The card game Spades is a trick-taking game popular worldwide, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. It is played with a standard deck of 52 playing cards and is suitable for 4 players in two partnerships.
In this game, you bid how many tricks you will take before the trick-taking even starts. As a result, the game’s objective is to take as many tricks as you bid. Since you play in teams of two, your team’s bids are summed up to form your combined target bid.
To play the card game Spades, first shuffle the deck and deal 13 cards to each player. Speaking of cards, in the card game Spades, the cards go from highest to lowest as follows: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, and Two.
After dealing, the player to the dealer’s left starts the round by bidding the number of tricks they expect to take. The next player can bid or pass. Bids must increase in increments of 1, and if you can’t bid higher than the previous player, you must pass.
After all players have bid, the player to the dealer’s left leads the first trick. The other players must follow suit if possible. The player that added the highest-ranking card of the led suit wins the trick and leads the next trick. But there is an exception: Spades is trump in this game. So, if any Spades card is in a trick, the player contributing the highest Spades card wins the trick.
After all tricks are taken, you score points for each trick taken, with 10 points for taking a trick and a penalty of 10 points for each trick you bid but didn’t take. Then you can play the next round. The partnership with the highest score over multiple rounds wins.
As is typical with card games, the rules for Spades can vary. That means agreeing on the specific rule set before starting the game is important.
If trick-taking games with a side of bidding are your thing, we welcome you to check out our games at the Whist Palace and Pinochle Palace!