This glossary separates standard Spades terms from regional or table-specific slang. A local term is useful only when everyone at the table agrees on its meaning.
Core play terms
- Book / trick
- Four cards, one from each player; the highest legal card wins.
- Lead
- The first card played to a trick.
- Follow suit
- Play the led suit when holding it.
- Trump
- Spades, which outrank cards of other suits.
- Break Spades
- Play the first Spade as a trump, normally allowing Spades to be led later.
- Void
- Holding no card in a suit.
- Ruff / cut
- Use a Spade to win a trick led in another suit.
- Renege / revoke
- Fail to follow suit while able.
Bidding and contract terms
- Bid
- A prediction of tricks; not the monetary stake.
- Contract
- The partners’ combined bid.
- Nil
- A bid to take zero tricks.
- Blind nil
- An optional nil declared before viewing the hand.
- Set
- Fail to make a contract.
- Boston
- Take all thirteen tricks; treatment varies.
- Board
- A table-specific minimum team bid, as in “board four.”
Scoring terms
- Bag / overtrick
- A trick above the contract.
- Bag penalty
- A deduction after accumulating a threshold, commonly ten.
- Target score
- The total required to win.
- Hand score
- Points earned or lost on one deal.
- Running score
- Cumulative score across hands.
Strategy language
- Cash
- Take a winner before it can be trumped.
- Draw trump
- Lead Spades to remove them from other hands.
- Duck
- Play low intentionally and decline a trick.
- Cover
- Protect partner, especially a nil bid.
- Endplay
- Force an opponent to lead advantageously late in a hand.
- Third hand
- The player acting third to a trick, often facing a choice whether to overtake.
Regional and table-specific slang
Terms such as dime, deuce, wheels, run a yard, board, cut, and book can change by region. “Big joker” and “little joker” require a stated rank. “Suicide,” “Whiz,” and “Mirror” name variants rather than standard rules. Ask for a plain-language definition before play; never use slang as a substitute for a complete scoring agreement.
Additional standard and regional terms
Sandbags: another name for bags or overtricks. Blind bid: any bid made before viewing the hand; values are house rules. Board: regional slang for a minimum team bid, not a universal standard. Singleton: exactly one card in a suit. Spade tight: regional description for holding few or no Spades. Wheels: regional name for a special high contract, often ten or thirteen depending on the table. Yard or run a yard: regional slang for taking all thirteen tricks or achieving a table-defined sweep.
Cut: commonly means trumping a non-Spade lead; it can also mean cutting the deck before the deal. Duck: deliberately play below the winning card. Overtrick: a trick beyond the contract, normally a bag. Set: fail to take the contracted number of tricks. Spade tight, Wheels, Board, and run a yard are not universal terms; ask the table to define them.
Quick alphabetical reference
Bags/sandbags—overtricks. Bid—predicted tricks. Blind nil—zero-trick bid before seeing cards. Board—regional minimum-bid term. Book/trick—one four-card round. Boston—taking all thirteen. Break Spades—first legal trump on a non-Spade lead. Contract—partners’ combined bid. Cut—trump a side suit. Duck—decline a trick. Follow suit—play the led suit when able. Lead—first card. Misdeal—deal error. Nil—bid zero. Renege—fail to follow suit. Singleton—one-card suit. Trump—Spades. Void—no cards in a suit.
Terms in a sample hand
North bids three and South bids four, so their contract is seven books. East leads a heart. South must follow suit while holding a heart. On a later heart lead, South is void and may discard or cut with a Spade. That cut breaks Spades. If North-South take eight books, they make the contract and record one overtrick or bag.
If West held a heart but discarded a club, West reneged. If East had fourteen cards before bidding, the deal may be a misdeal under the agreed rule. If South bid nil and took a trick, the nil failed even if the partnership contract succeeded.
Why regional labels need definitions
Board can mean a minimum team bid; Wheels can describe ten, thirteen, or another special contract; Boston and run a yard may both describe taking all tricks but score differently. Spade tight can mean few trump or no trump. Use the plain action and score alongside the nickname: “Boston means all thirteen and wins the game,” for example. That prevents two players from agreeing to a word while imagining different rules.