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Spades glossary

What Is Blind Nil in Spades?

3 min read

Blind nil is a promise to take zero tricks, made before you look at your hand. It scores +200 if you pull it off and −200 if you take a single trick. At Spades Night it is only offered when your team is behind by 100 points or more.

Blind nil is a nil bid made before you look at your cards. It is the comeback bid of spades: a 200-point gamble a team makes when it is losing and needs a big swing. For the rest of the bidding rules, see the spades rules.

How it works

  • Your cards are dealt face down. Before you see them, you bid blind nil.
  • Take no tricks: +200. Take one or more: −200.
  • Your partner looks at their hand and bids a normal number. That bid is the team contract, scored separately.
  • Because you can't pick a good hand for it, blind nil is a pure risk. It is usually only allowed when your team is well behind.

Example

Your team trails 180 to 310 with two hands left in a game to 500. You are offered blind nil and take it. Your partner looks at their hand, sees A♠ K♠ Q♠ and two side aces, and bids 5.

Your cards flip when play starts. You hold the Little Joker, which is a real problem: it beats everything except the Big Joker. You need to throw it away on a trick your partner is already winning with the Big Joker, or on a trick where an opponent has played the Big Joker. If that works and you duck every other trick, your team scores +200 for the nil plus 50 for your partner's 5. A 250-point hand can turn the game.

How Spades Night handles it

  • Offered only to players on a team that trails by 100 or more when the hand is dealt.
  • Your cards stay face down during bidding. Peek and the offer is gone; you bid like everyone else.
  • Scored ±200, separately from your partner's contract.
  • If your bid clock runs out, the game bids for you with a normal bid, never a blind one.
  • Tricks a failed blind nil takes count as bags.
  • No cards are passed between partners.
  • Blind nil can be switched off at a private table.

Variations at other tables

Many home tables let the blind nil bidder and partner swap one or two cards after the bid, so the nil player can hand off their most dangerous cards. Some set a different threshold (behind by 200) or allow blind nil at any time. A few also allow "blind" numeric bids for extra points. None of those are part of our game.

The nil strategy guide covers how a partner covers a blind nil.

Questions people ask

How many points is blind nil in spades?

Blind nil is worth +200 if you take no tricks and −200 if you take any. That is double a regular nil, because you bid it without seeing your cards.

When can you bid blind nil?

Many tables only allow blind nil when your team is behind by 100 or more points. Spades Night uses that rule: the option appears at the deal only for a team trailing by 100+.

Can you look at your cards before bidding blind nil?

No. The whole point is bidding before you see them. At Spades Night your cards stay face down; if you peek, the blind nil option disappears and you bid normally.

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