Spades score calculator
Keep a full Spades game straight without arguments. Enter each team's bid and tricks after every hand and the calculator handles contracts, bags, nil and the ten-bag penalty.
Play Spades onlineLoading the calculator…
Spades scoring rules
- Make your combined bid: 10 points per trick bid.
- Miss it: lose 10 points per trick bid, no matter how close you were.
- Each trick over the bid is a bag worth 1 point.
- Every 10 bags collected costs 100 points, and the bag counter resets.
- Nil made: +100. Nil broken: −100. Blind nil: +200 or −200.
Why bags matter
Bags look harmless — one point each — but ten of them wipe out 100 points, which is usually two good hands. Strong partnerships bid close to what they can actually take and sometimes deliberately lose late tricks to avoid collecting the tenth bag.
Common questions
- What score do you play to?
- 500 points is standard. Short games go to 250 or 300; a longer social game goes to 500 with the first team to cross the line winning.
- Does a made nil still count the partner's tricks?
- Yes. The nil bonus is separate. The partner still has to make their own bid with their own tricks, and tricks taken over that bid still become bags.
More free score tools
- Farkle score calculatorSet your dice and see exactly what the roll is worth, with a running score for two players.
- Cribbage hand counterPick four cards and the starter to count fifteens, pairs, runs, flush and nobs instantly.
- Gin Rummy deadwood counterChoose your hand and get the best melds and the lowest possible deadwood count.
- Yahtzee score sheetA printable-style score card for up to four players with the upper bonus and totals worked out.