The 60-Second Beginner Guide
Spades is a fantastic team game. You and your partner look at your cards and guess how many rounds you can win. If you guess 6, your team MUST win at least 6 rounds! The Spade suit is super powerful; a 2 of Spades will beat an Ace of Diamonds. Be very careful though! If your team wins TOO MANY extra rounds that you didn't guess, they are called "Bags". If you collect 10 Bags, you get hit with a giant 100-point penalty! So you have to win exactly what you promised, no more, no less.
1. Setup
- 1Played with 4 players in fixed partnerships sitting across from each other.
- 2All 52 cards are dealt, 13 to each player.
2. How to Play
Bidding: Players look at their hand and bid how many tricks they think they can win. Partners combine their bids (e.g., you bid 3, partner bids 4 = your team needs 7).
"Nil" Bid: A player can bid "Nil", promising to win ZERO tricks. It offers a huge bonus if successful, but a massive penalty if they accidentally win even one trick.
Play: Players must follow suit. Spades are the permanent Trump suit and will beat any other suit.
Spades cannot be led until they are "broken" (played on another suit when someone was out of that suit).
Scoring
- •If a team meets their combined bid, they get 10 points per bid trick. (e.g., bidding 7 and winning 7 = 70 points).
- •Overtricks (Bags): If a team wins MORE tricks than they bid, they get 1 extra point per trick (e.g., bidding 7 and winning 8 = 71 points).
- •Bag Penalty: If a team accumulates 10 "Bags" over multiple rounds, they suffer a devastating 100-point penalty!
- •If a team fails to reach their bid, they get negative points equal to their bid x 10.
Winning Conditions
- ✓The first team to reach 500 points wins the game.
- ✓If a team drops to -200 points, they lose immediately.