SPADES RULES

Hey there! Did you know that spades is a card game that was born in the Mid-West? It made its way to America back in the 1930s and has been loved by many ever since. While it was primarily played in the US for a long time, it gained worldwide recognition in the 1990s, thanks to online spades play and tournaments. Normally, spades is played by four people, but there are versions for three, two, and even six players. In this article, I’ll walk you through all the setup and gameplay rules of spades, as well as some variations of the game.

Oh, and if you’re a fan of trick-taking games, you should definitely give Bridge a try too!

SETUP OF SPADES

In the game of Spades, you can play by yourself or with a team. If you’re playing with a partner, you’ll sit across from them. To play, you’ll need a standard deck of 52 cards. After the first player takes their turn, the play will rotate clockwise for each turn.

DEALING

To begin, you should randomly decide who will be the first dealer. From the second round onward, you’ll take turns going counterclockwise around the table. The dealer will start dealing cards to their left, making sure each player gets 13 cards.

HOW TO PLAY SPADES

Before you start playing, it’s a good idea to agree as a group on a target score for the end of the game. Typically, a score of 500 points is used, but you can set your own goal.

HOW TO BID

When you get your hand in this game, your first task is to place a bid. The game’s objective is to predict and evaluate the number of hands you believe you can win. It’s called the “trick” when you successfully win a hand. Now, here’s the catch: you and your partner need to work out how many tricks you can win together. That number is your bid. But here’s the twist: you’re not allowed to show each other your cards. You can only rely on your confidence level and state your bid. Your bid must be a number between 0 and 13. Once all players have made their bids, the team totals them up, with a maximum target bid of 13.

When it’s time to play, partners have to make a bid and try to surpass it. You only get one chance to bid, so make it count. In friendly games, partners can talk about how many tricks they think they can win before making their official bid. But remember, you can’t show each other your cards. In one game, there are only 13 tricks that can be won. If there are two players, each player has to make their own bid.

NIL

If you bid nil, you’re saying you won’t win any tricks at all. You can earn a bonus if you’re successful, but there’s a penalty if you fail. The player’s partner doesn’t have to bid nil if they don’t want to.

BLIND NIL

Did you know that you have the option to bid nil before even seeing your cards? It’s called a blind nil, and if you play it successfully, you can earn some impressive bonus points. Once everyone has placed their bids, you and your partner can exchange two cards face down before the game starts. However, there’s a general rule that you can only bid a blind nil if your team is losing by 100 points or more.

HOW TO PLAY

When playing this card game, the person sitting on the left side of the dealer starts. Everyone else needs to play a card of the same suit as the first one, if they have one. If they don’t have a card of the same suit, they can choose to play a trump card (which is a Spade), or any other card they want. Once you bring spades into the game as a trump suit, you can play spades at any time. The person who plays the highest card of the suit wins that round, unless someone else trumps the suit with a spade or a Joker card (which will be explained later). When you win a round, you start the next one. The goal is to win the number of rounds that you predicted you would win. You keep playing until all of the cards have been played.

SANDBAGGING

Sandbagging is when you win too many tricks over your bid and receive a penalty. Each trick over your bid is called a bag. If you accumulate 10 bags or more, it becomes a sandbag and you lose 100 points.

SCORING

You earn 10 points for each trick you successfully bid and 1 point for each trick over your bid, which is called a bag. For example, if you bid seven tricks and win eight, you will earn 71 points.

When you win more tricks than you bid, like in the example above, the extra trick is called an overtrick or a bag. The standard spades rules state that if you reach ten bags, or sandbag, you must deduct 100 points from your score. This rule adds excitement to the game by encouraging you to win the exact number of tricks you bid.

If you can’t meet your bid at the end of a round, you’ll get 0 points. Let’s say you bid five tricks but only get four, you won’t get any points, and you’ll lose 10 points for each trick you bid.

If you manage to make a successful nil bid, your team will score 100 points. But if the nil bid fails, the trick won by the nil bidder will count as a bag for the team and won’t count towards the partners’ bid.

A blind nil bid will earn your team 200 points if it’s successful, but you’ll lose 200 points if it’s unsuccessful.

END OF GAME

The game of spades is won by the team that reaches the pre-determined score first!

If you enjoy playing spades, you should give Hearts a try!

VARIATIONS

SPADES FOR TWO PLAYERS

When you play two-player spades, you’ll notice a few differences compared to the standard spades rules.

Getting Started

So, here’s the deal. In 2-player spades, things are a little different. We won’t be doing the usual dealing. Instead, we’ll take turns building our hands before we place our bids. One of us will shuffle the cards and create a draw pile in the center. The non-dealer player gets the first draw. And don’t worry, we’ll each get a chance to be the dealer.

Placing Bids

Once we both have 13 cards in hand, it’s time to place our bids. We’ll follow the standard rules and we can even go for nil bids or blind nil bids. But here’s where it gets interesting – there’s a bid called “Shoot for the Moon”! Yep, you gotta try to win all 13 tricks. Talk about aiming high!

Playing the Game and Keeping Score

Okay, now that we have our bids in, let’s start playing. We’ll take turns playing our cards, trying our best to win as many tricks as possible. And of course, we’ll keep score. The points earned will depend on the bids we placed and the number of tricks won. So, let’s get started and see who’s the ultimate spades champion!

So here’s the deal. Playing Shoot the Moon is a lot like playing regular spades. You use the same gameplay and scoring rules. And let me tell you, nailing a Shoot the Moon is a big win! You’ll get a whopping 250 points for pulling it off. But be warned, if you mess up and fail, every single trick you win after that will count against you. That’s what we call a bag.

WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

JOKERS, ANYONE?

If you want to spice things up a bit, you can add Jokers as trump cards to your game of spades. Just remember to take out the two diamond cards and the two club cards from the deck. Oh, and here’s a little tip for you: the black and white Joker usually ranks lower than the colorful one.

READY TO SEE YOURSELF IN THE MIRROR?

Now, if you really want to switch things up, try playing with the Mirror rule. This means your bid is based on how many spade cards you have in your hand. Let’s say you’ve got a solid hand with four spades. Well, guess what? You’ll need to make a bid of four tricks. It’s a cool twist that adds a whole new dimension to the game.

FACEUP

When we play Faceup, the dealer gives everyone the first four cards of their hands facing up. It’s like showing your hand to everyone, and it adds a new layer of strategy to the game.

BOSTON

In Boston, the bidding rules change a bit. You can try to win all 13 tricks by calling Boston. If you succeed, you’ll score 200 points or even win the whole game in some versions. But beware! If you lose, you’ll deduct 200 points from your score.

FAQ

Which Joker Is Bigger in Spades?

The Joker is the most powerful trump card. With its multiple colors, it ranks higher than any other card in the game.

How Many Cards Do You Start within Spades

At the beginning of the game, the dealer gives each player 13 cards for their hands. That’s a lot of cards to start with!