Spades Rules

The Spades rules are simple to follow. All you need to play is a deck of cards and a total of four people.

Set Up

Before you play you need 4 people and need to break them up into 2 groups of 2. Once that is done you deal the cards to all players until they are all gone. Each player should have 13 cards exactly.

Bidding

Each player takes turns bidding how many tricks they think they will win out of the next 13 hands. Your bid is added to your partners bid and this gives each team the number of tricks they are going to try to win.

For example if you bid 2 and your partner bids 3 your total bid is 5 and that gives you the number of tricks your team will try to win.

You may also bid Nil which means you will not win any tricks.

Playing, Spades Rules

Once each member has bid the play begins starting with the player to the left of the dealer.

The first player leads the hand by putting down a card; this card can be any suit except spades, you cannot lead spades until someone has “broken spades” see below.

After the first player has put down a card the other players take turns putting down a card. Your card must be the same suit as the first card that was laid down. If you do not have a card of the same suit you may play a different card from your hand. If you only have spade cards in your hand you may play a spade card. This is called breaking spades.

After all players have placed their cards face down the player with the highest card of the suit that was lead wins the trick. The only exception is if a spades was played. In this case the highest spade card wins.

The winner then leads the next hand.

Scoring, Spades Rules

Once all 13 rounds have been played and all players have run out of cards the number of tricks that were won by each team is counted.

If your score was under your bid you lose 10 points for each point you originally bid. For example if your team bid 4 and only got 3 your team loses 40 points for that round.

If you reached or passed your goal you receive 10 points for each bid you placed and an additional 1 point for each trick you won above your goal. For example if your team bid 4 and got 6 your team scores 42 points for that round.

For every 1 trick you went over your original bid you get 1 bag. For example if your team’s bid was 4 and you won 6 you receive 2 bags. Once you have received 10 bags you lose 100 points, and your number of bags is reset to 0.

Nil, Spades Rules

If a player bets Nil they bet they will win 0 tricks. If they accomplish that goal their team gets 100 points. If they win a trick their team loses 100 points.

Winning

The first team to receive a set amount of points, usually 500 wins the game.

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