To total points in spades, write down each team’s bid, count whether the contract was made or missed, add any bags, then carry the running total forward to the next hand. Most scorekeeping mistakes happen when players forget to track overtricks separately or fail to apply a nil result to the same hand total.
This page is about adding the score sheet correctly. If you want the broader scoring rules first, start with spades scoring explained.
How to set up the score sheet
The simplest score sheet has one row per hand and one column per team. For each hand, write:
- team bid
- tricks actually taken
- hand score
- running total
- bag count if your table uses bag penalties
Best beginner approach
Keep hand score and running total in separate spaces. Most arguments start when someone tries to add both mentally at the table.
Adding a standard hand
Example: Team A bids 6 and takes 8.
- Made bid = 60 points
- 2 extra tricks = 2 bags
- Hand total = 62
If Team A started at 174, the new running total is 236. If the table tracks bags, add those 2 bags to the team’s existing bag count.
Another example: Team B bids 7 and takes 6.
- Missed bid = -70
- Running total drops by 70
Adding nil and blind nil
Nil is easiest if you score it in two pieces:
- score the nil result
- score the partnership bid result
Example: one player bids nil, partner bids 4, and the team takes exactly 4 while the nil player takes none.
- successful nil = +100
- partner contract made = +40
- hand total = +140
If the nil fails but the team still makes partner’s bid, many tables score the hand as the positive contract score plus the negative nil penalty. That is why nil hands should always be written carefully rather than estimated from memory.
Tracking bags over time
If your game uses a bag penalty, keep a running bag count next to the total score. Example:
- Team starts with 8 bags
- Team bids 5 and takes 7 = 52 hand points
- 2 more bags pushes total bags to 10
- Apply the usual -100 bag penalty
- Net hand effect = -48, and bag count resets to 0
This is exactly why many casual tables use the score sheet or a whiteboard instead of trying to remember bags from hand to hand.
Sample running game
Here is a simple three-hand example for Team A:
- Hand 1: bid 5, take 6 = 51. Running total: 51. Bags: 1.
- Hand 2: bid 6, take 6 = 60. Running total: 111. Bags: still 1.
- Hand 3: nil succeeds, partner bids 4, team takes 5 = +100 for nil, +41 for contract and bag. Running total: 252. Bags: 2.
Notice that the running total is not difficult once each hand is broken into one clean line item.
Common scorekeeping mistakes
- forgetting to separate the hand score from the running total
- counting bags as full bid points instead of single points
- forgetting to carry bags forward
- mis-scoring nil as replacing the partnership bid instead of sitting beside it
- changing house-rule values in the middle of the game
If your group argues about the math more than the cards, keep this page next to scoring explained and use the printable spades score sheet every time.