Rules of Spades

Players and partnerships

Four players form two fixed partnerships, with partners seated across from one another. Play moves clockwise. Partnership matters from the first bid: your individual bid describes the tricks your hand can contribute, but your team succeeds or fails on the combined total.

Three-player, two-player, and six-player games require different deals or team arrangements. Those belong in the player-count variations guide, not the standard rules.

Deck and card rankings

Use a standard 52-card deck unless the table agrees to jokers or high deuces. In every ordinary suit, cards rank ace high, then king, queen, jack, ten down through two. Spades follow the same internal ranking and beat every card from the other three suits.

A card wins only within the rules of the trick. If hearts are led and no Spade is played, the highest heart wins—not an off-suit ace. If one or more Spades are legally played, the highest Spade wins.

Deal

Shuffle and deal all thirteen cards to each player, one at a time. The player left of the dealer usually acts first. Dealer responsibility rotates clockwise after each hand. Count cards before bidding; an incorrect hand size is handled under the table’s misdeal rule.

Bidding

Beginning left of the dealer, each player states a whole-number bid. Partners add their bids. If North bids three and South bids four, their contract is seven. A bid is a forecast of tricks, sometimes called books; it is not a monetary wager.

Estimate reliable high-card winners, long Spades, side-suit shortages, and the risk that unsupported honors will be trumped. Do not reveal cards or negotiate through prohibited table talk. A nil bid predicts zero tricks and is scored separately.

Playing tricks, following suit, and breaking Spades

The opening leader plays one card. In clockwise order, every other player must follow that suit if able. A player who cannot follow may discard another suit or play a Spade. The highest card of the led suit wins unless a Spade was played; then the highest Spade wins. The winner leads the next trick.

Under the common “Spades must be broken” rule, a player may not lead a Spade until someone has used a Spade to trump an earlier trick. A player holding only Spades may lead one even if none has been played. Some tables allow Spades after the first trick or at any time; agree before dealing.

Contract scoring

Under common scoring, a made contract earns ten points for each bid trick plus one point for each overtrick. A team bidding six and taking eight scores 62: sixty for the contract and two bags. A team bidding six and taking five is set and scores −60.

Games commonly end at 500 points, but 200, 300, and 400 are also used. State whether reaching the target ends immediately, whether a team must complete the hand, and how ties are resolved. See the full scoring reference for a running game example.

Nil, bags, reneging, and misdeals

A successful nil usually earns 100 points; taking any trick usually loses 100. The partner’s ordinary contract still applies. Blind nil, card passing, and double values are optional house rules, not universal standards.

Overtricks accumulate as bags. A common rule subtracts 100 points when a team reaches ten bags, while retaining or resetting the remainder according to house rules. Tables may omit bag penalties.

Reneging means failing to follow suit while holding that suit. It is not a strategic option under standard rules. Because penalties vary, put the remedy in writing. A misdeal concerns the deal itself—wrong card counts, an exposed card under an agreed rule, or another defined dealing error. Read the separate reneging guide and misdeal guide.

Common house-rule choices

Before play, settle the deck, jokers, minimum bid, nil and blind bids, bag penalty, target score, Boston rule, lead restrictions, misdeal standard, and reneging penalty. Standard rules are a baseline; a disclosed house rule is valid for that table. The problem is surprise, not variation.

Worked hand

North bids four and South bids three, creating a seven-trick contract. East-West bid five. North-South take eight tricks, so they make seven and collect one bag: 71 points. East-West take the remaining five and make their contract exactly: 50 points. If South also bid nil and took no trick, apply the table’s nil bonus in addition to the partnership contract treatment.

Rules FAQ

Must I trump when void?

No under standard rules. You may discard or trump unless a house rule says otherwise.

Can Spades be led immediately?

Usually not until broken, but this is configurable.

Do partners bid together?

They bid individually in turn, then combine the numbers into one contract.

What is a book?

At most tables it is another word for a trick.