Spades

• Requirements

• 4 players in 2 partnerships;
• one standard 52-card deck

• Rank of Cards

A (high), K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2

• Setup

Partners sit across the table from each other. First dealer is chosen by a draw. Dealer shuffles the deck and deals 13 cards to each player, by dealing one card in turn in clockwise rotation.

• Object of the Game

To be the first partnership to reach 500 points.

• Bidding

The player to the dealer's left must bid first. Each player looks at his cards and bids, indicating a number of tricks to win. Partners' bids are added and the sum is the number of tricks that partnership must win to score points.

Any player can bid any number from 0 ("Nil") to 13. Players may not pass. Bids do not have to increase with each player. There is only one round of bidding.

EXAMPLE: player A bids 4; player B bids 3; player C bids 2; and player D bids 2. Players A and C need to win at least 6 tricks; players B and D need to win at least 5.

Bidding Nil

A player who bids Nil (zero) is claiming that he won't win any tricks during the round. If he's successful, his partnership earns a 100-point bonus. However, if he wins one or more tricks, his partnership receives a 100-point penalty.

If a player bids Nil and his partner bids a number, then his partner must still win that number of tricks.

NOTE: Both partners are allowed to bid Nil. If both are successful, the partnership earns a 200-point bonus. However, if both partners fail, the partnership receives a 200-point penalty. If one partner succeeds and the other fails, the bonus and penalty cancel each other out; the net effect is 0 points.

Bidding Double Nil

Before looking at his cards, a player may bid Double Nil, also known as Blind Nil. After bidding Double Nil, the player looks at his cards and exchanges three cards with his partner. If he's successful, his partnership earns a 200-point bonus. However, if he fails, his partnership receives a 200-point penalty.

NOTE: Both partners may bid Double Nil. However, in this case no cards are exchanged between partners. If both are successful, the partnership earns a 400-point bonus; if both partners fail, the partnership receives a 400-point penalty. If one partner succeeds and the other fails, the bonus and penalty cancel each other out; the net effect is 0 points.

• The Play

The player to the dealer's left plays first ("leads"). He may not lead with a spade unless his hand only contains spades. Unless a player has no other option, spades may never be led until the suit is "broken" (see below).

Play continues clockwise. Each player must follow suit (i.e. play the same suit that was led) if possible.

Generally, each trick is won by the player who played the highest rank of the suit led. However, if one or more players played spades, the trick is won by the player who played the highest rank of spades.

When a trick is won, the winning player sets the trick in front of himself so that it's easy to tell how many tricks each player has won.

• Breaking Spades

Spades are broken when a player cannot follow suit and chooses to play a spade. When a player cannot follow suit, he may choose to play spades, but is not required to.

Spades are also broken if a player has no option and leads with spades.

• Scoring

Each trick in a bid counts for 10 points if a partnership meets its bid. Tricks won above the bid are worth 1 point each.

If a partnership does not meet its bid, it scores 10 negative points for each trick it bid.

Scoring for Nil and Double Nil bids takes place as described above. When a player bidding Nil fails, tricks won by that player don't count toward making his partner's bid, but they do count as bags for the partnership.

• Sandbagging

A partnership should avoid winning too many tricks above its bid. Each time a partnership wins 10 bags (cumulative through a game), that partnership receives a 100-point penalty.

EXAMPLE: players A and C bid 4 tricks and win 7, then they bid 3 and win 6, then they bid 4 and win 9. They now have 11 bags (3+3+4) and receive a 100-point penalty. The additional bag carries over. , so if they win 9 more bags, they receive another penalty.

• Continuing Play

After scoring a hand, if neither partnership has reached 500 points, the player to the dealer's left becomes the new dealer.

• Winning

The first partnership to reach 500 points wins. If both partnerships reach 500 points in the same round, the partnership with the higher score is the winner. If there is a tie, play another hand.