Spades Rules
Objective
Be the first team to reach 500 points by accurately bidding on and winning tricks. Spades are always the trump suit.
Setup
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Players: 4 players in two teams
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Team 1: Players 1 & 3 (seated across from each other)
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Team 2: Players 2 & 4 (seated across from each other)
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Deck: Standard 52-card deck
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Card Ranking: Ace (high), King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2
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Deal: All 52 cards are dealt evenly, 13 cards per player
Bidding
Before play begins, each player bids on how many tricks they expect to win (0-13).
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Bidding starts with the player to the dealer's left and proceeds clockwise
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Partners' bids are combined into a team bid
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A bid of 0 (Nil) means the player promises to win zero tricks (high risk/reward)
Gameplay
The game is played in 13 tricks per round.
Playing a Trick
1.
Leading: The player to the dealer's left leads the first trick. You cannot lead with a Spade unless:
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Spades have been "broken" (a Spade was played on a previous trick because someone couldn't follow suit)
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Your hand contains only Spades
2.
Following Suit: Each player must play a card of the led suit if they have one
3.
Trumping: If you cannot follow suit, you may play any card, including a Spade (which "breaks" Spades)
4.
Winning: The highest Spade wins the trick. If no Spades were played, the highest card of the led suit wins
5.
The trick winner leads the next trick
Scoring
After all 13 tricks are played:
Making Your Bid
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If a team wins at least their bid: +10 points per bid trick
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Extra tricks above the bid are "bags" worth +1 point each
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Bag Penalty: Accumulating 10 bags results in a -100 point penalty and the bag count resets
Missing Your Bid (Set)
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If a team wins fewer tricks than their bid: -10 points per bid trick
Nil Bids
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Successful Nil: If the Nil bidder wins 0 tricks: +100 bonus points for the team
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Failed Nil: If the Nil bidder wins any tricks: -100 penalty points for the team
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The partner's bid is scored normally regardless of the Nil outcome
Winning
The first team to reach 500 points wins. If both teams reach 500 in the same round, the team with more points wins.