Spades

How to play Spades

Four players in two teams; your partner sits across from you. A standard 52-card pack is dealt, 13 cards each. There is no passing of cards in this game (passing is a house variation; Hearts is the game that passes). Spades are always trump. First team to 500 wins (or pick 300 or 750). If both teams reach 500 on the same hand, the higher score wins. A side that reaches −200 or lower loses.

Bidding

• Left of the dealer bids first, then around, one round. Each player bids from 0 to 13. A bid of 0 is Nil: you will take no tricks. Everyone must bid — you cannot pass, and bids do not have to go higher than the last one.
• There is no Blind Nil in this game. A team’s contract is the sum of the two non-Nil bids. If you bid 3 and your partner bids 4, your team needs 7 tricks.

Playing

• After everyone has bid, the player to the left of the dealer leads. They may lead any card except a spade (unless their hand is all spades). The 2 of clubs is not required to lead — that is Hearts, not Spades.
• Follow suit if you can. The highest trump (spade) wins, otherwise the highest card of the suit led. The winner leads to the next trick.
• You may not lead a spade until spades have been broken (someone has played a spade on another suit, usually because they could not follow), unless your hand is all spades.

Scoring

• If a team makes its contract, it scores 10 times the bid, plus 1 point for each overtrick (a bag). If it falls short, it is SET and loses 10 times the bid.
• Nil: +100 if that player takes no tricks, −100 if they take any. A failed Nil’s tricks count only as bags for the team, not toward the partner’s contract.
• Every 10 bags costs that team 100 points, and those 10 bags come off their bag count.

During the hand

The score board in the corner shows each team’s Bid, Tricks, Need, Bags and Score. Need starts as “Need 3 more” (the contract minus tricks taken), turns green as “Made it!”, and extra tricks show as bags. A badge marks that spades are trump. When it is your turn to bid, a suggested bid is marked on the 0 (Nil)–13 buttons — you can still pick any bid. When it is your turn to play, legal cards lift; tap What should I play? and the suggested card glows gold, with a short reason. Tap Last trick to see only the most recent completed trick. At the end of the hand, the score screen reminds everyone of the bids and whether each team MADE or was SET, then shows this hand’s points and the running totals.

Where these rules come from

This table follows the standard partnership game on John McLeod’s Pagat Spades page, which is what most online rooms use. Bicycle’s printed rules agree on the lead (left of the dealer, not the 2 of clubs) and on breaking spades. They differ on two scoring points: Bicycle has a minimum bid of one (no Nil) and scores a missed bid as 0 rather than −10 times the bid. We follow Pagat for those, including Nil at 100 and a set at −10 times the bid, and we play to 500 with a 10-bag penalty of 100, as is usual.

Robots and friends

Tommy Bot, Pinky Bot and DJ Shuffle play from skill 1 (beginner) to 100 (near perfect). You can set your robot partner’s skill separately from the opponents. Tap Invite friends to play by link or 6-letter code; robots fill any empty seats. Each person shows their own name and look.

In an invite room, every bid, play and trick appears on everyone’s screen automatically (a finished trick stays up about a second and a half). There is no Next button with real players. In solo vs robots, Pause after each robot move (Next button) is off by default — robots play at a readable pace. Turn it on in Settings if you want to step through. The setting is saved on this device and is the same for Spades, Hearts, Euchre and Pinochle. If you leave mid-game, you can rejoin your seat with the same invite.