Spades is a Trick-Taking Card Game played by two teams of two with a standard 52 card deck. Players sit across from their partner, with each player bidding on the number of tricks they believe they can take, out of 13. Players then play one card at a time, play starting left of the dealer, then being lead by whoever takes the trick. Within each trick, players must follow suit, if possible, and cannot lead spades unless spades have already been played. Each The game’s namesake is the suit, spades, which supersedes any other cards in play for taking tricks. Players must be careful about taking enough and taking what they need. Not taking enough tricks leads to "breaking contract", resulting in 0 points for the player. Excess tricks called "bags" give 1 point, but take away 100 points if you take ten bags.
One of the most popular card games out there, Spades is a great introduction to the trick-taking family of games, due to its simple rules.
This card game contains examples of:
- Action Initiative: The first bid and trick of a hand rotates clockwise from the last person to have said role. Turns after the first of a hand are led by the player who took the previous trick.
- Death or Glory Attack:
- Bidding nil requires a player to avoid taking any tricks. If successful, the partners gain a large sum of points (usually 100), but if the player bidding nil takes a single trick, their team loses that sum of points instead. Since games are usually played to 500 points, plus or minus 100 is a really big swing.
- Blinds are a move where you bid a set amount without looking at your cards to gauge potential scoring. (Blind 7 and Blind Nil being the most common variants.) Pulling it off gives you double points (a Blind 7 gives you 140 points). Failing loses you double points. A Blind Nil (betting you win zero tricks) is +/-200 points, but is particularly hard to pull off, especially since there is one unbeatable card (Ace of Spades, Deuce of Spades or Big Joker, depending on what rules variant you're using) and its presence in your hand will instantly sink your attempt.
- Desperation Attack: Rulesets allowing for blinds usually only allow them for teams down by 100 points and/or holding a negative score. Succeeding on a blind is worth double points, but failing is equally costly.
- Failure Gambit: Occasionally, a team will intentionally fail to take the promised number of tricks so the other team takes enough bags to incur a penalty. This usually occurs in the endgame, where, if the other team takes the exact number of tricks they bid on, they would win the game.
- No Unified Ruleset: How Blinds (bidding X books before the cards are dealt) are supposed to work, or even if said gambit is available, varies between rulesets. Whether you can call for one at any time or only after you're down X points. Do you automatically get them if you go into negative points? Standard scoring for failed blind or double-points? Is the highest card the Ace of Spades, 2 of Spades, or a Joker? How these all work usually depends on who you play with.
- One-Word Title: Spades gets its name from the suit, which trumps any other cards played regardless of value or suit led.
- Pyrrhic Victory: If a duo wins more tricks than they bid on, they may win the hand, but taking enough bags for the penalty to kick in will make the pair worse off.
- Tiebreaker Round: If both teams reach the target score on the same hand and end with a tied score, one last hand is played, following standard rules, to determine the overall winner.
- Trick-Taking Card Game: The aim of the game is to take as many tricks as you bid at the start of a round, underbidding results in no points, and overbidding giving the potential of a scoring penalty. Bids are made in a partnership, requiring the team to combine bids and trick totals. The first trick is led by the player left of the dealer, and subsequent tricks are played by the player claiming the previous trick. A trick may be led by almost any card, except for spades which must be broken (another player played them in a previous trick) or forced. The winner of the trick is the highest ranked spade card, or otherwise the highest card in the suit that led the trick.
