Card game · you and a computer partner
Spades
Team up with Bea, bid your tricks and make them. Spades are trump.
Pull up a chair
Bea is your partner. Moss and Rook are on the other team.
How sharp are they?
Game length
Blind Nil? Your team is 100 or more behind, so you may bid Nil before you look at your cards. Win no tricks: +200. Win any: −200.
How to play Spades
Spades is a card game for four, played in two teams. You and Bea (across the table) play against Moss and Rook. Everyone gets 13 cards, and each team tries to win the number of tricks it bid.
- Bid. Starting left of the dealer, everyone says how many tricks they think they’ll win. Your bid plus Bea’s is your team’s contract. We suggest a bid from your cards.
- Follow suit. The player left of the dealer leads first. Play a card of the suit led if you can. If you can’t, play anything, including a spade.
- Spades are trump. The highest spade wins the trick. With no spades in it, the highest card of the suit led wins. Aces are high. The winner leads next.
- Breaking spades. You can’t lead a spade until one has been played, unless you have only spades left.
- Scoring. Make your contract: 10 points per trick bid, plus 1 per extra trick. Miss it: lose 10 per trick bid.
- Bags. Extra tricks are bags. Every 10 bags costs your team 100 points.
- Game over. First team to 500 (or 300 in a quick game) wins. If both get there in the same hand, the higher score wins.
On your turn the cards you can play stand up; the others are dimmed. Tap a dimmed card and we’ll tell you why it can’t go.
Questions
Who is my partner?
Bea 🐝, sitting across from you. Partners add their bids together and score as one team. Bea won’t steal a trick you’re already winning, and she’ll try to protect you if you bid Nil.
How many tricks should I bid?
Count about one trick for each ace, one for a king with a card or two to protect it, one for each high spade, and one for each spade past the third. A short side suit helps too, because you can trump it. The hint above the bid buttons does this count for you.
What is Nil?
Bid Nil (zero) and you promise to win no tricks. Make it and your team gets 100; win even one trick and your team loses 100. Your partner still plays for their own bid, and your tricks don’t count towards it. Nil works best with low cards and few spades.
What is Blind Nil?
An optional rule you can turn on before a game. When your team is at least 100 points behind, you may bid Nil before looking at your cards. It’s worth 200 if you make it and costs 200 if you don’t.
What are bags, and why do they hurt?
Every trick your team wins over its contract is a bag, worth 1 point. But every 10 bags takes 100 points off your score, so bidding low on purpose catches up with you. Tricks won by a Nil bidder count as bags too.
What does “breaking spades” mean?
Nobody may lead a spade until a spade has been played on an earlier trick, usually by someone who couldn’t follow suit. After that, spades can be led. If all you have left is spades, you may lead one anyway.
How long is a game?
A game to 500 usually takes 8 to 12 hands. Choose “Game to 300” for a game about half as long. If both teams pass the target in the same hand, the higher score wins, and a tie plays another hand.
Is my game saved?
Yes. Your game saves after every bid and every card on this device, so you can close the page and tap Continue game later. Free, no ads, no account.
More card games against the computer: Hearts, Crazy Eights and Gin Rummy.