Spades (card game)

Spades is a trick-taking card game devised in the United States in the 1930s. It can be played as either a partnership or solo/"cutthroat" game. The object is to take the number of tricks that were bid before play of the hand began. Spades is a descendant of the whist family of card games, which also includes bridge, hearts, and oh hell. Its major difference as compared to other whist variants is that, instead of trump being decided by the highest bidder or at random, the spade suit is always trumps, hence the name.

History

Spades was devised in the Midwest of the United States in the late 1930s. Bridge author, George Coffin ascertained that it originated in Cincinnati between 1937 and 1939. The game is descended from Whist and is closely related to Bridge, Pinochle and Euchre. It also remained widely popular in countries in which U.S. troops were stationed, both in WWII and later deployments.

Overview

;Number of players: Two or more. The game is most commonly played with four players in pairs, "partnership spades".

;The deck: Standard 52-card deck. Spades may also be played with one or two Jokers or with predetermined cards removed. When playing with six or more players, a second deck is often used.

;Rank of suit: Spades are always trump. Other suits have no intrinsic value during play, but a card of the suit led in the current trick will beat a card of any other suit, except a spade. If a tiebreaker is needed in a draw for deal, the most common suit order in Bridge from low to high is .

;Rank of cards: Highest to lowest: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.

;Object of the game: To score points, generally 500. Points are accrued by winning at least the number of tricks bid in each hand. They are lost by failing to take at least that many, or in some cases by taking too many.

;Counter bidding: The first team that bids has an option to counter-bid their opponent.

Rules

The deal

The first dealer is chosen by a draw for "first spade" or "highest card". Thereafter the deal passes to the dealer's left after each hand. The dealer shuffles, and the player to the right is given the opportunity to "cut" the cards to prevent the dealer stacking the deck. The entire deck is then dealt face-down one card at a time in clockwise order. With four players, each player should receive 13 cards.

Scoring

Once the final trick is played, the hand is then scored. Many variants for scoring exist. What follows is the basic method.

Contract score

Once a hand is completed, the players count the number of tricks they took and, in the case of partnerships or teams, the members' trick counts are summed to form a team count.

Each player's or team's trick count is then compared to their contract. If the player or team made at least the number of tricks bid, 10 points for each bid trick are awarded. A bid of 5 would earn 50 points if made. If a team did not make its contract, it was "set" and 10 points for each bid trick are deducted from the team's score. E.g.: six bid and any number less than six taken, results in minus 60 points.

If a player/team took more tricks than they bid, a single point is scored for each overtrick, called an "overtrick", "bag", or "sandbag". A bid of 5 tricks with 6 tricks taken, results in a score of 51 points.

Sandbags and bagging out

A common scoring variant is designed to penalize players for underestimating the number of tricks they will take, while at the same time not removing the possible strategy of intentionally taking overtricks, or "bags", in order to "set" the other team. This is accomplished by keeping track of bags in the ones place on the scorecard, and assessing a 100-point penalty when 10 bags are accumulated and the ones place rolls over.

The 10 bags could be considered to make the penalty 90 points. The penalty can instead be 110 points to offset this, or the ones' place can simply not be carried when adding. Anything over 10 sandbags is retained in the first digit and count towards future overtricks. A player or team can bag out multiple times in a game. Sandbags do not count as points.

Keeping score

One of the players is the scorer and writes the bids down, so that during the play and for the scoring afterward, this information will be available to all the players. When a hand is over, the scores should be recorded next to the bids. Alternatively, the scorer can turn the bid into the contract score by writing in the number of bags (zero if there were none) behind the bid, and a minus sign before it if the team was set, then add bonuses and subtract penalties beneath. A running score should be kept so that players can readily see each other's total points.

Winning

The most common condition is the first to reach 500 points, or forcing the opposing team to drop to −200 points. Alternatively, the game could be played for a fixed number of hands or a fixed time limit. With four players, eight hands can generally be played in about an hour. If there is a tie, then all players participate in one more round of play until a winner is decided.

Game variations

As with any widely played game of such a flexible nature, spades has many variations, ranging from significant changes in play to small tweaks that suit individual or household preference.

Deal variations

;Deficient hand

: Sometimes a misdeal is also called if a player is dealt a "deficient" hand, such as one that contains one or no spades or no face cards (players should agree beforehand on what constitutes a "deficient hand"). A player wishing to declare a misdeal due to a deficient hand must throw down their hand face-up, so other players may verify, and must declare "misdeal" before any member of their team has bid. Declaring a misdeal on a deficient hand is optional; a player may try to bid "nil" if dealt such a hand.

