Other Games
Bidding and making your contract is a particular pleasure, and it has close cousins worth knowing. This page is a shortlist of 19 games worth playing - all free, all instant in the browser, none of them asking you to download or sign up for anything.
They fall into five groups. Puzzle and arcade games reward reading a crowded board under time pressure. The card games swap that for a slower, information-driven kind of thinking. Board and tile games take the clock away entirely, dice games put the randomness in the foreground where you can see it, and there is one tool at the end that is genuinely useful away from a screen.
Solitaire - The full patience cabinet - Klondike, Spider, Pyramid, TriPeaks, Golf, Yukon, Russian, Scorpion, Canfield and Forty Thieves - with a daily deal and leaderboards. Play Solitaire online →
FreeCell - Every card face up, four free cells, and a deal that is almost always winnable if you plan it. Play FreeCell online →
Hearts - The trick-taking game where winning tricks is usually the last thing you want. Play Hearts online →
Rummy - Build sets and runs and go out before your opponents, across the classic Rummy variants. Play Rummy online →
Gin Rummy - Ten cards, one draw, and a running argument with yourself about when to knock. Play Gin Rummy online →
Canasta - Partnership melding with scoring deep enough that people still argue about it. Play Canasta online →
Blackjack - Classic, Vegas Strip, Atlantic City, Spanish 21, Double Exposure, Switch, Pontoon and more - free chips, no real gambling. Play Blackjack online →
Tetris - Marathon, Sprint, Ultra, Master, Invisible, Cheese, Survival, Classic, Big, Cascade and Zen, plus a shared daily challenge and real-time multiplayer. Play Tetris online →
Puzzle - Sliding tiles, logic grids, nonograms and a dozen more - a different shape of problem each time. Play free puzzle games →
Mahjong - The tile-matching game built on scanning a crowded field for the pair that unlocks the rest. Play Mahjong online →
Pac-Man - Dots, power pellets, four ghosts with four different personalities and the same pattern-learning itch that keeps Tetris players coming back. Play Pac-Man online →
Checkers - American, International, Russian, Brazilian, Pool, Italian, Spanish, Czech, Canadian, Turkish and Anti-Checkers, at Easy, Medium or Hard. Play Checkers online →
Reversi - Flip discs to take the board - but own too many too early and you run out of moves. Play Reversi online →
Dominoes - Tile matching with a scorekeeper attached, across Draw, Block, All Fives and more. Play Dominoes online →
Ludo - The race-home board game in eight regional flavours, with a daily challenge and real-time multiplayer. Play Ludo online →
Tic Tac Toe - The 3x3 game is solved - which is exactly why the bigger boards are the interesting ones. Play Tic Tac Toe online →
Yahtzee - The dice-and-scorecard classic, where the upper-section bonus quietly decides most games. Play Yahtzee online →
Craps - Eight variants and one bet on the table that carries no house edge at all. Play Craps online →
Chess Clock - Fischer increment, Bronstein delay, sudden death and hourglass timing - useful for far more than chess. Use a free online chess clock →
Staying put?
Nothing on this page has to replace Spades. If you would rather stay, the main game is one click away, the rules hub covers how everything works, and the FAQ answers the common questions.
Common questions
Are they free, or is there a catch?
They are free in the same way Spades.now is free: every mode, every daily challenge and every leaderboard, with no paywall, no trial and no download. The card and casino titles use play money only - there is no real gambling in any of them.
What other free games can I play?
Nineteen are listed on this page, all free in the browser with no download and no signup. They cover puzzle and arcade games, a full card cabinet, board and tile games, dice games and a free chess clock. Every one of them plays instantly as a guest.
Do I need an account to play them?
No. Every game listed here plays instantly as a guest, exactly like Spades.now. Where a free account exists it is optional, and it only ever saves your scores, times and streaks across devices - it is never a gate in front of the game.
Which of these is closest to Spades?
The first group on this page is ordered with the closest relatives first, so start at the top. Beyond that it depends what you like about Spades - the puzzle and tile games reward reading a board, the card games reward counting and memory, and the dice games put the randomness in the foreground where you can see it.