How do you play Spades?
Spades takes a couple of minutes to learn and years to truly master. Here is the entire game, from the shuffle to the final score.
The deal and the setup
A standard 52-card deck is shuffled and dealt out completely, so all four players hold 13 cards. Partners sit opposite one another, which means the play order always alternates between the two teams. There is no draw pile and nothing is set aside; every card in the deck is in someone's hand from the start.
Before anyone plays, each player looks at their hand and makes a bid: a promise of how many of the 13 tricks their side will win. The two partners' bids are added together to form the team's contract for the hand.
Playing out a hand
The player to the dealer's left leads the first card, and everyone follows in clockwise order. You must play a card of the suit that was led if you have one. If you are out of that suit, you may play anything, including a trump. Whoever plays the highest card of the led suit wins the trick, unless someone trumps in with a spade, in which case the highest spade wins.
One important restriction: you cannot lead a spade until spades have been 'broken,' meaning a spade has already been played on some earlier trick because a player could not follow suit.
Scoring the result
If your team wins at least as many tricks as it bid, you earn 10 points for every trick you promised. Extra tricks beyond the bid are called bags and are usually a small hazard rather than a reward. Fall short of your bid and you are 'set,' losing 10 points per trick bid. The first side to reach the target score, often 250 or 500, wins the match.
Ready to try it? You can jump straight into a game of Partnership Spades against the computer with no setup at all.
The fastest way to make this stick is to deal a hand and try it.
Keep reading - related questions
What is the goal of Spades?
The object of Spades is to reach a target score, commonly 250 or 500 points, before the opposing partnership does. You get there by winning close to the exact number of tricks your team bids each hand. Accuracy matters more than raw trick-taking, because overshooting your bid piles up penalty bags and undershooting it costs you points outright.
How do you bid in Spades?
To bid in Spades you look at your 13 cards and estimate how many tricks you can win, then announce that number. Count your near-certain winners first: high spades, aces, and protected kings. Your bid is added to your partner's to set the team's contract, and you can also choose to bid Nil, a promise to win zero tricks.
How is Spades scored?
In Spades you score 10 points for each trick your team bid when you make the contract, and you lose 10 points per trick bid when you fall short and get set. Every trick you win beyond your bid counts as one bag, worth a single point but triggering a 100-point penalty once your team collects ten of them. Nil bids add or subtract 100 points on their own.