What Are the Rules for Playing Spades?
Spades is a card game that is similar to Hearts. It's a partner game that requires at least four people, although there are versions for two or three players. Spades uses one standard deck of 52 cards, unless you are playing with six people or more. Spades is always the trump suite. Aces are the high card of each suite.
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Object of the Game
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Be the team that scores the most points. Points are given by winning enough books (also called "tricks"), according to your team's bid for each hand.
Dealing
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The entire deck is dealt out face down. If there are four players, each player should receive 13 cards. Each player looks at his hand to decide how many books he can catch. This will guide his decision of what to bid. There is only one round of bidding. The player to the left of the dealer makes the first bid.
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Bidding
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There is only one round of bidding. The player to the left of the dealer makes the first bid. Each player must bid, but each bid does not have to be higher than the one before it. The minimum bid is nil and highest bid is 13. The bids of both partners are added together, and that is the number of books the team must win to get a positive score.
If you bid nil, it means you will not try to take any books. There is a loss of points if you bid nil and end up taking a book. If you succeed in going nil, there is a bonus amount rewarded. Both you and your partner can bid nil, known as "double nil." If either of you catches a book, you will not receive the double nil bonus, but there is no point penalty.
Playing
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The leader plays any card except a spade to start the game. Each player follows, staying in suit if possible. If a player is unable to follow suit, then she can play any card available. The player who plays the highest valued card wins the book. The person who wins the book leads the next round.
A spade cannot be played by the leader until spades has been broken. This means someone else trumped a suit in a previous hand, unless the leader is the only one who holds spades.
Scoring
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After the final round is played, scoring for that set is decided. Each team adds up the books they've caught. This number is compared to the team's bid at the beginning of play. If the team earned at least as many books as were bid, they are given 10 points per book that was bid. Any extra books over the initial bid are rewarded with a single point per book. If a team does not make its bid, 10 points are deducted for each book bid (if the bid was 8, then 80 points would be deducted).
Bonus scores are given if someone successfully goes nil (100 points). If they bid nil but weren't successful, a 100-point deduction is taken from that team's score. If a team goes double nil successfully, a 400-point bonus is awarded.
Winning
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The team that reaches a high score agreed upon by all players before the game begins (such as 500 or 1,000 points), or is in the lead after a set period of time, is declared the winner.
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