Spades — Complete Rules

Spades is a trick-taking, partnership bidding game. Before any cards are played, each player privately commits to a bid — a prediction of how many tricks they (and, in the standard game, their partner) will win. Spades is always the trump suit (hence the name), and scoring rewards hitting your bid exactly while punishing both undershooting it (failing to make your contract) and overshooting it by too much (accumulating "bags"). Play continues over multiple hands until a partnership crosses a target score.

This guide covers Standard 4-Player Partnership Spades as the standard, complete ruleset, then documents common variants (Nil/Blind Nil tuning, Solo/Cutthroat play, Whiz/Mirror/Suicide, jokers). Where rules commonly differ across sources, the standard/default choice is called out explicitly.

1. Equipment and Players

• Deck: One standard 52-card deck. No jokers by default (a joker variant exists — see §11.9).
• Players: Exactly 4 by default, in two fixed partnerships of 2. Partners sit across the table from each other (i.e., seats alternate by team: Team A, Team B, Team A, Team B around the circle) and stay partners for the entire game. See §11.1–§11.2 for 2/3/5+ "Cutthroat"/"Solo" adaptations without fixed partnerships.
• Scorepad: Spades is a multi-hand game played to a target score. A running cumulative score per team (not per player) is required, plus a running bag counter per team (§7.3).
• Seating/turn direction: Dealing, bidding order, and trick order all proceed clockwise.

2. Card Ranking and Trump

Within each suit, cards rank low to high in the standard order:

2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · J · Q · K · A (high)

• Ace is always high. There is no low-ace option in Spades.
• Spades are always trump. Any spade beats any card of any other suit, regardless of rank — even the 2♠ beats the A♥, A♦, or A♣ if those suits were led and spades were not. Among two or more spades played to the same trick, the highest-ranked spade wins.
• There is no other trump — clubs, diamonds, and hearts never beat each other; only the suit led among them matters for winning a trick that contains no spades (§6.2).

3. Objective and Scoring Overview

Each hand, every player bids a number of tricks (0–13) they expect to take; a partnership's contract is the sum of both partners' bids. After all 13 tricks are played:

• A team that took at least as many tricks as its contract scores positively (10 points per bid trick, plus 1 point per trick taken beyond the contract — an "overtrick" or bag).
• A team that took fewer tricks than its contract scores negatively (−10 points per bid trick), regardless of how many tricks they actually took.
• Bidding 0 ("Nil") is a special side-bet: succeed (take zero tricks) for a large bonus, fail (take even one trick) for a large penalty — scored independently of the team's normal contract math (§7.2).
• Accumulating too many bags is itself penalized (§7.3), discouraging teams from bidding low and "sandbagging" easy overtricks turn after turn.

The team with the higher cumulative score when the target is reached wins the game (§9).

4. Setup and Deal

1. Determine partnerships: players seated across from each other are partners. Determine the first dealer (e.g., high/low card draw, or by agreement). The deal rotates clockwise one seat after every hand.
2. Shuffle and deal the entire deck face down, one card at a time, clockwise, starting with the player to the dealer's left, until all 52 cards are dealt.
   • With exactly 4 players, this gives each player 13 cards, using the whole deck evenly. No cards are left over, and there is no stock or discard pile — the entire deck is always in players' hands during a hand.
3. Players may look at their own hand once dealing is complete (or before dealing is complete, if declaring Blind Nil — see §5.3).

5. The Bidding Phase

Bidding happens before any card is played, once per hand, and is not simultaneous or hidden — bids are made one at a time, in turn, and are visible/audible to everyone (unlike, e.g., a simultaneous hidden pass in Hearts).

5.1 Bidding Order and Range

1. Starting with the player to the dealer's left and proceeding clockwise, each player states a bid: a whole number from 0 to 13.
2. A bid of 0 is called "Nil" (§5.2) and is a distinct, separately-scored commitment, not simply "a low numeric bid."
3. There is no requirement that bids relate to each other or sum to any particular number — unlike some trick-bidding games, partners bid independently based on their own hand, and the four bids around the table are not constrained to total 13 (they commonly do not).
4. Once stated, a bid cannot be changed for the rest of the hand.

