The player who won the trick leads into the next. Any
card except a spade may be led. Each player in turn
must follow suit if possible; if unable to follow suit, the
player may play any card. A trick containing a spade
is won by the highest spade played; if no spade is
played, the trick is won by the highest card of the suit
led. Spades may not be led until either spades have
been broken (played on the lead of another suit) or
the leader has nothing but spades left. Sandbagging rule: A side which (over several
deals) accumulates ten or more overtricks has 100
points deducted from its score. Any overtricks
beyond ten are carried over to the next cycle of ten
overtricks -- that is if they reached twenty overtricks
they would lose another 100 points and so on. If a side does not make its bid, they lose 10 points
for each trick they bid.
These are the rules as played at playsite
Object
Spades is a four player trick game, much like Hearts
or Bridge. The players are in fixed partnerships, with
partners sitting opposite each other. Deal and play
both proceed clockwise.
How partners are determined
Partners are determined by which seat you take at
the table during the game creation phase. In other
words, choose the seat directly across from the
person with whom you wish to partner.
Rank of Cards
A standard pack of 52 cards is used. The cards, in
each suit, rank from highest to lowest: A, K, Q, J, 10,
9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
The Deal
The first dealer is chosen at random. The cards are
shuffled and then dealt singly, in clockwise order
beginning with the player on dealer's left, until all 52
cards have been dealt and everyone has 13.
The Bidding
Each partnership must declare a bid, which is the
number of tricks they expect to take. The first partner
to bid in each partnership offers a "hint" bid, but it is
up to the second partner to make the binding team
bid. For example, one player may hint "3 tricks" and
his partner will make an actual bid of "6 tricks." The
team must then collectively capture six tricks to make
their bid.
Blind Nil
Blind nil may only be bid by a player whose side is
losing by at least 100 points. A blind nil bid is
identical in requirements to a nil bid, but is declared
before a player looks at his cards. The bidder must
exchange two cards with partner; the bidder selects
two cards to pass, and the partner then selects two
cards to pass back.
The Play of the Hand
The player to the left of the dealer leads the first trick,
which is normal except that spades may not be
played by anyone, including the leaders.
Scoring
A side that takes at least as many tricks as its bid
calls for receives a score equal to 10 times its bid.
Additional tricks (overtricks) are worth an extra one
point each (but this is not good news, see the
"sandbagging rule" below.)
If a nil bid is successful, the nil bidder's side receives
50 points. This is in addition to the score won (or
lost) by the partner of the nil bidder for tricks made. If
a nil bid fails (the nil bidder takes one or more tricks)
then the bidder's side loses 50 points (but still
receives any amount scored for the partner's bid,
and the tricks won by the nil bidder count towards
making the partner's bid.)
A bid of blind nil scores twice as much as an
ordinary nil, 100 points if successful and negative
100 points if unsuccessful.
The game ends either when the absolute value of
either team's score exceeds the score target (usually
250 or 500 points.) When the game ends, the higher
score wins. For example, if the target is 250, the
game ends when a team goes over 250 or below
-250.
