How to Play Spades

What is Spades?

Spades is a trick-taking card game for four players in two partnerships. Each player bids the number of books (tricks) they expect to win, spades always beat the other suits, and a team scores by taking at least the books it bid.

• Players: 4, in two teams of two; partners sit across from each other
• Deck: 52 cards, ace high, no jokers unless the table plays Big Joker, Little Joker
• Trump: spades, every hand
• Goal of a hand: make your team's bid without taking too many extra books
• Goal of the match: be the first team to 500 points (300 in a short game)

Where does Spades come from?

Spades grew out of Whist and is a cousin of Bid Whist. The bridge writer George Coffin traced it to Cincinnati, Ohio, where it appeared between 1937 and 1939, and it spread through the military during World War II.

From Cincinnati the game spread to nearby cities and then into the armed forces. Soldiers played it widely during the war because a hand is quick and the game can be stopped at any moment. In the late 1940s it took hold on college campuses, and it is now the leading partnership card game in the United States (The World of Playing Cards).

In African American communities Spades is far more than a pastime. The playwright and scholar Amina S. McIntyre describes the table as a protected place of community and Black joy, where families keep their own “inscribed rules”, agree them before the first deal, and trade good-natured trash talk (American Journal of Play, 2021). Pagat.com notes that Big Joker, Little Joker, one of the variations below, is widely played by African Americans.

How are the cards dealt?

The first dealer is chosen at random, and the deal passes clockwise after every hand. All 52 cards are dealt, so each player holds 13.

Cards rank from ace (high) down to 2 in every suit. A spade beats any heart, club or diamond; among cards of the same suit, the higher one wins.

How does bidding work?

Starting at the dealer's left and going clockwise, each player bids once: the number of books, from 0 to 13, that they expect to win. A bid of 0 is Nil. The two partners' bids added together, leaving out a Nil, are the team's bid.

• You see your own 13 cards before you bid, and you see every bid made before yours.
• Partners may not talk about their hands; the bid is the only signal.
• Example: you bid 4 and your partner bids 3, so your team must take at least 7 books.
• Many home tables require each team to bid at least four (“board”). Varaq has no minimum: any bid from 1 to 13, or Nil, is allowed.

What is a Nil bid?

Nil is a bid to win no books at all. If the Nil bidder takes no books, the team gains 100 points; if they take even one, the team loses 100. Nil is scored on its own, apart from the partner's bid.

• Books won by a Nil bidder never count toward the partner's bid. They count as bags for the team.
• The partner of a Nil bidder plays to protect them, covering high cards so the Nil bidder can play low.
• Some tables let partners pass cards to a Nil bidder; Varaq does not.
• Some tables play without Nil at all; a host can switch it off.

What is Blind Nil?

Blind Nil is a Nil bid made before you look at your cards, worth 200 points made or lost. On Varaq it is a variation, off by default, and only a player whose team trails by 100 points or more may bid it.

• When the deal starts, an eligible player chooses first: bid Blind Nil, or look at the cards.
• Looking at your cards gives up Blind Nil for that hand; you then bid normally, and ordinary Nil is still open.
• A Blind Nil bidder's books count as bags, exactly as for Nil.
• Blind Nil needs Nil: a table without Nil cannot play Blind Nil.

How do you play a book?

The player on the dealer's left leads the first book. Everyone must follow the suit that was led if they can; a player with none of it may play any card, including a spade. The highest spade wins the book; if no spade was played, the highest card of the led suit wins. The winner leads the next book.

Not following suit when you could is a reneg, the one sin every Spades table agrees on. At a kitchen table the other team calls it and the house rule decides the penalty. On Varaq a reneg cannot happen: you can only choose a card you are allowed to play.

Follow suit

The player on your right leads the K♥. Spades are not broken yet.

Led to the book

Your hand

You hold hearts, so you must play one: the 9♥ or the 4♥. The A♠ would win the book, but playing it here is a reneg, and Varaq only lets you choose a heart.

Cut with a spade

An opponent leads the A♦. You have no diamonds left.

Led to the book

Your hand

With no diamonds you may play anything. Even the 3♠ beats the A♦, because any spade beats every other suit. Playing a spade also breaks spades. If your partner is already winning the book, throwing the 5♣ saves your spades.

When can you lead spades?

You may not lead a spade until spades are broken: a spade has been played on an earlier book of the hand, usually by a player who could not follow suit. A player whose hand holds nothing but spades may lead one anyway.

Spades can be played on any book from the first, by a player with none of the led suit; that is how they get broken. Only leading them is restricted.

Spades are not broken

You won the last book and lead the next one. Nobody has played a spade this hand.

Your hand

You may not lead the Q♠ or the 8♠ yet, so lead the J♥ or the 2♦. Once a spade has been played on an earlier book, you can lead spades. If you held nothing but spades, you could lead one now.

How is a hand scored?

After all 13 books, each team scores its bid: 10 points per book bid if it took at least that many, or minus 10 per book bid if it was set. Each extra book is a bag worth 1 point, and every 10 bags cost 100 points. A Nil scores 100 and a Blind Nil 200, won or lost.

Making your bid

A team that takes exactly the books it bid scores 10 points for each book bid.

