How to play Spades: card game rules & interactive tutorial

Spades is a 4-player "trick-taking" game. It's a strategic game where you're playing with a partner. The game is played by two teams of two people, with partners sitting across from each other.

Your team's objective is to bid a number of tricks, then win at least that many. The first team to reach 500 points wins! If you enjoy partnership bidding games, also try Bridge.

Spades can feel confusing at first and that's normal. The instructions below will get you up to speed on how to play Spades. If you're more of a "learning by doing" type of person, you can learn the rules of Spades by playing through our interactive tutorial above.

Once you've learned the rules, it's time to play Spades online. You can play directly at World of Card Games, either by yourself against bots or multiplayer with other people.

Let the Spades conquest begin!

Spades at a glance

A partnership game where good bidding counts for as much as good play.

Rank of cards

Cards are ranked from Ace (highest) to 2 (lowest).

Objective

The objective is to be the first team to reach 500 points.

Deal

A random player is chosen to be the dealer.

Each player is dealt a hand of 13 cards from a standard deck of 52 cards.

The player to the dealer's left goes first.

Bid

Starting with the start player and proceeding clockwise around the table, each player places a bid. They are bidding on how many "tricks" they think they can take. Players may bid from 0 (nil) to 13 tricks.

Each team adds together the bids of each partner. This is the number of tricks the team must take as a whole to avoid receiving negative points.

A bid of 0 tricks is known as a "nil" bid. This player is saying that they will not take any tricks this hand. If they succeed in not taking any tricks, their team scores a bonus. If they take 1 or more tricks, they fail and their team will receive a penalty.

Play

The start player begins the first trick by playing any card from their hand except a spade. The other players then each play a card in clockwise order until all 4 players have played a card. Whichever player played the highest card with the same suit as the lead card takes the cards. This is known as "winning a trick".

The trick winner starts the next trick.

Players must play a card with the same suit as the lead card. If they do not have a card with that suit, they may play any card (except on the first trick, in which you may not play spades). The first time a spade card is played is known as "breaking spades". From this point on, players can lead spades. If you have nothing but spades, you may lead one anyway, and that breaks spades.

Normally the highest card with the same suit as the lead card wins the trick. However, if a spade is played on the trick, then the highest spade card will win the trick instead. This is known as "trumping" and the spades are considered a "trump" suit.

TRAM

When you lead a trick and every card you hold is a sure winner, you will be presented with a TRAM button. This stands for "The rest are mine". Clicking it will give you all the remaining tricks.

This is just a way to make the game move along a bit quicker. For each card you hold, no other player may have a higher card of that suit. Also, either all your cards are spades or no other player has a spade left. For example, you hold the A, K, Q and J of Spades. TRAM is not offered on the first or the last trick. If you can only win every trick by playing your cards in the right order, for example by drawing out the last spades first, the button does not show, so play the tricks out.

Score

After each hand, scores are calculated for each team.

If a team takes at least as many tricks as they bid, they will gain 10 points per trick bid. Every trick taken beyond their bid is worth 1 point.

If a team does not take enough tricks to meet their bid, they will lose 10 points per trick bid. This is known as being "set". For example, if a team's combined bid is 5 and at the end of a hand, they only took 4 tricks between the two of them, then they will lose 50 points.

Additionally, for every trick taken beyond what the team bid, that team will earn a "bag". Over the course of the game, these bags accumulate. Every time a team accumulates 10 bags, that team will lose 100 points.

If a player bids "nil" and successfully does not take any tricks, then their team will gain 100 points.

If a player who bids "nil" fails and takes any tricks, then their team will lose 100 points.

Note that if a "nil" bidder fails and takes tricks, those tricks do not count towards the team goal. A "nil" bidder is on their own and so is their teammate in regard to making the bid. The failed "nil" bidder's tricks do still count as bags for their team, worth 1 point each.

Game end

The game ends when any team reaches 500 points or falls to -200 points. The team with the highest score wins! If both teams are at -200 or below when the game ends, the team with the higher score wins. If both teams have the same score when the game would end, another hand is played.

The rules in practice

Trumping is what makes Spades tick. Say hearts are led and you have no hearts. You may throw any card. If you throw a spade, the trick is yours unless someone plays a higher spade. That's also how spades get "broken". The first spade played this way opens the door for anyone to lead spades afterwards. The one other way to break spades is to lead one when you hold nothing but spades.

Bags sneak up on you. Winning tricks feels good, but every trick beyond your team's bid is a bag. The tenth bag costs 100 points. A team that bids 4 and takes 7 scores 43 points but banks three bags. Do that a few hands in a row and the penalty wipes out a whole hand's work.

A nil changes both players' jobs. The nil bidder spends the hand ducking under everything. Their partner covers for them by leading high cards the nil bidder can hide beneath. If the nil breaks, the team loses 100 points and the nil bidder's tricks don't even count toward the team bid, so the partner is suddenly making the whole bid alone.

Strategy basics

Here are a few habits to build from your first game. When you're ready for more, our strategy guides on bidding and covering your partner go much deeper, with hands from real games on this site.

• Bid what you can prove. High spades are certain tricks, side-suit Aces usually hold, everything else is hope.
• Add up all four bids. Over 13 means someone gets set, so plan for it to be the other team.
• Never take a trick your partner is already winning.
• Protect a nil partner with your high cards and don't bid nil into their nil.
• Track the bags on both sides. Sometimes the right play is refusing a trick.

History

Spades were invented in the USA in the 1930s and became quite popular in the 1940s. Spades is a member of the Whist family of card games.

Frequently asked questions

Who bids first in Spades?

The player to the dealer's left bids first and bidding continues clockwise. That same player also leads the first trick.

Can I lead spades on the first trick?

No. Spades can't be led until they've been broken, which happens the first time someone plays a spade, usually on a trick they couldn't follow. The one exception is a hand of nothing but spades: then you may lead one, and that breaks spades. On the first trick you can't even discard a spade.

What happens when a nil bid fails?

The team loses 100 points and the tricks the nil bidder took don't count toward the team bid. The partner has to make the whole team bid on their own.

Do both partners have to make their own bids?

No. Except for nil bids, the two bids merge into one team total. It doesn't matter which partner takes which tricks as long as the team total is met.

What does the TRAM button mean?

"The rest are mine." It appears when you lead a trick and every card you hold is a sure winner, for example the highest spades that are left. It isn't offered on the first or the last trick. Clicking it ends the hand right away by giving those tricks to you.

Helpful links

Pagat.com Spades page