How to play Spades
Spades is a partnership trick-taking game. You and your partner (North) each bid how many tricks you’ll win, then try to make it. Spades always beat the other suits.
Bidding
- Each player gets 13 cards and bids how many tricks they expect to win. Your bid and your partner’s are added together as your team’s contract.
- A bid of Nil means you promise to win no tricks at all. It’s worth 100 points on its own if you succeed, and costs 100 if you don’t.
Playing
- The player to the dealer’s left leads first. You must follow suit if you can; if you can’t, you may play any card, including a spade.
- Spades are trumps: the highest spade wins the trick. Without spades, the highest card of the suit led wins.
- You can’t lead spades until a spade has been played on an earlier trick (“spades are broken”), unless you have only spades.
Scoring
| Result | Points |
|---|---|
| Make your contract | 10 × contract |
| Each trick over your contract (a “bag”) | +1 |
| Every 10 bags collected | −100 |
| Fall short of your contract (“set”) | −10 × contract |
| Nil made / missed | +100 / −100 |
The first team to 500 wins (you can choose a shorter game to 250 in the Menu).
How to play here
- When it’s your turn to bid, tap a number. The suggested bid is highlighted; tap Hint to see it.
- Tap a card to play it. Cards you can’t play right now are greyed out.
- Each player’s bid and tricks won are shown by their name.
Tips
- Count your sure tricks: Aces, protected Kings, and high spades. Extra spades win tricks when you run out of a suit.
- If your partner is already winning the trick, play low.
- Once your contract is made, avoid winning extra tricks: bags add up.
Questions
Is it free? Do I need an account?
Yes, it’s free with no sign-up. Your game is saved in this browser after every card.
Do the computer players cheat?
No. Each decides using only its own cards, the bids, and the cards played so far.