Spades

Finish a hand with your team at 500 points or more and ahead of the other team. If both teams reach 500, the higher score wins; if tied, the match continues.

One standard 52-card deck without jokers is dealt automatically, 13 cards per player. You sit at the bottom, Alex opposite, and Robin and Sam at the other two seats. Only your own hand is visible. Cards rank Ace high, then King, Queen, Jack, 10 down to 2.

A trick consists of one card from each player in the center. The score strip shows team totals and bags; the table also shows bids and tricks taken this hand. Spades are always trump, meaning a spade beats any non-spade in a trick. There is no stock, drawing, or passing phase.

Bidding

Starting left of the dealer and proceeding clockwise, each player bids once from 0 through 13. A positive bid contributes to the team’s combined contract. For example, your 3 and Alex’s 4 make a team target of 7. A bid of 0 is nil: that player promises to take no tricks. Blind nil is not offered.

Leading and following suit

The player left of the dealer leads first, then play moves clockwise. You must follow the led suit if you have it. If you cannot, play any card, including a spade. There is no requirement to trump or overtrump. You cannot lead spades until a spade has been played in an earlier trick, unless you have only spades.

Winning a trick

The highest spade wins if any were played; otherwise the highest card of the led suit wins. For example, a 2 of spades beats an Ace of hearts when hearts were led and the spade player had no hearts. The winner leads next. After 13 tricks, the hand is scored and the dealer advances for the next hand.

Contracts and bags

Meet the combined positive bids to earn 10 points per bid trick plus 1 per extra trick. Bid 7 and take 9 to earn 72 and collect two bags. Fall short to lose 10 times the bid: bidding 7 and taking 6 loses 70. Bags carry between hands; each group of ten costs 100 points, with any remainder carried forward.

Nil scoring

A nil bidder earns the team 100 points for taking no tricks, or loses 100 for taking any. The partner’s contract is scored separately. Here tricks taken by a failed nil bidder do not help the partner’s contract: they count as bags and add 1 point each before any bag penalty. For example, a nil bidder taking one trick while a partner bids and takes 4 gives 40 − 100 + 1 = −59 and one new bag, before any ten-bag penalty.

Winning the match

After a hand, a team at 500 or more wins if it is ahead. Ties continue; there is no separate negative-score elimination here. A completed match updates your statistics once. Starting New match after making decisions in an unfinished one records a loss. Undo and Restart hand do not.

If you cannot play the card you want, check the led suit or unbroken-spades restriction. The game waits for legal plays and for you to advance between hands; it does not treat this as a blocked-board loss.

• Play cards: click or tap a legal card in your hand. For keyboard play, Tab into the hand, use Left/Right arrows or Home/End to focus a card, then Enter or Space to activate it.
• Bidding: choose Nil or a number from 1 to 13, then press the Bid button. Wait for the other seats to bid in turn.
• Hint and review: Hint suggests a bid or card without playing it. Review tricks shows this hand’s completed tricks. Opening review, rules, or a restart/new-match confirmation pauses the table.
• Undo: returns to before your last decision and removes subsequent computer actions in the current hand. It can undo that hand’s scoring before you advance, but cannot cross into an earlier hand or change a finished match. It does not rewind the timer.
• Restart hand: repeats the current hand’s starting cards while keeping earlier hand scores and elapsed match time. It is available before the hand ends and does not count as a lost match.
• Pause and pace: Pause stops play and elapsed time until Resume. Relaxed or Quick changes how soon the computer acts and completed tricks clear.
• Saved match: progress, move history, timing, and statistics are stored in this browser when storage is available. Return to the same game and press Play to continue. New match replaces that saved match.

• Count likely winners rather than every high card when bidding. A long side suit may get trumped after opponents run out of it.
• Watch your partner’s bid and tricks. Your positive bids form one contract, so an extra trick for Alex can cover a shortfall in your hand.
• Protect a nil partner when you can do so legally. Leading a suit in which they have low cards can let them escape without winning.
• Watch the carried bag total before chasing unnecessary tricks. A small gain now may trigger a 100-point penalty.
• Use the trick review to track high spades already played. It helps judge whether a remaining trump is likely to win.

Spades belongs to the whist family of trick-taking games. Its fixed trump suit gives the game its name; partnership play is one of its main forms. Read more on Wikipedia.

Try Hearts for individual trick avoidance without trumps, or Chess for another game against a computer opponent.