Spades, the partnership card game
Spades is the trick-taking game where spades are always trump and every player says, before the first card, how many tricks they will take. You sit across from your partner, North, and play against West and East, all three played by the computer. Your side scores when the two of you take at least the tricks you bid, and the first team to 500 points wins. It is a favourite of college dorms, kitchen tables and lunch breaks across America, here with large, clear cards that read well on a tablet or a phone. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing to install, and your game is saved in this browser if you need to stop halfway.
How to play
All 52 cards are dealt, 13 to each player. The full rules, with pictures and tips.
- Bidding. Starting on the dealer’s left, each player bids the number of tricks they expect to take. Your bid and your partner’s are added together: that is your side’s contract. Bidding nil means you will take no tricks at all.
- Playing. The player on the dealer’s left leads. Everyone must follow the suit led if they can; if not, they may play any card, including a spade.
- Spades are trump. The highest spade wins the trick, or if no spade was played, the highest card of the suit led. Aces are high. Spades may not be led until one has been played on another suit.
- Scoring. Make your contract and score 10 points for each trick bid, plus 1 for each extra trick. Fall short and lose 10 for each trick bid. A nil is worth 100 if it holds and costs 100 if it fails.
- Bags. Extra tricks are called bags. Every tenth bag your side collects costs 100 points, so bidding too low has a price too.
Controls
When it is your turn to bid, use − and + to choose a number of tricks and press Bid, or press Bid nil. During play, tap or click a card to play it. Cards you are not allowed to play are shaded, and if you tap one anyway, the game tells you why. With a keyboard, Tab and the arrow keys move between your cards and Enter plays one. H asks for a hint, U takes back your last card and N starts a new game.
Hint suggests a bid or a card with one plain sentence that says why: which cards should win tricks, when to let your partner take the trick, how to keep a nil safe. Undo takes back your last card within the hand. The score sheet under the table keeps every hand.
A fair computer partner and fair opponents
North, West and East see only their own cards, the bids and the cards already played, just as you do. They bid by counting their high cards and spades, bid nil only with a hand of low cards, cover a partner’s nil, and stop taking tricks once both sides have made their bids, so bags do not pile up. Your partner plays the same way for you.
For the full rules, scoring and the tips that win more games, read how to play Spades. Like partnership games? Try Euchre, or Hearts, every player for themselves.