5.2 Nil Bids

• A player may bid Nil (0), wagering that they will take exactly zero tricks during the entire hand.
• A Nil bid contributes 0 to the partnership's combined numeric contract (§3), but is scored as its own bonus/penalty independent of the team's normal contract result (§7.2).
• The Nil bidder still plays every trick normally (must follow suit, etc.) — they are not exempt from any play rule. Success or failure is determined entirely by whether they end the hand having won zero tricks.
• Both partners may bid Nil in the same hand ("double Nil") — each is scored independently; see §10 for the resulting edge case on team bags.

5.3 Blind Nil (Optional Declaration)

• Blind Nil is a Nil bid made before looking at your dealt hand — a higher-risk, higher-reward version of §5.2.
• Default: Blind Nil may be declared by any player, in their normal bidding turn, at any time (not restricted to only when trailing in score). See §11.4 for the common house-rule restriction that limits it to a team that is behind by a threshold (e.g., 100+ points).
• To declare Blind Nil, a player must commit before seeing any of their dealt cards — the decision has to be made the instant their hand is dealt, not after even a glance at it.
• Scoring for Blind Nil is double ordinary Nil scoring: +200 if the player takes zero tricks, −200 if they take one or more (§7.2).
• After declaring (or declining) Blind Nil, the player proceeds to see their hand normally for the rest of the hand.

5.4 Turn Summary (Bidding)

Dealer's left bids first, then clockwise:
  each player states a bid (0-13), optionally Nil or Blind Nil
    -> once all 4 bids are made, each team's contract = sum of its two partners' bids (Nil = 0)
Proceed to card play (§6).

6. Playing a Trick

Once bidding is complete, the hand is played as 13 tricks, each trick consisting of one card from every player.

6.1 The Opening Lead

• The player to the dealer's left leads the very first trick of the hand, regardless of what cards they hold (there is no "must hold a specific card" rule as in some other trick games).
• The winner of each trick leads the next one.

6.2 Following Suit and Winning a Trick

• Each player, in clockwise order starting with the leader, must play a card of the suit led if they hold one ("follow suit").
• If a player has no card of the suit led, they may play any card from their hand, including a spade (this is how spades typically get "broken" — see §6.3) — this is called "sluffing" or "trumping" if the card played is a spade.
• Determining the winner:
  • If any spade(s) were played to the trick, the highest spade played wins it, regardless of what was led or what other cards were played.
  • If no spade was played, the highest card of the suit led wins. Cards of a suit that was neither led nor a spade never win the trick, no matter their rank.
• The winner of a trick collects all 4 cards face down into their team's won-tricks pile (partners share one pool for scoring purposes — see §7.1) and leads the next trick.

6.3 Breaking Spades

• Spades cannot be led until a spade has been played on some earlier trick (as a follow, a sluff, or a trump) — this is called "breaking spades" or "spades are broken." This mirrors the "breaking hearts" convention from Hearts.
• A spade is "broken" the moment any player plays a spade, for any reason.
• Exception — forced break: if it is a player's turn to lead and their entire remaining hand consists only of spades, they are permitted (in fact forced) to lead a spade even if spades have not yet been broken, since they have no other legal card to lead. (This can occur as early as trick 1 if a player was dealt an all-spade hand.)
• This restriction applies only to leading. A player who is void in the suit led may always sluff/trump with a spade even if spades are not yet broken — that play is precisely what breaks them.
• Once broken, spades remain "broken" for the rest of that hand; the flag resets at the start of the next hand.

6.4 Turn Summary (Play)

Trick winner (or dealer's-left player on trick 1) LEADS a card
  -> may not LEAD a spade unless spades are broken (§6.3), except when forced (hand is all spades)
  -> each other player, clockwise, plays a card:
      - must follow the suit led if able
      - if void in that suit, may play any card, including a spade (this breaks spades if it wasn't already)
  -> highest spade played WINS the trick; if no spade was played, highest card of the suit led WINS
  -> winner's team collects the 4 cards and winner leads the next trick

Repeat until all 13 tricks are played and every card has been used.

7. End-of-Hand Scoring

Scoring is calculated per team, combining three independent components: contract scoring, Nil scoring, and the bag penalty.

