Spades glossary: A complete reference of Spades terminology, from basic terms every beginner should know to advanced vocabulary used by competitive players.

A

Ace-high — A suit ranking where the Ace is the highest card, followed by King, Queen, Jack, 10, down to 2.

B

Bags — Overtricks; tricks won above your team’s combined bid. Each bag adds 1 point but accumulating 10 bags triggers a −100 point penalty.

Bid — The number of tricks a player promises to win in a round. Each player bids individually; partners’ bids are combined.

Blind Nil — A Nil bid made before looking at your cards. Worth +200 if successful, −200 if failed. Extremely risky.

Board — Slang for a completed game, or the number of tricks bid and taken by all players.

Book — A completed trick of 4 cards. Sometimes used to refer to the minimum number of tricks your team needs.

Breaking Spades — The first time a spade is played in a round. After this, spades can be led.

Bust — See “Set.” Failing to make your team’s combined bid.

C

Contract — The combined bid of both partners. Also called the team’s “book” or “commitment.”

Cover — To play a higher card than what’s been played, winning the trick. Also: protecting your Nil-bidding partner by playing high cards.

Cut — To trump (play a spade) when you can’t follow the led suit.

D

Deal — The distribution of all 52 cards to 4 players (13 each). Also the person who distributes.

Defender — The team trying to prevent the other team from making their contract.

Duck — To play a low card to intentionally lose a trick.

F

Follow suit — Playing a card of the same suit that was led. Required if you hold a card of that suit.

G

Game point — The target score to win (usually 500 points).

Go set — To fail to make your team’s contract. See “Set.”

H

Hand — The 13 cards dealt to a player in a round. Also used to refer to an entire round of play.

High-low — A signaling technique where you play a high card followed by a low card (or vice versa) to communicate with your partner.

L

Lead — The first card played in a trick. The lead player chooses which suit to play.

Long suit — A suit in which you hold 4 or more cards.

M

Make — To successfully fulfill your team’s contract by winning enough tricks.

N

Nil — A bid of zero tricks. Worth +100 if successful, −100 if you take any tricks.

O

Overbid — Bidding more tricks than your hand can reasonably win. Risky — failure means losing bid × 10.

Overtrick — A trick won above your team’s bid. Also called a “bag.”

P

Partner — The player seated across from you. You share a score and combine bids.

Pass — In some Spades variants, exchanging cards with your partner (especially during Blind Nil).

R

Renege — Failing to follow suit when you have a card of that suit. This is an illegal play and typically results in a penalty.

Round — A complete sequence: deal → bid → play 13 tricks → score.

Ruff — To play a spade (trump) on a non-spade trick because you’re void in the led suit.

S

Sandbag — Intentionally winning extra tricks (bags), often to disrupt opponents. Also refers to the bags themselves.

Set — When a team fails to make their contract. Penalty: bid × −10 points. Also used as a verb: “We set them.”

Short suit — A suit in which you hold 0-2 cards. Creates opportunities to trump.

Sluff — To discard a card of a different suit when you can’t follow suit and choose not to trump.

Spade (the suit) — The trump suit in Spades. Any spade beats any card of another suit.

T

Trick — One round of play where each player plays one card. The highest card (considering trump) wins.

Trump — A spade card played on a non-spade trick. Beats all non-trump cards.

U

Underbid — Bidding fewer tricks than your hand will likely win. Results in bags.

V

Void — Having zero cards in a suit. Being void allows you to trump or sluff on that suit’s tricks.

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