Guide
How to Play Spades
Spades is a game of counting and partnership. Bid what your hand can take, follow suit or trump with a spade, and work with your partner to beat your combined bid.
Play SpadesThe objective
Beat your bid, hand after hand, to 500 points
Spades is played with one standard 52-card deck between two teams of two, partners seated across from each other. Each hand deals out all 52 cards and is played to its last trick before the next hand begins.
Before a card is played, every player bids how many of the 13 tricks they expect to win. Your team's job for the hand is to take at least the combined bid — no more than you need, since extra tricks turn into "bags" that can cost you later.
The game is free, runs in the browser, and needs no account or other human players. Open the table when you want to play; use this guide for the rules, bidding, and the habits that win more hands.
The deal
Four seats, thirteen cards each
You sit South with Sam as your partner at North, facing Riley (West) and Jordan (East). All 52 cards are dealt out, 13 to each seat, so every hand plays to the very last card. The dealer rotates by one seat after every hand.
Every deal here is a fresh shuffle. Bid what the cards in front of you can support — there is no folding or passing once bidding starts.
Controls
Tap, click, or use the keyboard
Every method bids and plays the same cards. Pick whichever fits the device in your hand.
Everywhere
Tap or click
Tap a bid button to lock in your bid, and tap a card in your hand to play it. Cards you cannot legally play right now are dimmed automatically, so you never need to guess the rule mid-hand.
Desktop
Keyboard
Left and Right arrows move focus across the cards in your hand, Enter or Space plays the focused card, and number keys jump straight to a bid. M mutes the sound, and every control has a visible focus ring.
Mobile & desktop
Table view
Your partner, and both opponents are shown around a single table with their bid, tricks won, and a card-back count — nobody's hand but yours is ever revealed.
The loop
Four steps you repeat all match
Reading the table, then choosing between these four, is the whole game.
- 1
Get your hand
You sit South with Sam as your partner at North, facing Riley (West) and Jordan (East). All 52 cards are dealt, 13 to each seat, so every hand is played out to the last card.
- 2
Bid your tricks
Starting left of the dealer, each player bids the number of tricks — 0 to 13 — they expect to win. There is no passing. A bid of zero is a Nil: a bet that you will not take a single trick, for a bigger swing in points.
- 3
Follow suit, or trump
The leader plays any card except a spade (until spades are "broken"). Everyone else must follow the suit led if they can; if not, any card may be played, including a spade, which wins the trick unless a higher spade follows.
- 4
Score the hand
After all 13 tricks, each team compares tricks won to tricks bid. Make your bid and you bank 10 points per trick plus 1 per extra trick (a "bag"). Fall short and you lose 10 points per trick bid. First team to 500 wins the match.
Rules & scoring
Every rule that decides a hand
The objective
Two teams of two, partners sitting across from each other, race to 500 points. A hand deals out every card in the deck and is played to its last trick before the next hand begins.
Bidding
Starting left of the dealer, each player bids 0–13 tricks with no passing allowed. A team's target for the hand is the sum of both partners' bids, except a Nil bid (0) is scored on its own and does not add to that target.
Following suit and trump
Whoever wins the previous trick leads the next one, and may not lead a spade until spades have been "broken" (played to a trick) — unless spades are the only cards left in their hand. Everyone else must follow the suit led if able; if not, any card may be played. Spades beat every other suit; the highest spade played wins the trick, or the highest card of the suit led if no spade appears.
Scoring a hand
A team that takes at least its bid banks 10 points per trick bid, plus 1 point for every trick beyond the bid ("bags"). A team that falls short loses 10 points per trick bid instead. Ten accumulated bags cost a team a 100-point penalty and reset the bag count by ten.
Nil scoring
A successful Nil (its bidder takes zero tricks) earns the team a flat 100-point bonus — 200 for a blind Nil bid before seeing the hand. A failed Nil costs the same amount instead. Any tricks the failed Nil bidder does take still count toward the team's own bag total.
Winning the match
Play continues, hand after hand, until one team's score reaches 500 or falls to -200. The team with the higher score at that point wins the match.
Bidding
Regular bids versus Nil
Every player bids once, at the very start of the hand, before any card is played. Stats are kept for every Nil you attempt.
- 01 · 1 to 13 tricks
Regular bid
A promise that you and your partner, between you, will take at least this many tricks combined. Bid what your hand can support: count your spades, your aces, and any suit you are short in — a short suit is easier to run out of and trump into later.
- 02 · Zero tricks, on purpose
Nil bid
A bid of exactly zero. Succeed — take no tricks all hand — and your team banks a 100-point bonus on top of your partner's bid. Take even one trick and your team loses 100 points instead. It does not add to your team's trick target, so your partner's bid still has to be met on its own.
Common mistakes
Why winnable hands get away from you
Overbidding a shapeless hand
A hand with scattered middle cards and no real spade length rarely supports a bid over three or four. Bid your actual trick-taking strength, not your hope.
Leading spades too early
Once spades are broken, leading them still gives up your trump control. Hold your spades until you need them to win a trick your side cannot win any other way.
Bidding Nil with a dangerous card
One unguarded ace or a lone high spade is usually enough to wreck a Nil bid. If a card in your hand could realistically win a trick, Nil is a bad bet.
Not protecting a Nil partner
If your partner bid Nil, every trick you fail to take is a trick they might get stuck with. Take the lead when you can, and avoid feeding them a suit they cannot safely follow.
- Count your spades and your aces before you bid — those are your most reliable tricks.
- A suit you hold none of, or only one card of, is a future trick: you can trump in once it is led.
- Bid Nil only with a genuinely weak hand: no aces, no unguarded kings or queens, and no more than two or three low spades.
- When your partner bids Nil, play to protect them — take tricks they would otherwise be forced to win and steer the lead away from their danger cards.
- Do not lead a spade the moment it is legal just because you can. Save your high spades to take control of the hand later.
- If your partner is already winning a trick, do not waste a high card beating your own teammate — follow low instead.
- Track the bag count. Sitting on eight or nine bags, it is often worth a deliberately low-value trick to avoid tipping into the ten-bag penalty.
Where you can play
Same game on phone and desktop
spadesgame.app runs in any modern browser with no app to install. Progress stays on the device you played on.
Desktop browsers
Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari all run the game with no plugin. Click a bid or a card, or use the keyboard shortcuts for bidding, playing, and mute.
Phones and tablets
The table layout is touch-first: tap a bid, tap a card. Your hand, your partner, and both opponents fit on one screen in portrait, and a new hand deals instantly.
Progress on this device
Matches played and won, win streak, best winning score, and Nil record live in local browser storage. They stay until you reset them or clear site data, and they do not sync between devices.
Still stuck on a rule? Read the Spades FAQ or jump in and play.
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