7.1 Contract Scoring (Per Team)

1. Compute the team's contract = sum of both partners' bids, with any Nil bid counted as 0 (§5.2).
2. Compute the team's tricks taken = total tricks won by either partner, combined.
3. If tricks taken ≥ contract: the team makes its bid.
   • Score +10 points per bid trick (i.e., 10 * contract).
   • Every trick taken beyond the contract is an overtrick ("bag"): add +1 point per overtrick to the score, and add the same count to the team's running bag counter (§7.3).
4. If tricks taken < contract: the team fails ("goes set" / "gets bagged").
   • Score −10 points per bid trick (i.e., -10 * contract) — a flat penalty based on the bid, not on however many tricks were actually taken. No partial credit is given for tricks taken while still short of the bid.

Worked example: Team bids are Player A = 4, Player B = 3 → contract = 7. The team takes 9 tricks total. They made their bid (9 ≥ 7): score = 10*7 + (9-7) = 70 + 2 = +72, and the bag counter increases by 2. Worked example (failed): Same contract of 7, but the team only takes 5 tricks. They failed (5 < 7): score = -10*7 = −70, regardless of the 5 tricks actually taken.

7.2 Nil and Blind Nil Scoring (Per Player, Added to Team Score)

Evaluated independently for each player who bid Nil or Blind Nil, in addition to the team's contract score from §7.1:

• A Nil bidder's own tricks (if they fail their Nil) still count toward the team's combined trick total for §7.1's contract math — they are not discarded or ignored, they simply also trigger the separate Nil penalty above.
• If both partners bid Nil in the same hand ("double Nil"), evaluate each one's success/failure completely independently; both bonuses, both penalties, or one of each can occur in the same hand. See §10 for the resulting contract-math edge case.

7.3 The Bag Penalty ("Sandbagging")

• Each team tracks a cumulative running bag count across the whole game (not reset every hand), incremented by each hand's overtricks per §7.1.
• Whenever a team's cumulative bag count reaches or exceeds 10, apply a −100 point penalty to that team's score, then subtract 10 from the bag counter (keeping any remainder — e.g., 12 accumulated bags triggers the penalty and leaves 2 remaining, not 0).
• This check happens immediately after each hand's scoring is tallied (so it can trigger every hand if a team is bagging fast) and can, in principle, trigger more than once in the same check if bags have piled up unusually high — keep applying the −100 penalty and subtracting 10 from the counter for as long as it's still 10 or more.
• This rule exists specifically to discourage teams from bidding low and coasting to easy overtricks turn after turn — over time, those "free" bag points are clawed back.

8. Order of Operations for Scoring a Hand

Resolve a hand's scoring in this exact order per team, to avoid getting the interactions wrong:

1. Compute contract = sum of bids (Nil = 0).
2. Compute team tricks taken (sum of both partners' won tricks).
3. Apply contract scoring (§7.1): ±10/bid trick, plus +1 per overtrick if made.
4. Add/subtract Nil and Blind Nil adjustments per bidding player (§7.2).
5. Update the team's cumulative bag counter with this hand's overtricks (0 if the team failed its contract — a failed team earns no bags, since "overtricks" only exist relative to a met contract).
6. Apply the bag penalty loop (§7.3) if the bag counter has reached/exceeded 10.
7. Add the resulting total to the team's cumulative game score.
8. Check the game-end condition (§9).
9. Rotate the deal one seat clockwise and deal the next hand.

9. End of the Game

• After each hand's scoring (§8), check whether any team's cumulative score has reached or exceeded the target score (default 500 points).
• Once triggered, the game ends immediately after that hand is fully scored (do not play a partial extra hand).
• The winner is the team with the HIGHER cumulative score at that point — reaching the target is only the trigger, and it is possible (due to the bag penalty or a failed final contract) for the team that crossed the threshold to actually end up scoring lower than 500, or even lower than the other team, once all of that hand's adjustments are applied. Always compare final totals after full resolution, not just "who crossed first."
• Tie-break: if both teams are tied for the highest score when the game ends, play one additional full hand and re-check; repeat until the tie is broken.
• See §11.6 for the common "losing threshold" house rule (immediate loss on dropping below a very negative score, independent of the target).

