Rules for Spades
Four players with partners seated across from each other and using an ordinary deck of 52 cards
The Rank of Cards
The cards, in each suit, rank from highest to lowest: A, K, Q, J, 10,
9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
The Deal
Choose the dealer by agreement and the deal rotates clockwise. The cards
are shuffled and then dealt singly, in clockwise order beginning with the
player on dealer's left, until all 52 cards have been dealt and everyone
has 13
The Bidding
All four players must bid a number of probable tricks they may be able
to take. Each team adds together the bids of the two partners, and the total
is the number of tricks that team must try to win in order to get a positive
score. The bidding begins with the player to dealer's left and continues
clockwise around the table. Everyone must bid a number, and in theory any
number from 0 to 13 is allowed. Unlike other games with bidding, there is
no requirement for each bid to be higher than the last one, and players are
not allowed to pass. There is no second round of bidding - bids once made
cannot be changed.
Example: South deals: West bids 3; North bids 1; East bids 4; South bids 4. The objective of North and South is to win at least 5 ticks (4+1), East and West try to win at least 7 (4+3).
The Nil. Bid:
This is a declaration that that the player who bid Nil will not win
any tricks during the play. There is an extra bonus for this if it succeeds
and a penalty if it fails. The partnership also has the objective of winning
the number of tricks bid by the Nil's partner. It is not possible to bid
no tricks without bidding a Nil. If you don't want to go for the Nil bonus
or penalty you must bid at least 1.
Blind Nil.
This is a nil bid declared before a player looks at his cards. The bidder
may exchange two cards with partner - the bidder discards two cards face
down; partner picks them up and gives back two cards face-down in return.
It is usually agreed that Blind Nil may only be bid by a player whose side
is losing by at least 100 points.
The Play
The player to the dealer's left may lead any card except a spade. Other
players in turn must follow suit if possible and if they do not have that
suit may play any card the wish.
The highest spade played wins a trick with a spade in it. If no spade is played, the trick is won by the highest card of the suit lead. The winner of each trick will lead next. Spades cannot be lead until:
· Any player has played a spade on a trick (obviously on another suit lead)
· A player has nothing but spades left in their hand.
Playing the first spade is known as "breaking" spades
Scoring
A side that takes at least as many tricks as its bid calls for receive
a score equal to 10 times its bid. Additional tricks (overtricks) are worth
an extra one point each.
Sandbagging rule: Overtricks are known as bags. A side which (over several deals) accumulates ten or more bags has 100 points deducted from its score. Any bags beyond ten are carried over to the next cycle of ten overtricks - that is if they reached twenty overtricks they would lose another 100 points and so on. (Note: it is not necessary to keep track of overtricks separately as the cumulative number of overtricks taken appears as the final digit of the team's score, if positive).
Example: Suppose a team whose score is 337 bids 5 tricks. If they win 7 tricks they score 52, taking their score to 389. If they win 8 tricks they score 53, but lose 100 because they now have 10 bags, and their score becomes 290 (337 + 53 - 100). If they win 9 tricks they score 54 and lose 100, bringing their score to 291. If a side does not make its bid, they lose 10 points for each trick they bid.
If a bid of nil is successful, the nil bidders' side receives 50 points. This is in addition to the score won (or lost) by the partner of the nil bidder for tricks made. If a bid of nil fails - that is, the bidder takes at least one trick - the bidder's side loses 50 points, but still receives any amount scored for the partner's bid.
The usual rule is that when a nil fails, the tricks won by the nil bidder do not count towards making the partner's bid, but do count as bags for the team.
A bid of blind nil scores twice as much as an ordinary nil - it wins 100 points if successful and loses 100 points if it fails.
The game ends either when the absolute value of either team's score exceeds the score target of (usually 250 or 500 points.) When the game ends, the higher score wins. For example, if the target is 250 the game ends when either team goes over 250 or below -250.