Spades
Goal
Meet or exceed your team’s bid by winning tricks.
Key Terms
- Trick: One card per player; highest card of led suit wins unless a spade is played.
- Bid: How many tricks your team expects to win.
- Bag (overtrick): A trick taken beyond your team bid; too many can incur a penalty.
- Trump: Spades beat all other suits.
Setup
- Four players in partnerships; deal all 52 cards (13 each).
- Choose a dealer (common: each player draws a card, highest becomes dealer), then deal clockwise.
- The player to the dealer’s left leads the first trick.
Bidding
- Each player bids a number of tricks.
- Team bid is the sum of both partners.
Trick Play
- Spades are trump.
- Players must follow suit if possible.
- If you cannot follow suit, you may play any card; any spade played wins over non-spades.
- Spades can’t be led until “broken” (a spade has been played).
Scoring (common)
- 10 points per bid trick, 1 point per overtrick (bag).
- Bags can incur a penalty (e.g., -100 per 10 bags).
Example Trick
Hearts are led. You play a heart if possible; if not, you may play any card, including a spade which would win the trick.