10. Special Situations and Edge Cases

• Double Nil where both partners fail: e.g., Player A bids Nil and takes 2 tricks, Player B bids Nil and takes 1 trick. Team contract = 0. Team tricks = 3, which is ≥ 0, so the team "makes" its (zero) contract and scores 10*0 + (3-0) = +3 bags, in addition to both Nil penalties (−100 and −100). Net for the hand: 3 − 100 − 100 = −197. This is correct and intentional: a contract of exactly 0 means any tricks taken are automatically overtricks/bags, even though the "contract" itself was technically met.
• Nil bidder takes tricks their partner needed: because tricks pool at the team level (§7.1), a failed Nil bidder's tricks can still help (or be irrelevant to) the partner's numeric contract being met. Contract math is always evaluated on the combined team total first, and the Nil penalty is applied on top as a separate line item — a Nil failure never changes whether the contract itself was made.
• A team's contract is exactly 0 with no Nil bids at all: this can't actually happen. Since Nil is a bid of 0, the only way for a two-player team's bids to sum to 0 is if both partners bid Nil.
• Team fails contract but individual partner's Nil succeeds: these are fully independent. E.g., Player A bids 6 and takes 3 (team short), Player B bids Nil and takes 0. Contract = 6, team tricks = 3 (< 6): team scores -10*6 = −60 from §7.1, then +100 from B's successful Nil = net +40 for the hand. A failed contract does not cancel a successful Nil bonus, and vice versa.
• Overtricks on a failed contract: impossible by definition — if the team failed to reach its contract, it cannot simultaneously have "extra" tricks beyond that contract. No bags are added to the counter on a failed hand (§8 step 5).
• Forced spade lead on trick 1: only occurs if a player was dealt all 13 spades (astronomically rare, but perfectly legal) — they lead a spade immediately, breaking spades on the very first trick.
• A player is void in the suit led and spades aren't broken yet, but they hold non-spade cards too: they may still sluff a non-spade card, or choose to trump with a spade (which breaks spades) — being void never forces trumping, it only permits it. The "spades not broken" restriction only limits leading a new trick with a spade, never playing/trumping one when void.
• Blind Nil declared, then the player is dealt a strong hand: no take-backs — the bid was locked in before the hand was seen, and scoring proceeds normally based on tricks actually taken versus 0.
• Both teams cross the target score in the same final hand: compare final totals; higher score wins outright (no requirement that only one team could have crossed).

11. Common Variants and House Rules (Summary Table)

Each of these can be adopted independently as a house rule. The Default column is the standard, most widely used choice.

11.14 Notable Named Relatives (for context)

• Whiz and Mirror — bid-restriction variants (§11.11–§11.12) that tie your legal bid directly to your spade count, removing bidding freedom in exchange for more predictable hands.
• Suicide Spades — a 4-player partnership variant (§11.13) where each team is forced to field one Nil bidder every hand, raising the stakes and average variance of every hand.
• Cutthroat / Solo Spades — a 3- or 4-player variant with no partnerships; every player bids and scores individually (§11.2).
• Joker Spades / Bid Whist crossover decks — adds jokers as super-trumps (§11.9); more common in Bid Whist, a closely related but distinct bidding trick-game with off-suit trump selection.
• Hearts — a different trick-avoidance family entirely (no bidding, no trump, tricks are dangerous rather than a scored resource) — not related to Spades beyond sharing a 52-card deck and trick-taking structure. See Hearts Rules.md.

These are mentioned only for context, to clarify what standard partnership Spades is not — each is a distinct game or variant with its own rulebook.

12. Strategy Notes (Not Rules)

Not part of the rules, but they explain why the rules create interesting decisions:

• Bid honestly, not optimistically. Overbidding risks a heavy flat penalty (−10 per bid trick) if you fall short; underbidding wastes potential points to the bag penalty. Count sure "winners" (high spades, singleton/void suits that let you trump) rather than hoping.
• Nil is a gamble best supported by your partner. A Nil bidder benefits enormously from a partner who can "cover" — winning tricks the Nil bidder would otherwise be forced to take, and leading suits the Nil bidder is void in so they can safely sluff off small cards elsewhere instead of being trapped.
• Watch your bag count. Deliberately winning extra tricks past your contract for "free" points is a trap — every 10 bags costs you 100 points right back, often at an inconvenient moment.
• Track broken spades and who's likely void. Once spades are broken, trump becomes available to lead — knowing who's out of a side suit (and might trump your winners) changes what's safe to lead.
• Defend against enemy Nil bids. If an opponent bids Nil, consider leading suits they're likely long in (forcing them to eventually run out of safe cards) rather than suits they can easily sluff off in.

