How to Play Spades — A Complete Guide for Beginners

Overview

Spades is a trick-taking card game for 4 players in 2 partnerships. Partners sit across from each other. The game uses a standard 52-card deck, and spades are always trump (meaning any spade card beats any card of another suit).

Before each round, players bid how many tricks they expect to win. The goal is to win at least as many tricks as your team bid.

What You Need

• A standard 52-card deck (no jokers)
• 4 players
• Something to keep score

Setup

1. Partnerships: Two teams of two. Partners sit across from each other.
2. Dealing: Deal all 52 cards, one at a time. Each player gets 13 cards.
3. Card ranking: Within each suit: A (high), K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 (low).

Bidding

Before playing, each player looks at their hand and bids a number from 0 to 13, representing how many tricks they think they’ll win.

Rules

• Start with the player to the dealer’s left; bidding goes clockwise
• Each player bids individually — partners cannot discuss their hands
• Partners’ bids are added together to form the team’s contract
• You must bid at least 1 (except for a Nil bid — see below)

Example

• You bid 4, your partner bids 3 → your team’s contract is 7 tricks
• Your opponents bid 3 and 4 → their contract is 7 tricks
• Total bids = 14 (note: there are only 13 tricks, so at least one team will fall short)

Nil Bid

A bid of 0 (called “Nil”) means you promise to take no tricks at all. This is risky but rewarding:

• Successful Nil: Your team scores 100 bonus points
• Failed Nil: Your team loses 100 points

Blind Nil

Some rule sets allow Blind Nil — bidding Nil before looking at your cards. Even riskier:

• Successful Blind Nil: +200 points
• Failed Blind Nil: −200 points

Playing Tricks

The player to the dealer’s left leads the first trick.

Leading

• The lead player plays any card except a spade (unless spades have been “broken” — see below)
• This card’s suit becomes the led suit for the trick

Following

Each player clockwise plays one card:

• You must follow suit if you can (play a card of the led suit)
• If you can’t follow suit, you may play any card, including a spade (this is called “trumping”)
• You are never forced to play a spade — if you can’t follow suit, you can play any suit

Winning the Trick

• If no spades were played, the highest card of the led suit wins
• If one or more spades were played, the highest spade wins (regardless of other cards)

The trick winner collects the 4 cards face-down and leads the next trick.

Breaking Spades

Spades cannot be led until they have been “broken.” Spades are broken when:

• A player plays a spade because they can’t follow the led suit
• OR a player has only spades remaining in their hand

Once spades are broken, they can be led freely.

Scoring

Making Your Contract

If your team takes at least as many tricks as your combined bid:

• Base score: Bid × 10 points
• Overtricks (bags): +1 point each for tricks above your bid

Example: You bid 7, you take 9 tricks → 70 + 2 = 72 points

Failing Your Contract

If your team takes fewer tricks than your combined bid:

• Penalty: Bid × −10 points
• You lose 10 points for each trick you bid

Example: You bid 7, you take 5 tricks → −70 points

Bags (Overtricks Penalty)

Overtricks (called “bags”) accumulate across rounds. When a team accumulates 10 bags, they receive a −100 point penalty and the bag count resets to 0.

This prevents teams from massively overbidding for safety.

Nil Scoring

• Nil made: +100 (partner’s bid is scored separately)
• Nil failed: −100 (partner’s bid is still scored separately)
• Blind Nil made: +200
• Blind Nil failed: −200

Winning the Game

The first team to reach 500 points wins. If both teams pass 500 in the same round, the team with the higher score wins.

Round Summary

1. Deal 13 cards to each player
2. Bid how many tricks you’ll take
3. Play 13 tricks
4. Score based on bids vs. tricks taken
5. Repeat until a team reaches 500

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