♠Spades

How to play Spades

Objective

As a partnership, be first to 500 points by making your combined bid every hand.

Setup

• Four players in two partnerships; all 52 cards dealt (13 each).
• Each player bids the number of tricks they expect to take, including a nil bid of zero.

Rules

1. Spades are always trump and cannot be led until they've been broken.
2. Follow suit if you can.
3. A made contract scores 10 points per bid trick; each overtrick is 1 point and counts as a "bag".
4. Ten accumulated bags cost your side 100 points.
5. A successful nil bid scores 100; a failed one costs 100.

Strategy tips

• Count Aces and Kings, not raw high cards, when bidding.
• Nil is much safer when your partner bid high and can cover you.
• Deliberately taking a trick to avoid a tenth bag is often correct.