13. Hand Quick Reference

Each hand, in order:

1. Deal 13 cards to each of 4 players (2 fixed partnerships).
2. Bid, starting left of dealer, clockwise: each player states 0–13 (0 = Nil), optionally Blind Nil before viewing their hand. Team contract = sum of partner bids (Nil = 0).
3. Player to the dealer's left leads Trick 1.
4. For each of 13 tricks:
   • Players follow suit if able; otherwise may sluff any card, including a spade (this breaks spades).
   • May not lead a spade until spades are broken (unless forced — leader's hand is all spades).
   • Highest spade played wins; if no spade was played, highest card of the suit led wins.
   • Winner's team collects the trick; winner leads next.
5. After trick 13, for each team: compare tricks taken to contract and score per §7.1; apply each Nil/Blind Nil bidder's bonus/penalty per §7.2; update bag counters and apply the bag penalty per §7.3.
6. Add each team's hand result to its running cumulative score; check if either total ≥ target score (500) → if so, game over, higher total wins (tie → extra hand).
7. Otherwise, rotate the deal clockwise and start the next hand.

14. Glossary

• Trick: One card played by each player in turn; the highest spade played wins it, or (if no spades were played) the highest card of the suit led.
• Trump: The suit that always beats every other suit — always Spades in this game.
• Follow suit: Play a card of the same suit that was led, if you hold one — mandatory.
• Sluff / Discard: Play a card of a different suit than led, only allowed when void in the led suit.
• Trump / Ruff: Sluffing with a spade specifically, winning the trick regardless of the suit led (unless a higher spade is later played to the same trick).
• Lead: The first card played to a trick, which sets the suit that must be followed.
• Breaking spades: The moment any spade is first played in a hand, after which spades may legally be led.
• Bid: A player's pre-play prediction of how many tricks they'll help their team win, stated 0–13.
• Contract: A team's combined bid (sum of both partners' bids, Nil counted as 0) — the trick count they must meet or exceed to score positively.
• Nil: A bid of 0 tricks, scored as a separate bonus/penalty from the team's contract math.
• Blind Nil: A Nil bid declared before looking at your dealt hand, worth double the normal Nil bonus/penalty.
• Overtrick / Bag: A trick taken beyond what a team's contract required, worth +1 point but contributing to the cumulative bag penalty.
• Sandbagging: Deliberately bidding low to rack up cheap overtricks — discouraged by the bag penalty (§7.3).
• Set / Going set: Failing to take as many tricks as your contract required, incurring the flat negative penalty.
• Target score: The cumulative-score threshold that ends the game (default 500); higher total wins once reached.

15. Recommended Standard Ruleset

If you just want one clean, unambiguous way to play, this is it:

• 1 standard 52-card deck, no jokers, exactly 4 players in 2 fixed partnerships (partners seated across from each other).
• Deal: all 52 cards dealt one at a time, clockwise, 13 cards each; deal rotates clockwise each hand.
• Card ranking: 2 (low) through Ace (high), standard per suit; Spades are always trump and beat every other suit regardless of rank.
• Bidding: clockwise starting left of dealer; each player bids 0–13; Blind Nil allowed any hand, declared before viewing cards, no restriction on when it may be used.
• Opening lead: the player to the dealer's left leads trick 1.
• Follow suit mandatory; if void, may play any card, including a spade (this breaks spades).
• Spades cannot be led until broken, except when the leader's hand is composed entirely of spades.
• Scoring per team: contract = sum of bids (Nil = 0); made contract = +10 * contract + 1 per overtrick; failed contract = -10 * contract flat; Nil success = +100, Nil failure = -100; Blind Nil success = +200, Blind Nil failure = -200.
• Bag penalty: cumulative overtricks per team; every 10 accumulated bags triggers -100 and reduces the counter by 10.
• Game ends when any team's total reaches 500; the team with the higher total wins (tie → play additional hands until resolved). No "sudden death" losing threshold by default (§11.6 is off).
• Every variant in §11 (Blind Nil eligibility, bonus values, bag threshold, target score, losing threshold, jokers, Whiz/Mirror/Suicide, Cutthroat) can be swapped in as a house rule if your table prefers it.

Play SPADES now — free, no sign-up →