Spades guide

Goal

Bid how many tricks your partnership will take, then take exactly that many.

Bidding

• Each player looks at their hand and bids the number of tricks they expect to win, from one to thirteen.
• Partners add their bids together to form the contract for the team.
• Bidding nil is a declaration that you will take no tricks at all: a hundred points if you succeed, and the same against you if you fail.
• Blind nil, bid before you look at your hand, is worth double in both directions. It is a host option and is off unless the lobby turns it on.

Playing

• Follow the suit led if you can; otherwise play anything, including a spade.
• Spades are permanent trump - the highest spade played wins the trick regardless of the suit led.
• Spades cannot be led until one has been played on an earlier trick.

Scoring

• Make your contract and score ten points per trick bid.
• Tricks over the contract are sandbags - worth one point each, but reach the bag limit (5 or 10, set in the lobby) and a hundred points come off.
• Miss the contract and you lose ten points per trick bid, so overbidding is expensive.
• The first team to the target score wins - 200, 300 or 500, set in the lobby.