;Deuce starts

: Regardless of which player has dealt, the player with the leads it to begin the game, similar to hearts.

;Face-up deal

: In this variant, the dealer can lay out up to four cards per player face up as long as the same number is revealed for each player. Revealing the cards can also set up the psychological warfare of bidding and later playing, referred to as power checks, but face-up deals are sometimes done by dealers who set the deck to determine if the cut has disrupted their preparations. When a face-up deal is made, Blind Nil can still be bid if the player has not viewed any face-down cards.

;Kitty

: In games with players where the cards cannot be dealt evenly, there is a variation in which no cards are removed from the deck, but instead a kitty composed of the leftover cards (or one trick's worth of cards plus the leftovers) is placed at center. Whoever is dealt the , or alternatively, the player with the highest bid (tie-breaker being first to make that bid), picks up the kitty before bidding begins, integrates it into their hand and then discards the same number of cards. If a round of cards in addition to the leftovers is placed in the kitty, the discard by the player who picked up the kitty counts as a trick. This introduces more uncertainty in bids because usually the person with the kitty tries to void one suit and trump earlier in the game.

Bidding variations

;Sum of bids: One variant, borrowed from the related game oh hell, is that the sum of all bids must not equal the number of tricks to be played. This ensures that at least one player or team will be set or "bagged" (forced to take an overtrick). Another game variation allows each player to optionally increase their bid by one point after all players have bid but before game play starts. A reduction in bid, once bids are made, is never allowed.

;Nil: A player that has already looked at their cards can bid nil. The object of the bidder is to take no tricks during the hand. The player's partner may make a normal bid and then help them by attempting to take tricks the Nil bidder would otherwise take. In solo/cutthroat spades, successful Nil bids are rare since there is no partner to help by taking the bidder's higher cards. If the Nil bidder takes no tricks, that player receive the Nil bonus; if unsuccessful, the player or team subtracts that bonus. There is another variation, when playing with the Jokers, that the and the are high trumps, then Ace, King, etc. When the deck being used does not contain Jokers, or contains Jokers of the same size, the becomes the big joker and the becomes the little joker. There is a variation where the Aces can be called high (value of 14) or low (value of 1). In this scenario highest to lowest spades with all cards in deck is: big joker, little joker, , , , , ace, king – 3 of spades.

;Joke trumps: Jokers have no value or rank by themselves, but transform all teammates' cards (whether played before or after the Joker) played in the same trick to "joke trumps" status. For example, a Joker played on transforms that card into , which trumps all cards except a natural . Similarly, a Joker followed by a transforms the latter into a , beatable by either a natural or higher, or a joke or higher. There is no added benefit to playing multiple Jokers. If two teams play Jokers, resulting in tied joke trumps, the tie is broken either by the higher Joker, the first Joker played, or the suit rank ( first, then , then ), depending on variation.

;Jokers high aka easy spades: Both jokers are positioned as the highest spades. So instead of just 13 spades, there are now 15 spades. This in effect takes the queens out of question, meaning one need not bother to question whether the queen will win a trick, it will most likely not. With more spades and removing the question from the queens makes this variation an easier game to play. If both jokers are played in one trick, the big joker (full color, red, or larger graphic) beats the little joker (black-and-white, or the "guarantee" card with smaller art). A related variation is Joker-Joker-Deuce-Ace in which the ranking is big joker, little joker, and . With 3 players, the Jokers are added and no cards are removed; with 4 players, the and either or are taken out, or, similar to their use in Euchre, can replace the and .

;Jokers high alternate: Similar to jokers high above, if the big joker is led, opponents must play their highest spade in that trick. If the big joker is played during a hand, opponents are not forced to play their highest spade. This variation makes bidding more complex, as one cannot count on their highest spade as winning a trick, big joker excepted. This variation is commonly played with all 54 cards, using the Kitty dealing variation above.

;Jokers high first played wins: Both jokers are used and count as the highest spade. If both jokers are played in one trick, the one played first takes the trick.

;Bauer trumps: Adapted from 500 and Euchre, highest trump is the , known as the right bauer. Second highest trump is , being the same color and known as the Left Bauer. The rest of the cards follow normal order. Alternatively, and similar to the above, both Jacks can be replaced with two Jokers, making them more distinctive.

