1Object of the game
Your partnership wants to reach 500 points first. You score by winning at least as many tricks as your team bid, without collecting too many extra tricks. Extra tricks, called bags or sandbags, add a point each but cost your team 100 points every time you pile up 10 of them.
2Setup
- Four players form two teams of two. Partners sit across from each other, so play alternates between teams.
- Pick a first dealer by any method, such as high card. The deal moves one seat to the left after each hand.
- The dealer shuffles and deals the whole deck one card at a time, face down, starting on their left, so each player has 13 cards.
- Cards rank from high to low: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Spades are always trump.
- Set up a score sheet with two columns, one per team, and leave room to track each team's bags.
3The play
- Bidding: starting with the player to the dealer's left and going around once, each player says how many tricks they expect to win. Nobody may pass. Partners' bids are added together to form the team's contract, so bids of 4 and 3 make a team contract of 7.
- A player may bid nil, meaning they promise to win zero tricks. Their partner's bid stands alone as the team contract.
- Play: the player to the dealer's left leads the first trick. They may lead any suit except spades. Going clockwise, each player plays one card.
- You must follow suit if you can. If you have no cards of the suit led, you may play any card, including a spade (trump) or a throw-away from another suit.
- The highest spade in a trick wins it. If no spade was played, the highest card of the suit led wins. The winner of the trick leads the next one.
- Spades cannot be led until a spade has been played on an earlier trick (spades are 'broken'), unless the leader has nothing but spades left.
4End of a hand
A hand ends after all 13 tricks have been played. Each team counts its tricks and compares them to its combined bid, then both teams score the hand, including any nil bids. Add any new bags to each team's running bag count. The deal passes to the left and the next hand begins.
5Scoring
Score each team after every hand. Partners' tricks are combined for the contract, except that a nil bidder's tricks never help their partner make a bid.
| For | Points |
|---|---|
| Make your contract | 10 × tricks bid |
| Each extra trick (bag or sandbag) | +1 |
| Every 10 bags accumulated | −100 |
| Fall short of your contract (set) | −10 × tricks bid |
| Nil bid made (bidder wins no tricks) | +100 |
| Nil bid failed | −100 |
| Game target | 500 points |
Keep bags in the ones digit of the score or in a separate column. When a team reaches 10 bags, subtract 100 and carry any bags beyond 10 into the next count. If a nil bidder takes tricks, those tricks do not count toward the partner's contract, but they do count as bags for the team. Bicycle's rules score a missed contract as 0 rather than a loss; pagat.com and most US home games subtract 10 per trick bid.
The spades score calculator will do the adding up at the table.
6Winning
The first team to reach 500 points wins. If both teams pass 500 on the same hand, the team with the higher score wins. Shorter games to 200 or 300 work well when time is tight. Some groups also end the game when a team falls to minus 200 or lower, counting that as a loss.
7A worked hand
Team North-South bids 4 + 3 = 7. Team East-West has one player bid nil and the partner bid 5. North-South goes into the hand with 8 bags from earlier hands. Play finishes with North-South taking 9 tricks and East-West taking 4, all won by the partner who bid 5, so the nil bidder took none. Score North-South first: they made 7, which is 70 points, plus 2 bags for 2 more points, 72 in all. But those 2 bags bring their running count from 8 to 10, so they lose 100. The hand is worth 72 − 100 = −28 for North-South, and their bag count resets to 0. Now East-West: the nil bid succeeded, which is +100. The partner bid 5 but took only 4, so the team is set and loses 5 × 10 = 50. East-West scores 100 − 50 = +50 for the hand. Even though North-South won more than twice as many tricks, East-West gained 78 more points on this deal. Overbidding by one or two tricks is often cheaper than drowning in bags.
8House rules
The rules above are the version most US players use. These are the variations you are most likely to run into; settle them before the first deal.
- Blind nil
- A player bids nil before looking at their cards, then swaps two cards with their partner. It scores +200 if made and −200 if not. Pagat.com notes it is usually allowed only for a team trailing by 100 or more.
- Two of clubs leads
- Many online and home games have the player holding the 2 of clubs lead it to the first trick, instead of the player left of the dealer.
- Big and little jokers
- Add two jokers as the highest spades and remove two small cards (often the 2 of hearts and 2 of diamonds) to keep 13 cards each.
- No bag penalty
- Some casual games ignore bags entirely and score overtricks at 1 point each with no 100-point deduction.
- Ten for 200
- A team that bids 10 tricks scores 200 if it makes exactly that and loses 200 otherwise, a variant listed on pagat.com.
9Mistakes people make
- You cannot lead spades until spades are broken, but you can always play a spade on another suit's lead when you have none of that suit.
- Partners' bids are combined. Your team makes its contract if the two of you together win enough tricks, except when one partner bid nil.
- The bag penalty is 100 points for every 10 bags a team accumulates over several hands, not per hand.
- A failed nil costs 100 points, and the partner's contract is scored separately. Tricks taken by the nil bidder never count toward the partner's bid.
10Playing better
- Count your sure tricks honestly: aces, protected kings, and high spades. Bid those, and treat long spade holdings as extra tricks.
- Think about bags. Once your team has made its bid, try to lose the remaining tricks instead of taking extras, especially when your bag count is 7 or more.
- Support a partner who bid nil. Win tricks that they might otherwise be forced to take, and lead suits they can safely duck.
- Set your opponents when you can. If they bid high, holding onto a trick or two can cost them 10 points per trick bid, which is often worth more than a few bags.
- Short suits are useful. If you are out of a suit, you can trump in with a spade when that suit is led.
- Listen to the bidding. A partner who bid 1 probably has one high card or a spade trick, not a strong hand.
Spades: questions people ask
- How many bags before you lose 100 points in Spades?
- Ten. Every time a team's running count of bags (tricks won beyond its bid) reaches 10, the team loses 100 points. Bags carry over from hand to hand, and any extras above 10 start the next count. Each bag also scores 1 point when it's taken, so 10 bags net out to a 90-point loss.
- How does nil work in Spades?
- A nil bid means that player promises to win zero tricks. If they succeed, their team scores 100 points; if they take even one trick, the team loses 100. The partner's own bid is scored separately and must be made by the partner alone, since the nil bidder's tricks don't count toward it.
- Can you lead spades on the first trick?
- No. The first lead can be any suit except spades. After that, spades can't be led until a spade has been played on an earlier trick, which is called breaking spades. The only exception is a leader who has nothing but spades left in their hand.
- What happens if you don't make your bid in Spades?
- Your team is 'set' and loses 10 points for every trick it bid. A team that bid 6 and took 5 tricks loses 60. Bicycle's published rules score a set as 0 instead, but losing 10 per trick bid is the most common version in the US.
- How many points do you play to in Spades?
- 500 is the usual target, and the first team to reach it wins. For a shorter game, many groups play to 200 or 300. Decide before the first deal, and also decide whether a team that drops to minus 200 automatically loses.
- Can you play Spades with 2 or 3 players?
- Spades is built for four players in partnerships. Two-player versions exist where each player picks a hand by drawing and discarding from the deck, and three-player versions where everyone plays for themselves with 17 cards each. These are separate variants with their own dealing rules.
- Do you have to play a spade if you can't follow suit?
- No. If you have no cards of the suit led, you may play any card you like. Playing a spade will usually win the trick, but you can also throw a low card from another suit to avoid taking a trick, which helps when you're avoiding bags or protecting a nil.
Sources
Checked by Morgan Hale against the sources below. Last reviewed September 28, 2026.
- Spades, pagat.com. Read September 28, 2026.
- How to Play Spades, Bicycle Cards. Read September 28, 2026.