Setup
Four players in fixed partnerships, sitting opposite their partner, is the standard game. Deal the whole 52-card deck, thirteen cards each. Starting to the dealer's left, each player states a bid from zero to thirteen. In partnership play the two bids on a side are added together to form the side's contract. Spades cannot be led until a spade has been played on an earlier trick or the leader holds nothing else.
How bidding works
Starting with the player to the dealer's left and going clockwise, each player looks at their hand and bids the number of tricks they expect to win, from nil to thirteen. In partnerships the two bids are added into one contract for the side: bids of 4 and 3 mean the side must take at least seven tricks between them. The basic game has no minimum bid; the Minimum side bid setting adds one, four between partners being the usual house figure, and the Bidding house rule setting covers Whiz, Suicide and Mirror, which restrict what you may bid.
Playing solo: cutthroat spades
Three or four players can each play for themselves. With three, deal seventeen cards each and set the odd card aside unseen; with four, deal thirteen as usual. Turn Partnerships off and every bid stands alone, nil included — a far riskier bid with no partner to cover you.
Scoring
Score each side, not each player, when partnerships are on.
The cheat sheet
| What happened | Score |
|---|---|
| Made the bid | 10 × the bid, plus 1 per extra trick (a bag) |
| Missed the bid | −10 × the bid, no bags |
| Nil made / broken | +100 / −100 — the Nil worth setting |
| Blind nil made / broken | +200 / −200 — the Blind nil worth setting |
| Ten bags collected over the game | −100, and the bag count drops by ten |
Making or missing the contract
Making the contract. If the side takes at least as many tricks as it bid, it scores ten points per trick bid, plus the bag value for each trick above the bid. A side bidding five and taking seven scores 50 plus 2, so 52.
Failing the contract. If the side takes fewer tricks than it bid, it scores minus ten per trick bid and gains no bags. Bidding five and taking four scores minus 50.
Bags and the sandbag penalty
Bags. The extra tricks accumulate across the whole game in a separate counter. Each time the counter reaches the bag limit, subtract the bag penalty from the side's score and reduce the counter by the limit. This must be folded forward through the rounds in order rather than computed per hand in isolation, because a hand that adds three bags may cross the limit once.
Nil and blind nil
A nil bid is a promise to take no tricks at all. It contributes nothing to the side's trick target: a successful nil adds the nil value, and the partner's contract is scored separately on the partner's own bid and tricks. A broken nil subtracts the nil value, and the tricks the nil bidder took become bags if that setting is on. Blind nil — nil called before you look at your cards — works identically at double the value, and most tables only allow it to a side that is at least 100 points behind.
Blind six, blind seven and 10 for 2
A blind bid of tricks, made before looking at your hand, pays double at tables that allow it: blind six scores 120 for exactly six tricks and loses 120 otherwise, blind seven 140, and so on up. "Ten for two" — ten for two hundred — is a bid of exactly ten tricks by a side that scores 200 when it makes exactly ten and loses 200 for any other number; some tables allow ten or more. None of these are settings here, so score them by hand: enter the bid and the tricks as usual, and agree the extra at the table.
Double nil
At most tables this means both partners bidding nil in the same hand — a side bet that pays around 500 if neither takes a trick and costs anything from 250 upwards if either does, with the exact figures set by the house. Some groups use the words to mean blind nil instead, so check before you call it.
Bids do not have to add up to thirteen
Ties in bidding. All four bids together may total more or less than thirteen; nothing forces them to add up.
Ending the game
The game ends at the end of the hand in which any side reaches the target. If both sides cross in the same hand, the higher total wins. If they are tied, play another hand. Some groups also end the game immediately if a side falls below minus 200.
Common variations
Playing to 200 or 300 makes a much shorter session. Turning bags off entirely removes the sandbag trap and speeds up casual play. Some groups score a made bid as the bid alone, with extra tricks worth nothing, to skip the bag arithmetic — set Points per bag to zero and switch the Bag penalty off. Ten for two, blind six and double nil are the special bids explained under Scoring.