;Differentiated trump values: Suits are given special trump value, with Spades being the highest trump. General order is , , , and . When played this way, there is no off-suit; the suit is either more or less valuable than the led suit, and if more valuable it trumps any card played in that suit.

;Show 7 trump: If a player holds seven cards (or more) of a non trump suit, (Seven , seven , or seven ) The player may show their seven cards to the other players before bidding to change the trump suit from spades to the new suit. Thereby spades would cease to trump the other cards & the new suit would beat all other cards. In the case that seven cards (or more) of a suit are held by one player and seven (or more) are held by another player, The player holding the seven may optionally show their spades & make trump again. Bidding then begins as normal.

Variations

;Aces high/low: During the play, aces can be called high or low. These are especially valuable cards in 3B-spades scoring version where there is an immediate penalty for taking extra tricks.

:A player who mistakenly TRAMs (i.e., when it is possible for another player to win at least one trick) may face a penalty. This may be the same penalty as that imposed for any other illegal showing of cards, such as being required to leave the exposed cards face up on the table, to be played at the earliest legal opportunity to do so.

;No overs

: One game variation does not count overtricks. In this case the player or team receives only 10 points for each trick that was bid and no points for overtricks. This changes the bidding strategy; it is only possible to lose points by being "set" on a bid, as there is no penalty for "bagging out", so players will attempt to "set" the leading player or team in order to gain ground. Similarly, players or teams will bid lower to avoid being set as there is no penalty for taking too many overtricks.

;Double over, double back

: Instead of, or perhaps in addition to, penalizing players who "bag out", a common variant is for players or teams who take at least double the number of bid tricks will be penalized by subtracting double the value of their contract. A team who bids 2 tricks and takes 4 tricks or more will lose 40 points. This is often combined with the "no overs" scoring style to discourage small bids.

;Oh hell variation

: Like oh hell, partnerships must take exactly the number of tricks bid. If they have overtricks, the team is penalized and the contract is broken. Some play where if the team bids 5 tricks and wins exactly 5 tricks, the contract is honored no matter which player made how many tricks, while others force each player to exactly meet their contract.

;Quicksand

: A variation of penalizing overtricks, a team who exactly makes their contract gets full value. Overtricks subtract 10 points each from that value, and teams who do not make their contract subtract 10 points for each missed trick. For instance, consider a bid of 7 tricks. If the team made exactly 7 tricks, they would earn the full 70 points. If they only took 5 tricks, they would lose 20 points. If the team made 9 tricks, they would earn the 70 points, −20 points for the two overtricks, resulting in a score of 50 points.

;Broken contract gives points to opposing team

: This is an additional variant taken from bridge and used with an auction-style bidding. If the declarer (the player or partner with the winning bid) fails to meet the contract, the defending pair receives 10 points for each undertrick (the number of tricks by which declarer fell short of the goal). Instead of the declaring team losing points, they should receive zero.

;Books made

: If the combine bids of both teams equals 10 books (i.e. 6 books to 4 books, 5 books to 5 books) then books made is called. The hand is not played out. Both team are awarded their bids. There are no over books. the deal moves to the next player.

;Deficient ends the game

: If one team's cumulative score is less than the negative of the winning score, that team has lost. For example, if before the game, the winning score is set at 500 points, then either team that manages to net a score of −500 points or below automatically loses.

;Highlander scoring

: The points awarded function slightly differently than in conventional spades. Highlander scoring merges partnership playing with individual team effort. Sandbagging does not apply with this type of game play, although sandbagging could be included. Each partner makes a bid of the tricks they think they can win. Each partner must win the total they individually bid; if not, that player's bid value is deducted from the team's score even if their partner took enough trick to make up the difference.

:For example, if Tom bids 5 tricks and wins 4 tricks, and Harry (his partner) bids 3 tricks and wins 4 tricks, 80 points is deducted from the partnership's total score even though the team won their promised 8 tricks, because Tom did not make his bid. However, Harry is awarded five points per overtrick, so they are −75 points instead of −80 points. If the contract is broken and no overtricks were taken, the team is down the full amount of the bid. If both made their contract and have won overtricks, they are awarded five extra points per overtrick. Team that wins seven or more tricks per round is given 10 points the first time, 20 points the second, and each time thereafter the points increase by 10. This encourages race-style play where players set out to take as many tricks as they can as long as they do not steal tricks their partner needs.

