Bidding
Before play, every player bids how many tricks they'll take, 0-13. A team's bids combine into a target. A bold player may bid nil — a promise to win zero tricks — for a huge bonus or penalty.
Spades is a trick-taking partnership game for four players in fixed teams — you and North against East and West. Spades are always trump, and the whole game hinges on bidding your hand accurately.
Before play, every player bids how many tricks they'll take, 0-13. A team's bids combine into a target. A bold player may bid nil — a promise to win zero tricks — for a huge bonus or penalty.
You must follow the suit led if you can. Spades can't be led until they're "broken" (played on another suit) unless that's all you have. Highest spade in the trick wins; otherwise the highest card of the suit led wins.
Make your bid and score 10 points per trick bid, plus 1 per extra trick (a bag). Fall short and lose 10 points per trick bid instead. A made nil scores +100, a failed nil costs -100.
Ten accumulated bags cost your team a 100-point penalty, so overtricks aren't free. The first team to 500 points wins the game.
After the deal each player sorts their thirteen cards and, starting left of the dealer, bids the number of tricks they expect to win. Partners add their bids together to form the team contract. Count your sure tricks first: an ace of spades is one, a king of spades with one other spade is usually one, and an off-suit ace is one if you have fewer than six cards in that suit. Count likely tricks next: a void or a singleton in a side suit lets you trump in, so a short suit plus three or more spades is often worth one more trick. Experienced players bid slightly under rather than over, because missing your contract costs ten points per trick bid, while one extra trick only earns a single bag.
Every trick a team wins above its contract is an overtrick, or bag, worth one point. Bags look harmless until a team collects ten — then 100 points are deducted and the count resets. That penalty is why winning extra tricks is not always good: a team that is comfortably ahead may deliberately lose tricks late in the hand, and a team that is behind may try to force bags onto the leaders. Track bags in a separate column. When a team sits on seven or eight bags, they should bid more aggressively so their tricks count toward the contract instead of the penalty.
A player who bids nil promises to win no tricks at all. Success scores 100 for the team, failure costs 100, and the partner's bid is scored separately. Nil works best with low cards in every suit and no high spades; a single unprotected ace or king usually means nil fails. The partner of a nil bidder should play high to cover the nil player, winning tricks that would otherwise fall to them. Blind nil — bidding nil before looking at the cards — scores 200 and costs 200, and most tables only allow it when a team is behind by 100 or more.
Spades are always trump, but nobody may lead a spade until spades have been broken, meaning a spade has been played on an earlier trick because that player could not follow suit. The exception is a player holding only spades. You must follow the suit led if you can. If you cannot, you may trump with a spade or discard any other card. Some house rules let the player with the two of clubs lead it to the first trick; others let the player left of the dealer lead anything except a spade.
Talk through your play, not across the table. Leading a short suit tells your partner you want to trump it later. Playing a high card in second seat when your partner has bid low protects their contract. Count the spades: thirteen exist, and once you know how many are gone you know when your low spades become winners. Late in a hand, count tricks against both contracts — sometimes the right play is to throw a winner away so the opponents are forced into bags.
Your team bids 4 and 3 for a contract of 7 and takes 8 tricks: you score 70 plus 1 bag, so 71. The opponents bid 5 and take 5: they score 50. If you then bid 6 and take only 5, you lose 60. If your partner bids nil and takes no tricks while you bid 4 and take 5, the team scores 100 + 40 + 1 bag = 141. Our free Spades scorekeeper tracks bids, nils and bags for you hand by hand.
Make your team's combined bid and score 10 points per trick bid. Miss it by even one trick and you lose 10 points per trick bid. Each trick above the bid is a bag worth 1 point, but every tenth bag costs 100 points and resets the counter. A made nil is worth 100, a broken nil costs 100, and blind nil doubles both to 200.
Blind nil is usually only allowed when a team is behind by 100 or more. Some groups play 'must break spades' before spades can be led, others allow a spade lead at any time. Mirror or blind bidding rounds, ten-for-two bidding and a 'double nil' bonus when both partners go nil all show up in house games.
A bid of zero that is not declared nil simply scores as a zero contract with every trick becoming a bag. If a nil bidder's partner covers a trick, the nil is still broken — only the nil bidder's own tricks matter. Reneging (failing to follow suit when you could) usually costs the offending team three tricks.
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