Example: you bid 4 and your partner bids 3, a team bid of 7. Between you, you take 7 books. Your team scores 7 × 10 = 70 points. It does not matter which partner took the books.

Getting set

A team that takes fewer books than it bid is set and loses 10 points for each book it bid. The books it did take score nothing.

Example: your team bid 7 and took only 6 books. You are set: 7 × −10 = −70 points.

Overtricks and bags

Every book a team takes beyond its bid is a bag. Each bag adds 1 point now, and the team's bags are counted from hand to hand.

Example: your team bid 7 and took 9 books. You score 7 × 10 = 70 for the bid, plus 2 bags = 72 points, and 2 bags go on your count.

Taking all 13 books is a Boston. Varaq scores it like any other hand: a team that bid 9 and took all 13 scores 90 + 4 = 94 points and adds 4 bags.

The bag penalty

When a team's bag count reaches 10, it loses 100 points, and the count drops by 10. Any bags beyond ten carry over toward the next penalty.

Example: your team already carries 8 bags. This hand you bid 5 and take 8 books: 50 for the bid plus 3 bags = 53 points. Your count reaches 11, so 100 points come off: the hand scores 53 − 100 = −47, and you carry 1 bag into the next hand.

This is why good players bid close to what they can take. Bags look free, but ten of them wipe out a made bid of 10.

Scoring Nil

A Nil scores +100 if the Nil bidder takes no books and −100 if they take any. The partner's bid is scored separately, and the Nil bidder's books never count toward it; they are bags.

Made Nil: you bid Nil and your partner bids 4. You take no books and your partner takes 5. Nil scores +100, the partner's bid scores 40 + 1 bag, so the team scores 141 points.

Failed Nil: you bid Nil and your partner bids 4. You are forced to take 2 books and your partner takes 3. Nil scores −100. Your 2 books do not help your partner, who took only 3 of 4, so the bid is set for −40. Your 2 books are bags, worth +2. The team scores −100 − 40 + 2 = −138 points.

Scoring Blind Nil

Blind Nil works like Nil for double the stake: +200 if the bidder takes no books, −200 if they take any. It is a variation, and only a team that trails by at least 100 points may bid it.

Example: the other team leads 320 to 180, so you trail by 140 and may bid Blind Nil. You bid it before looking at your cards, and your partner bids 5. You take no books and your partner takes 6: +200 for the Blind Nil, 50 + 1 bag for the bid, and your team scores 251 for the hand.

How do you win a Spades match?

The first team to reach 500 points wins (300 in a short game). If both teams reach the target on the same hand, the higher score wins; if their scores are exactly equal, another hand is played.

Example: your team has 460 and the other team 470. On the next hand you score 62 and they score 41. Both teams pass 500, at 522 and 511, and your team wins with the higher score, even though they started the hand ahead.

A player can also concede, which gives the match to the other team.

What variations can a table play?

The host of a private table chooses the variations before the first deal, and the table shows the active ones as badges. Quick match always plays the defaults, so everyone in the queue plays the same game.

Under “2♣ leads”, a player with no clubs may play a spade on that first book, which breaks spades. Big Joker, Little Joker removes the 2♣, so it cannot be combined with “2♣ leads”.

How does Big Joker, Little Joker work?

Two jokers join the spades as the two highest trumps, and the 2♠ ranks next, above the ace. To keep 52 cards, the 2♣ and 2♥ are removed; the 2♦ stays an ordinary diamond. This deck and trump order follow Dennis J. Barmore’s rules on pagat.com, which notes that the variation is widely played by African Americans.

• Spades rank: Big Joker, Little Joker, 2♠, A♠, K♠, Q♠, J♠, 10♠ and down to 3♠.
• The jokers are spades. When spades are led, a joker follows suit; when you cannot follow another suit, a joker cuts like any spade.
• A joker can be led only once spades are broken, and playing one breaks spades. Breaking spades and the first lead are Varaq’s standard rules here; Barmore’s own rules do not require spades to be broken.
• Every other rule, from bidding to bags, stays the same, but there are now 15 trumps instead of 13.

Spades words at the table

Spades players have their own language. These are the words this guide uses, and what they mean on Varaq.

• Book: a trick, one card from each player.
• Board: four books, the minimum bid at many home tables (not required on Varaq).
• Set: a team is set when it takes fewer books than it bid.
• Bags (sandbagging): books taken beyond the bid. Ten of them cost 100 points.
• Cut: playing a spade on a suit you cannot follow.
• Broken: spades are broken once a spade has been played, and may then be led.
• Nil and Blind Nil: bids to take no books, for 100 or 200 points.
• Boston: taking all 13 books. Some tables pay a bonus or end the game for it; Varaq scores it like any other hand.
• Reneg (renege): not following suit when you could.

Sources

Varaq's default table follows the Partnership Spades rules on pagat.com. The history and the culture notes come from the sources below.

• John McLeod, “Spades”, pagat.com, last updated 1 October 2026.
• Simon Wintle, “History and Evolution of Spades”, The World of Playing Cards (wopc.co.uk), 1996, updated 2023.
• “Reflections on Spades: An Interview with Amina S. McIntyre”, American Journal of Play 13, nos. 2–3, The Strong National Museum of Play (museumofplay.org), 2021.