick they are winning, and lead suits they are out of so they can throw away risky cards.
6. Treat bags as a real cost. A bag is worth 1 point now, but every 10 cost 100, so in the long run each costs about 9 points. Once your contract is made, play low and let the other team take the rest, unless you can still set them. But never overbid to dodge bags: missing a bid of 6 costs 60.
7. Lead your Aces early. A side-suit Ace usually wins on the first or second round; by the third, someone may trump it. Lead suits North is out of, so North can trump them, and avoid suits West or East is out of. Once spades are broken, leading your top spades pulls out everyone else's.
8. Trump with a purpose. Don't trump your partner's winner: if North's Ace is on top, throw away a low card from your shortest side suit instead. When you play last, use the lowest spade that wins. With players still to come, a low spade can be overtrumped, so go higher if you need the trick.
9. Track spades and voids. Count the 13 spades as they fall, and note who fails to follow suit, since that player can trump the suit next time. Once the Ace and King of spades are gone, your Queen of spades is a sure winner.

Playing Spades on Solitaire Parlor

You can play Spades online here for free in any modern browser, with no sign-up and nothing to download.

• Tap or click Nil or a number to bid, then a card to play. Cards you can't legally play are dimmed, and tapping one explains why.
• Each seat shows that player's bid and tricks won. Both teams' scores are above the table, and a score sheet after each hand shows points and bags.
• Hint suggests a bid, or highlights the card the computer would play for you.
• Restart replays the same deal from the first hand.
• New Game starts a new numbered deal. Add ?deal= and the number to the page address to share it.
• Daily Deal gives everyone the same game each day.
• Stats shows games played and won, win rate, best final score and win streaks.
• Settings changes the table color and card backs, turns on four-color suits, and switches sounds on or off.

There is no Undo in Spades. Your game and stats save automatically in your own browser.

A Short History of Spades

Spades belongs to the Whist family of trick-taking games, which also includes Bridge. It is an American game from the 20th century. Some versions of Windows included an online version, Internet Spades, alongside Hearts and Klondike Solitaire.

House rules vary: some tables add jokers as the highest trumps, allow a Blind Nil bid made before looking at your cards, or play without partners. This game uses the standard partnership rules above.

Spades FAQ

How many points do you need to win at Spades?

In this game, 500. If both teams pass 500 in the same hand, the higher score wins, and a tie means another hand.

Can you lead spades at any time?

No. Spades can't be led until one has been played on an earlier trick, unless the leader holds nothing but spades.

What happens if I bid Nil and win a trick?

Your team loses 100 points. The trick still counts toward the team's contract, so it can help North make the bid, or become a bag.

What are bags in Spades?

They are the tricks a team takes beyond its contract. Each is worth 1 point, but every 10 bags cost the team 100 points.

Does my partner ever bid Nil?

No. All three computer players always bid at least 1, so only you can bid Nil.