Spades Rules: How to Play Spades, Bidding, Nil and Bags

Spades is a trick-taking game for four players in two partnerships. It was invented in the American Midwest in the late 1930s, spread quickly among soldiers during World War II, and became a college and family staple afterward. If you know Hearts or Bridge, you will recognise a lot: you bid a number of tricks, you follow suit, and you try to take what you promised.

This page describes the standard four-player partnership game, mainly as set out by Pagat. Bicycle's rules differ in small points: they score a missed bid as 0 instead of a loss. Variations such as jokers or special bids come at the end, because they differ from table to table.

Objective

Your partnership wants to win at least as many tricks as the two partners bid together, but not many more. Making the bid earns points, while taking too many extra tricks (bags) slowly costs you. The first side to reach 500 points wins the game.

Players and cards

Four players, two teams of two. Partners sit opposite each other. You use a standard 52-card deck without jokers. The cards rank, high to low: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.

Spades are always the trump suit. A spade beats any card of another suit, and the highest spade in a trick wins it. If no spade is played, the highest card of the suit led wins.

Dealing

Pick the first dealer at random. The deal then passes clockwise. The dealer shuffles and deals all 52 cards one at a time, clockwise, starting with the player on the dealer's left. Everyone ends up with 13 cards.

Bidding

Bidding happens once, starting with the player on the dealer's left and going clockwise. Each player says how many tricks they expect to win, from 0 to 13. You cannot pass, you do not have to beat the previous bid, and normally nobody gets a second round. You cannot change a bid after you make it.

Your partnership's contract is the sum of both partners' bids. If West bids 3 and East bids 4, East-West must take 7 tricks.

Nil

A bid of 0 is called nil. It means you will win no tricks at all. Your partner still bids normally, and the team still plays for the partner's number. A bid of 0 is always nil, so if you do not want to try it, bid at least 1.

Blind nil

Blind nil is an optional extra: you announce nil before looking at your cards. In many groups the blind nil bidder passes two cards face down to their partner, and the partner passes two back, before the opening lead. Most groups allow blind nil only for a side that trails by 100 points or more.

How a hand is played

The player on the dealer's left leads to the first trick. Then:

1. Each player in turn plays one card. You must follow suit when you can.
2. If you cannot follow suit, you may play any card, including a spade to trump.
3. The highest spade wins the trick. If no spade was played, the highest card of the led suit wins.
4. The winner of a trick leads the next one.

Spades cannot be led until they are broken, which means a spade has been played on another suit's lead, unless the leader has only spades in hand. In practice that means the first leader plays a non-spade. After 13 tricks, you count each side's tricks and score the hand.

Scoring

Add up what each partnership won against its contract.

A nil bid is scored separately from the partner's bid. The partner's bid is scored normally. The usual rule is that tricks taken by a failed nil bidder do not count toward the partner's contract but do count as bags.

Bags. Each bag adds one point but also goes on a running tally. Reach 10 bags over several deals and your side loses 100 points. Bags beyond ten carry over, so 20 bags cost 100 twice. Many players read the bag count off the last digit of a positive score, so 337 means 7 bags.

Here is the example Pagat uses. A team has 337 points and bids 5. If it wins 7 tricks, it scores 50 + 2 and moves to 389. If it wins 8 tricks, it scores 50 + 3, reaching 390. The team already holds 7 bags, so three more make 10 and it loses 100, dropping to 290. Winning 9 tricks gives 291.

A worked hand

South deals. Starting on South's left, West bids 3, North 1, East 4 and South 4. North-South's contract is 5 (1 + 4). East-West's contract is 7 (3 + 4).

At the end, North-South took 6 tricks and East-West took 7.

• North-South made their contract with one bag: 5 × 10 + 1 = 51.
• East-West made exactly 7: 7 × 10 = 70.

Now suppose West had bid nil instead of 3, and East still bid 4. If West takes no tricks and East wins 5, East-West score 100 (for the nil) + 40 + 1 (one bag) = 141. If West takes one trick and East wins 4, East-West score −100 for the failed nil, +40 for East's bid, and +1 for West's trick as a bag: −100 + 40 + 1 = −59. West's trick does not count toward East's bid.

Winning the game

The first side to 500 points wins. If both sides reach 500 in the same hand, the higher total wins. Some groups also end the game if a side falls to −200.

Variations

• Jokers and deuces. In one widely played version (called Barmore rules on Pagat) you remove the 2♣ and 2♥, add two jokers, and rank the trumps: big joker, little joker, 2♠, then A down to 3. The jokers count as spades, and the first leader may lead any card.
• Card exchange. Some groups let a nil bidder exchange a card with their partner, and others allow no passing at all.
• Minimum team bids. Some groups require a team to bid at least 4 between the partners.
• Double nil. Both partners bid nil. The value differs from group to group (Pagat gives 500 for success), and it is attempted only by sides far behind.
• 10 for 200. A bid of exactly 10 scores 200 if made and −200 if failed.
• Mirrors. Each player bids exactly the number of spades in their own hand.
• Three players. Everyone plays alone with 17 cards each after one card is removed.
• Two players. Players draw and discard from a shared stock until each has 13 cards.

Strategy tips

• Count your sure tricks. Aces and kings of side suits, plus high spades. Long spade suits usually add tricks.
• Bid with your partner in mind. If your partner has bid high, bid a little lower so the pair does not collect bags.
• Keep an eye on the bags. At 7 or 8 bags it can be better to set yourself to lose a trick than to win one.
• Break spades carefully. Leading spades early gives away your trump strength.
• Protect a nil. With a nil bidder at the table, the partner should win tricks that the nil bidder would otherwise be stuck with.
• Attack a nil. If the other team has bid nil, keep leading low cards in suits their nil bidder may have to overtake.

Common mistakes

• Leading a spade before spades are broken.
• Adding the contract wrong: it is the sum of both partners' bids, not the larger bid.
• Forgetting that a bid of zero means nil, not "pass".
• Letting bags pile up over several hands.
• Counting a failed nil bidder's tricks toward the partner's contract.

Where Spades comes from

Spades was devised in the American Midwest in the late 1930s, and George Coffin places its origin in Cincinnati between 1937 and 1939. It spread through soldiers during World War II and then through college students, and the many regional rules you meet today are a result of that spread.