How to play Spades (Short)

Spades is a trick-taking card game for four players in two partnerships, in which spades are always trumps and each side tries to take the number of tricks it bid.

Spades played to 300 points.

About Spades (Short)

Spades: Short plays exactly like the classic game, with the same bidding, nil and bag rules, but ends after the hand in which a side reaches 300 points.

At 300 points, a made nil is worth a third of the target and a made blind nil two thirds, so a single hand's bidding can decide the game. A side that falls 100 or more behind early is offered blind nil at the next deal, which can turn a short game around quickly.

With fewer hands to play, bags matter less and being set matters more: missing a contract costs 10 points per trick bid, and there is little time to win that back. Bid safely and make sure of the contract rather than stretch for every trick, especially when your side is ahead near the end.

The goal of Spades

Spades is a trick-taking game for four players in two partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other. You play with a computer partner against two computer opponents. In every hand each player bids how many tricks they expect to take.

How to set up Spades

Each player is dealt 13 cards from a 52-card deck, aces high. Spades are always trump. The deal passes one seat clockwise after every hand.

Spades rules

Starting to the dealer's left, each player bids once, from 0 to 13 tricks. Your side's contract is the sum of both partners' bids, leaving out any nil. A bid of 0 is nil: a promise to take no tricks at all, scored for that player alone.

Blind nil is allowed only when your side trails by 100 points or more at the deal, and to only one player per side in a hand. Your cards stay face down until your bid; you either bid blind nil or look at your cards and bid normally. After a blind nil, the bidder and their partner exchange two cards.

The player to the dealer's left leads first. You must follow suit if you can; otherwise you may play any card, including a spade. The highest spade wins the trick, or if no spade was played, the highest card of the suit led. Spades may not be led until one has been played to an earlier trick, unless you hold only spades.

The full Spades guide, with strategy tips and common questions