Spades Rules
Spades is a popular trick-taking card game that two partnerships typically play. However, this version of Spades is just for two players. It uses a standard 52-card deck; ace is high, and 2 is low. The goal is to be the first player to reach 500 points. Quick Overview of Spades Rules Spades is a “trick taking” game, which means that each player puts are card out and the higher card wins the trick or book. You can play Spades with anywhere from 2-5 players. The amount of players dictates how many cards are dealt.
Spades is a popular card game that involves using mathematical skill and strategy to earn the highest number of tricks, or hands. Players bid before the game begins, as a 'guess' of how many tricks they can win. Because the highest bidder gets to lead with the suit of his choice, and the entire suit of spades.
Spades Rules
Spades Rules
The game has four players, divided in two teams, sitting on alternate positions
Players - 4.
52 Cards.
Distribuition - 13 cards for each of the 4 players.
Object - The team that scores 100 points first is the winner.
Definitions
Trick – a hand won
Hand - a sequence of 4 rounds, in which each player plays a card, and the winner (who discard the highest card) wins a trick.
The highest card - the highest card of the suit. The order of the cards is as follows, from the lowest to the highest: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K,A. The spade suit is always trump.
Follow the suit - play a card of the same suit from the first card of the hand..
Bid - the number of tricks a player intends to get
Contract - the bid agreed by the team.
Bags - any hand won by a team that wasn't in the contract.
Nil - A Bid to win no tricks at all in any hand. This bid is worth 100 points
Double Nil – It's the same than nil, it is worth 200 points. One player, having not yet looked at his cards, may choose to bid . These cards will be revealed once the bid is made.
The Game
13 cards are dealt to each player one by one, clockwise. After the distribution of cards, 13 hands are held. The player on the dealer's left makes the opening lead by playing a single card of any suit, except Spades. Players in clockwise fashion then play a card of their choice; they must follow the suit led by the first player. If any player doesn't have a card of this suit, they may play any card. Cards of spades can only be led after the first hand and after a player who is not able to follow the suit lays one card of spades. In the final hand, the winner is the one who have played one or more cards of spades, the highest card of spades is the winner. If the suit of spades has not been led, the highest card of the first suit that has been led is the winner card. The winning player of the hand wins a trick. This player starts the next hand. After 13 hands, players have no cards remaining on their hands, then the points are counted. If no team has reached 100 points, 13 cards are dealt to each player again and each player from every team must make new bids in order to start a new game. The game proceeds normally up to a team reaches 100 points. So, this team will be the winning team.
Scoring and Penalties
If the contract is fulfilled by the team, this team receives 10 points for each trick won and 1 point for each bag. If the team can't get the the amount of tricks they've bet (contract), they receives the amount of tricks of the contract multiplied by -10 (minus ten), adding so a negative score. When a team reaches 10 points of bags, they receives a penalty of one hundred points and the points of bags are reset.
Playing spades in pairs is probably the most popular form of the game. Your partner sits directly across from you, and after the cards are all dealt out, each player makes his bid, starting with the player to the left of the dealer. Each player can bid between 0 and 13, nil or blind nil.
Playing the Round
After all cards are dealt and bids are placed, the first trick begins. The player to the left of the dealer must start with any card except a spade. The other players must follow suit if they can. If they do not have the suit that was led in their hand, they can 'spade it' which is to throw a spade or they can throw off any other card in their hand. The trick is won by the highest card of the suit that was led. If someone throws a spade, then they win the trick. If more than one spade is thrown, then the highest spade wins the trick.
It is important to remember that you can't lead a spade until one has been thrown during the course of another trick.
The player who wins the trick, leads out for the next trick. Play continues until all cards are gone.
When playing partnership spades for 4 players, the scoring takes a couple of interesting twists. First, you have to take as many tricks as your team bid. The team bid total is the important number here, not the individual bids. So if you bid 3 and your partner bid 4, you would need to take 7 tricks between you to score. If the combined number of tricks you and your teammate took equals your bid, then you score your bid x 10. If you took more tricks than you bid, every trick over is called a 'sandbag' and counts as 1 point. Here's an example: You bid 3. Your partner bid was 2. Your combined total of tricks taken ended up being 7. You scored 52 points that round. (bid of 5 multiplied by 10, plus two sandbags). If you fail to take enough tricks to make your bid, then you subtract your bid x 10 from your score. So if your team bid 5 and only took 4, then you would lose 50 points from your point total.
Spades Rules For 2 Players
Watch those sandbags! If your sandbag total hits 10, your team loses 100 points. Once you hit 20 bags, you lose another 100 points, and so on.
Another interesting twist is if one teammate bids 'nil' or 'blind nil' (going for nil before looking at your cards). This teammate can take no tricks during the course of the hand. If he is successful, he will earn 100 points for a nil bid or 200 points for a blind nil. If he takes any tricks, he will lose 100 points or 200 points respectively. Meanwhile his teammate is left to try and make his bid on his own. Let's say that your teammate bid nil and you bid 5, and you are both successful. He will score 100 points and you will score 50, for a total of 150 points for the team that round. Impressive! However if he fails his nil by taking at least 1 trick, and you still fail to get a total of 5 tricks between you, you'll be taking 150 points off of your score. As you can see, when one teammate goes nil or blind nil, it can mean drastic changes in the scoring and your strategy for playing that round.
Spades Rules With Jokers
When playing partners spades, it is important to keep track of how your partner is doing. If he seems to be struggling to make his bid, then you need to pick up his slack and attempt to take an extra bid or two over what you had originally planned to take. If he seems to have underbid his hand, you might look to throw off some cards to keep from getting so many bags. Also, keep an eye on the opponents. You'd almost always prefer to take a few bags and set your opponents (take enough tricks to make it impossible for them to make their team bid).
Spades Rules For 2 Players
The team who reaches the agreed upon scoring point first, wins. If both teams reach this set point on the same round, then the team with the highest score wins.