;Individual team players

: If both teammates get their exact individual bid, they are given a bonus equal to half the total bid (rounded down to the nearest 10 to avoid interference with bags). For example, Tom bids 3 tricks, Harry bids 4 tricks. If Tom wins 3 tricks and Harry wins 4 tricks, 30 bonus points are awarded to that team (added to the 70 points for contract for a total of 100 points on the hand).

;Sandbags 0-till-10

: Some players use the last digit of the score to count sandbags, but do not regard that digit as being part of the score. For example, as score of 54 points translates to 50 recordable points with 4 sandbags. In this manner, sandbags are in effect worth nothing until a player accumulates 10 of them, at which point they trigger a 100-point deduction. Bags are thus kept separate from the score and cannot be used as a tiebreaker.

;Sandbag cancellation

: Some people play that there is a special card which cancels one bag on that hand for the side that takes it in their tricks. If the side which wins the special card makes no overtricks, or loses their bid, the special card has no effect. The special card may be either a fixed card or may be determined afresh by cutting a card before each deal.

;Sandbags negative value

: Tricks in excess of the contract (overtricks or sandbags) may be worth −1 point each rather than +1 point. In this case the penalty for accumulating 10 overtricks generally does not apply.

;Seven tricks or higher

: For successful bids of seven or more, players get an extra 10 points for each trick bid above six. So, if 7 tricks are bid by a player and that contract is made exactly, 80 bonus points are awarded. 8 tricks award 100 points, 9 tricks award 120 points, etc. This method of scoring rewards players who are more daring.

;Seven tricks or higher part deux

: Team that bids and then wins 7 tricks per round is given 10 points the first time, 20 points the second, and each time thereafter the points increase by 10 points. Overtricks do not count.

;Win the last trick

: Taken from bela and pinochle, the winner of last trick wins 10 bonus points. Generally this variation is not recommended if one is playing with bonus tricks.

;Leading with the ace of spades

: Depending on the region in which the game is played this is permitted.

;No point deductions

:In some variations of spades, no points are lost when bids are not met. In these scenarios, the team receives a score of 0 points for the round. This scoring is less drastic than normal scoring and is recommended for beginner players. Nil is the exception to this rule. If a player bids nil and takes a trick, then 100 points are deducted from the team's score. This is independent of your partner's bid. For example, if a player bids nil and their team member does not meet their bid, the team still gains a net of 100 points. If a player bids nil and receives a trick, then 100 points are deduced and their partner's hand is scored normally.

The number of players

Traditionally spades is played with four players in two partnerships. However, there are variations that allow for greater or fewer players. Partnerships are optional even with four players. All other rules should be agreed upon beforehand by the players.

;Solo spades: Solo spades is like regular spades, just without the partnership. This is also known as "cutthroat spades".

;Two players: In this variation, the cards are not dealt at the beginning of the game. Instead, the deck is placed face down and the players take turns drawing two cards with each turn. Once drawn, players must choose one card of the pair to discard and one to keep. This continues until the deck is exhausted after which, each player will possess 13 cards. The game then proceeds normally. :A variation of this deal is to decide whether or not to keep the first card drawn. If the player decides to keep the first card, the second card may be looked at, but must be discarded. If the player decides to discard the first card, the second card must be kept. This variation introduces a greater degree of chance into the game. To add an even greater degree of chance, forbid viewing of the second card if the first card is kept. This gives both players less certainty as to which cards their opponent is holding.

;Three players: There are no partnerships; players play for themselves. A standard 52 card deck is used, and each player is dealt 17 cards with a predetermined card thrown out (usually the ) or the last undealt card thrown out. Some play with the Big and little joker included as the highest trumps, with each person getting 18 cards.

;Five players: There are no partnerships; players play for themselves. and are removed from the deck and each player is dealt 10 cards. Alternatively, if three Jokers are available, they may be added as either highest trump or as junk cards, thus dealing each player 11 cards each.

;Six players: This can be played either solo, three partnerships, or two teams of three. Two standard 52 card decks are combined, with both discarded (102 cards, 17 each), two cards discarded (or kept as a kitty), or all four Jokers added (108 cards, 18 each). Prior to the beginning of play, players agree on the protocol when identical cards are played. Some play that the first such played card wins the trick while others play that the last played card wins the trick. Alternatively, 6-handed play can be done with a 48 card deck, having removed all the 2s. It can also be done with a 52 card deck plus two Jokers, similar to three-handed but with half the cards per player.

