Learn spades
Spades guides
From your first bid to setting the other team on purpose. Start with the rules, then pick a guide.
- How to Play Spades: A Beginner's GuideSit across from your partner and deal 13 cards each. Everyone bids how many tricks (books) they will win, and partners add their bids into one team…Read the guide
- How Spades Scoring WorksMake your team contract and you score 10 points per book bid, plus 1 point per extra book (a bag). Miss it and you lose 10 per book bid. Every 10…Read the guide
- Spades with Jokers and DeucesJoker joker deuce deuce (JJDD) spades removes the 2♥ and 2♣, adds both jokers, and makes the top of trump Big Joker, Little Joker, 2♦, 2♠, then A♠…Read the guide
- How to Bid in Spades: Count Your BooksTo bid in spades, count sure tricks first: aces, protected kings, and top trump. Add one trick for each spade beyond the third, plus one for a void…Read the guide
- Play Spades Online with Friends, FreeTo play spades online with friends on Spades Night, open the game in your browser, set your table rules, tap Invite to copy a link, and send it…Read the guide
- How to Play Spades with 2 PlayersYes, you can play spades with 2 people. At the table, each player builds a 13-card hand by drawing from the deck and keeping or discarding one card…Read the guide
- Spades Card Order: Jokers, Deuces and TrumpIn classic spades, trump runs A♠ down to 2♠ and every other suit runs ace high. With jokers and deuces, the order is Big Joker, Little Joker, 2♦, 2♠…Read the guide
- Spades Cheat SheetSpades in one page: four players, two teams, spades are trump. Bid the books you'll take; your bid plus partner's is the contract. Make it for 10 per…Read the guide
- Spades Strategy: 15 Tips That Actually Win HandsWinning spades comes from three habits: bid what your hand can really take, play with your partner instead of over them, and keep count of trump. Add…Read the guide
- Nil in Spades: When to Bid It, How to CoverBid nil when your hand has no trump that can be forced to win and no side suit where you'd be stuck with a high card. Your partner then covers: plays…Read the guide
- Spades House Rules and Variations ExplainedEvery spades table has house rules: jokers and deuces as top trump, a board minimum, 10 for 200, Boston bonuses, blind nil, bag penalties and more…Read the guide
- How to Play Spades with 3 PlayersThree-player spades is played cutthroat: remove the 2♣, deal 17 cards each, and everyone bids and scores alone. Spades are trump, you follow suit…Read the guide
- How to Play Spades with 6 PlayersSix-player spades uses two shuffled decks and three teams of two, with partners seated so the teams alternate around the table. Each player gets 17…Read the guide
- Spades vs Hearts: What's the Difference?Spades and hearts are both four-player trick-taking games with a standard deck, but they pull in opposite directions. In spades you play with a…Read the guide
- Spades vs Bid Whist: Key DifferencesSpades and bid whist are close relatives, both four-player partnership games from the whist family. In spades, spades are always trump and every…Read the guide
- Spades vs Euchre: How They CompareSpades and euchre are both four-player partnership trick-taking games, but euchre uses a 24-card deck, five tricks per hand and a trump suit chosen…Read the guide
- The History of SpadesSpades was devised in the American Midwest in the late 1930s. Bridge writer George Coffin traced it to Cincinnati between 1937 and 1939. It descends…Read the guide
- Spades Table Talk: Slang and EtiquetteSpades has its own language: books are tricks, bags are overtricks, cutting means trumping, going board is the minimum bid, getting set is missing…Read the guide
Looking up a word? The spades glossary has every term from books to Boston.