Scoring at a glance
| Who wins | First to target |
|---|---|
| Played to | 500 points by default |
| Score sheet | A bid and a result per player per round; the score is derived |
| Typical round score | -200 – 200 |
| Negative scores | Possible |
| Worth knowing | Two entries per player per hand, a bid and the tricks actually taken. All bids across the table add up to at most thirteen with four players. |
Spades — score sheet
Worked example
Settings: Play to500, Partnershipson, Points per bag1, Bag penaltyon, Bags before penalty10, Bag penalty size100, Nil worth100, Failed nil tricks become bagson. Partnerships: North/South and East/West. Team bid is the sum of both partners'.
| Hand | N/S bid | N/S took | E/W bid | E/W took | N/S score | E/W score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 4 | +72 | −60 |
| 2 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 8 | +50 | +80 |
| 3 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 5 | +44 | −90 |
| 4 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | +60 | +70 |
| 5 | 4 (incl. one nil) | 7 | 6 | 6 | +143 | +60 |
Bag count carried forward for N/S: 2 after hand 1, 2 after hand 2, 6 after hand 3, 6 after hand 4, then hand 5 adds 3 more — reaching 9. Still under the limit.
Running totals:
| After | N/S | E/W | N/S bags |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 72 | −60 | 2 |
| 2 | 122 | 20 | 2 |
| 3 | 166 | −70 | 6 |
| 4 | 226 | 0 | 6 |
| 5 | 369 | 60 | 9 |
Expected standings after hand 5: N/S 369 (rank 1), E/W 60 (rank 2). the game is still running — neither side has reached 500.
Hand 5 in detail, because it exercises the most machinery at once: N/S bid 4 total,
of which one partner declared nil. The nil succeeded, paying 100. The other partner
bid 4 and the team took 7 tricks in total — 3 of those belong to the nil bidder's
partner beyond the contract. Team score is 4 × 10 = 40, plus 3 × 1 = 3 overtricks,
plus the 100 nil bonus, giving 143.
House rules and settings
Every table plays Spades a little differently. These are the 11 rules groups argue about. Each one is a setting in the app — and changing it recalculates a match that is already in progress, which is the thing no other score keeper does.
Play to: what is the default in Spades?
The first side to reach this total at the end of a hand wins the game.
Default: 500. Adjustable from 100 to 1000 in steps of 50.
In the app: “Play to”.
Partnerships: on or off in Spades?
Turn on for the usual four-player game where players sitting opposite each other pool their bids and tricks. Turn off for cutthroat, where every player scores alone.
Default: on.
In the app: “Partnerships”.
Points per bag: what is the default in Spades?
What each trick taken beyond the bid is worth. These extra tricks are called bags and they are usually worth very little on purpose.
Default: 1. Adjustable from 0 to 5 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Points per bag”.
Bag penalty: on or off in Spades?
Whether collecting too many extra tricks over the course of a game eventually costs you a large block of points.
Default: on.
In the app: “Bag penalty”.
Bags before penalty: what is the default in Spades?
How many extra tricks a side can pile up before the penalty fires. The counter then drops by this amount and starts filling again.
Default: 10. Adjustable from 1 to 20 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Bags before penalty”.
Bag penalty size: what is the default in Spades?
How many points are taken away each time the bag limit is crossed.
Default: 100. Adjustable from 0 to 300 in steps of 10.
In the app: “Bag penalty size”.
Nil worth: what is the default in Spades?
Points gained for promising to take no tricks at all and succeeding, or lost for taking even one.
Default: 100. Adjustable from 0 to 300 in steps of 25.
In the app: “Nil worth”.
Blind nil worth: what is the default in Spades?
Points gained or lost for promising to take no tricks before you have looked at your cards.
Default: 200. Adjustable from 0 to 500 in steps of 50.
In the app: “Blind nil worth”.
Failed nil tricks become bags: on or off in Spades?
Whether the tricks a broken nil bidder accidentally won are added to the side's bag counter as well as costing the nil penalty.
Default: on.
In the app: “Failed nil tricks become bags”.
Minimum side bid: what is the default in Spades?
The smallest number of tricks a partnership is allowed to bid between them. Four is a common house minimum. Leave at zero to allow any bid.
Default: 0. Adjustable from 0 to 6 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Minimum side bid”.
Bidding house rule: what are the options in Spades?
Whiz forces you to bid either nil or the exact number of spades you hold. Suicide requires one partner in every partnership to bid nil. Mirror forces everyone to bid exactly the number of spades in their hand.
Default: Free bidding. Four options:
In the app: “Bidding house rule”.
Variants of Spades
Cutthroat
Three or four players each score for themselves with no partner, so bids never combine and nil is far riskier.
Two-player Spades
A drafting phase replaces the deal, each player bids alone, and the same scoring table applies.
Spades is also known as
Call Bridge, Cutthroat Spades. These are the same game — the rules and the score sheet above apply to all of them.
Keep score offline
The sheet above works in your browser. Cardzo for iPhone remembers your players, survives a closed tab, and works in a field with no signal.