;Seven or more players: Beyond six players, the game becomes either very complex, or hard to maintain with multiple decks. An additional side effect of an increased number of players is a short game, as the number of cards held by each player is reduced and high trump is more and more likely to take the trick. Seven players should normally be split into groups of four and three, eight players into two groups of four players, nine players into either groups of four and five players, or three groups of three players.

Partners versus cutthroat/solo

The differences partners spades and cutthroat bidding and play are substantial. In partners, a player would bid a trick for every ace, king, and queen in a side suit (i.e.: non-Spade). In cutthroat, a player would rarely bid on a king in a long side suit (5+ cards) nor a queen in any length side suit because of the risk of their being trumped. This risk is reduced in partners by the possibility that partner may be out of the long suit and able to discard or to overtrump an opponent.

In partners, nil bids are easier to make because the nil bidder's partner can overtake or trump the nil bidder's high cards. In cutthroat, this safety valve is not available.

Partners allows a mix of weak and strong players by pairing a weak player with a strong one, resulting in a more satisfying game (provided that the division of talent is about even) than in Cutthroat where individual weak players would stand little or no chance against strong players.

Conversely, against a computer program where the object is for a human to beat the computer software, being saddled with a weak computer partner does not provide a satisfying game. Thus, Cutthroat makes more sense for a computer game than Partners.

Terminology

Bag – An "overtrick". A trick taken by a player or partnership when their contract has already been met. The importance of bags or overtricks varies depending on house rules. Generally, taking too many overtricks incurs a penalty, but the taking of some overtricks can be good strategy.
Bid – The number of tricks each player will take during a hand, announced by each player in term before a hand begins. The bid is the sum of each team members single bid, and is used to determine the total "team bid." The bid equals the total number of tricks the team must win, or risk being set (falling short of the bid) or taking sandbags, or bags (taking more tricks than were bid).
Book – In spades, this is synonymous with "trick". Other trick-taking games have a different definition.
Boston – When a team, usually by one player of the team or both, wins all 13 books in a hand.
Contract – The result of a player's or partnership's bids for the hand. They are required to take at least that number of tricks during play of the hand.
Cut or cutting – In spades, when a suit being played gets cut by a spade and thus takes the book, unless the following player trumps theirs with a higher spade. Also, when a partner trumps the other partners winning card, for example the first partner threw out a king of diamonds and their partner then trumped it with the ace of diamonds. There are times when this can be a strategic move, though not often.
Extras – After adding up all the contracts the unclaimed tricks are "the extras". In 4 handed there are 13 tricks per hand. A typical hand has just one extra.
Hand – A series of tricks in which all cards dealt to each player are played.
Honor cards – Refers to the top four or five cards in each suit, A, K, Q, J and 10.
Nil – A Bid to win no tricks at all in any hand. A special bid for which there is usually a bonus if the nil is achieved and a penalty if it is defeated by forcing the one who bid Nil to take a trick in any given hand.
Partnership – A pair of players when playing with an even number. Their bids and taken tricks are summed.
Renege – When a player can follow suit but does not, it is considered cheating.
Set – To be unable to take the number of tricks required by a contract, usually because the opposing players have taken enough tricks that there are fewer remaining tricks than are needed.
Slough (sluff) – also known as "throwing off", to play a card that is not a trump card but of different suit than the first suit played, therefore discarding that card. Sloughing is normally used to get rid of a card that may otherwise take a trick the player does not wish to take. It can also be used to void other suits allowing play of trump cards in tricks where that suit is led.
Team – Largely synonymous with "partnership", but when playing with six or more a team can comprise more than two players.
Three amigos – The , , and . When a person has all three it usually mentioned when they are being led out in order. Also, with the , "the three amigos and their little brother".
(To) follow suit – To play a card of the same suit as the first card played to a trick. As in many trick-taking games, Spades players are required to follow suit if they are able.
Trick – Also known as a book. A unit of play in which each player lays one card from their hand, and is "taken" or won usually by the player who laid down the highest value card.
Trump – A suit or other subset of cards in the deck that is of higher value than all others. Most games in the Whist family use a trump suit. In Spades, it is always the Spade suit. The term also refers to the playing of a trump card, also known as a "ruff" or "ruffing".