Spades Card Game Rules

  
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Spades is a trick-taking card game devised in the United States in the 1930s and became popular in the 1940s. It is a partnership card game that, like Bridge, is descended from the old English game of Whist. In general, the goal of each Hand of Spades is to predict or Bid on how many Tricks you will take during that hand.

A game can take up to an hour depending on the aggressiveness of the players and the speed of play. Fans of bidding card games such as Bridge or Rook will see similarities in the rules for spades as the opening part of the game requires players to take guesses about how many tricks (or. The most popular way to keep score in the game of Spades involves bidding. However, traditional home games can keep a running score based solely on the number of books won by a single team. This method requires more luck based on your dealt cards rather than the skill involved between each player.

Basic Rules

Spades is a trick-based card game for 4 players. Players sitting across from each other are partners on the same team. The object of this game is to be the first team to reach 300 or 500 points.

The layout

Each player is dealt a hand of 13 cards from a 52 card deck. The hand is sorted by suit, then rank: Clubs, Diamonds, Spades, Hearts. Cards that are out of play are darkened.

Bidding

Starting with the dealer, each player in turn bids the number of tricks she expects to win. Possible bids are from Nil to thirteen. The sum of partnership bids are called the contract. If a player bids Nil, (meaning they expect to win no tricks), then they may, depending on the rule settings, be allowed to exchange up to four cards with their partner once everyone else has bid.

How to play Spades

The game begins with all cards being dealt. Each player plays one card and together they are called a trick. To start you must estimate how many tricks you think you can take with your hand. Your bid and your partners are then added together and this is the number of tricks your team must take. Play begins with the player to the dealer's left leading a card. The highest card in that suit wins the trick. Now for the tricky part and the reason the game is calls Spades. If you are out of the lead suit, you can play any card you like. If you play a Spade and no one else does, you win the trick. So Spades are trump cards. In this case the highest Spade wins.

The game does not allow ties for first place. In the case of a tie for first, the game will continue until there is a clear winner. This is true of both games ending at a point value and timed games.

Scoring

Tricks count ten points each for a partnership if the contract is made, and ten against if it is set. Bags, or tricks won in excess of the contract, count as one point each. This isn't a bad thing per se, but if you gather 10 bags you will deducted 100 points. Not all Spades games use bags, but ours does. You can opt to bid nothing which (Nil bid), if successful, will reap your team extra 100 points. -100 if you fail. For Blind Nil, these values are doubles (200 points).

About this Spades game

When playing Spades it is important to always remember your partner. By paying close attention to what cards fall early in the game you can play to your partner’s strength and they can play to yours. At its best, both you and your partner’s hands will be stronger than they ever could be individually and this strength is both satisfying to grasp and the secret to success in the game of Spades.

You can play classic Spades online on our website. And it's free! No download, no login required, simple gameplay! Also this free online game is available in mobile browser across all your Android, iOS and Windows devices. Good luck and have a good time!

OBJECTIVE: The object of the game is to be the first to get rid of all the player’s cards to a discard pile.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2-7 players

NUMBER OF CARDS: 52 deck cards for 5 or less players and 104 cards for more than 5 players

RANK OF CARDS: 8 (50 points); K, Q, J (court cards 10 points); A (1 point); 10, 9, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2

TYPE OF GAME: Shedding-type

AUDIENCE: Family

Spades Card Game Rules

Introduction:

Spades was first introduced in America in the 1930s and has maintained its popularity throughout the decades. Spades remained popular, only in America, for many decades until the 1990s when the game began to gain international fame and appreciation via the help of online spades play and tournaments. The game is traditionally played with four players, but there are other versions of the game for three, two, and six players.

Traditional Spades Four Players

The Setup:

Players that are partnered together should sit across from one another. A standard pack of 52 cards is required and play will rotate clockwise.
Spades Card Game Rules

Spades Card Game Rules Hoyle

How to Deal:

Choose a dealer at random and the deal will rotate clockwise from there after. The dealer deals towards the left until all cards are dispersed and each player has 13 cards in hand.

How to Bid:

Once players have received their cards they are required to make a bid. The objective is to gauge how many hands you think you can win. Winning a hand is called taking a trick. Partners must decide how many tricks they can take together and that is their bid. Partners are then required to match or exceed their bid to obtain a positive score. There is only one round of bidding and each person must bid. In leisure play, partners can discuss amongst themselves how many tricks they believe they can take before settling on their official bid, however, they cannot show each other their hands. There are only 13 total tricks that can be made within one game.

Spades Card Game Rules 2 Players

Nil – When a player bids nil they are stating that they will not win any tricks. There is a bonus for this kind of play if successful and a penalty if unsuccessful. The partner of the player that bids nil is not required to bid nil.
Blind Nil – A player can decide to bid nil before ever looking at their cards. This action is called a blind nil and if successfully played comes with significant bonus points. After everyone has bid, the player that bid the blind nil can exchange two cards face down with their partner before game play begins. A commonly accepted rule of thumb is that a blind nil cannot be bid unless a team is losing by 100 points or more.

How to Play:

Before the game begins players set the points needed to win. For example, a score of 500 points is common for a game but you can set whatever goal you like. The player to the left of the dealer goes first. Other players must follow the suit of the first card if they can. If a player is unable to follow suit they can play a trump card (aka a Spade) or they can play any other card of their choosing. Spades cannot lead until they have been introduced to the board as a trump card. The player that played the highest card of the suit played wins the trick, unless the suit was trumped by a spade or joker. The player that won the trick throws out the first card of the next round. The objective is to win as many tricks as you bid. The play will continue until all cards have been played.

How to Score:

Players earn 10pts for every trick bid and 1pt for every trick over that bid. For example, if a team bids 7 tricks and wins 8 they will get a total of 71pts.
When a team wins more tricks than what they bid, as in the example above, the extra trick won is called an overtrick or a bag. Common play states that if a team reached 10 bags they must deduct 100pts from their score. This makes the game more interesting by motivating the players to win the exact number of tricks that they’ve bid.
If a team is unable to meet their bid at the end of a round, they receive 0pts. For example, if a team bids five books but only gets four, then they get no points and instead receive -10 points for every book they bid.

Can You Play Spades With Two People

If a player is successful in their bid of nil their team will receive 100pts. If the nil bid fails then the trick won by the nil bidder counts as a bag for the team and does not count towards the partners’ bid.

Hoyle Card Games Spades Rules

A blind nil receives 200pts if successful and a deduction of 200pts if unsuccessful.

Spades Card Game Rules Of Play

Whichever team reaches the total number of determined winning points first, wins!