Have you ever played a spades game? No? Don’t scratch your head because we have curated a complete guide on rules, bidding and winning this game. After finishing this blog, how to play spades games will be the least of your problems. Before moving on to the guide, let’s take a deeper look into the history of spades.
The game of spades might not even have surfaced at the global level if not for World War II. The favourite pastime of the soldier of Cincinnati was spades. When they came across the borders, they taught the game to their cohorts. One would think that the game’s popularity might end with World War II, in lieu, soldiers taught it to their friends and college mates, and the series went on and on. Today, spades are quite a popular game. In fact, just like Hearts, many variations can be created in the games based on how the deal is made and bidding takes place.
Now that you know how it originated, let’s move on to the obvious question: how to play spades games?
Players of the game
This guide is for four players set in a partnership of two teammates.
Deck used in the game
While how to play spades games is a burning question, you all also need to know which deck to use. So, to answer the question, a standard deck of 52 cards is used. Ace is considered to be the highest while two is the lowest card. The order is – Ace, King, Queen, Joker, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
Goal of Spades
The goal of the game is to be the first partnership to reach 500 points. The team that reaches this goal first is crowned the winner.
Setup for spades games
How to play spades games is a question that can’t be answered without knowing the setup of the game. It is pretty simple, partners sit across the table, and one of them chooses to shuffle. Once the shuffling is done, the dealer has to deal with each player with 13 cards.
Related: What Is Tambola Game And How To Play Tambola Game Online?
Complete Rules of Spades for Two Players
Up till here, you know about the players, dealing and setup of the game, but the question: of how to play spades games is still unanswered. Move to the next segment for your answer.
Bidding
The player sitting on the left of the dealer bids first. After looking at their cards, each player has to indicate tricks. The bids of teammates are added, and the sum of the number of tricks is defined as the score needed to win a hand. From lowest to highest number – every bid is legal, plus the bids don’t increase with each payer. Player may or may not be allowed to pass, and only one round of biddings takes place.
Bidding Nil
If you are searching how to play spades games – one important pointer to remember is NIL bidding. When a player bids NIL or nothing, he claims that he is not going to win any tricks during the hand. By the end of the game, if he doesn’t win any trick, the player scores 100 points. In case the team wins one or more tricks, the team will receive a penalty of 100 points.
It is possible for both the teammates to bid for the NIL. If both of them don’t win any tricks, the team earns 200 points, and if one loses and one of the wins, the points cancel out the penalty making the end result zero (0).
Gameplay
How to play spades games is a simple question, with a variation in answers, yet the core gameplay remains the same. The player sitting on the dealer’s left leads the game, i.e. starts the hand. The player can not lead with a spade until and unless all his cards are of spades. As a matter of fact, every player should avoid breaking the spade. A spade should never be led unless it is broken. As a player, you should always avoid it. Each player should follow (if possible) the suit in a clockwise direction.
Winning a “trick” is easy. Just make sure that you have the highest card of the suit led. In case the spade is broken, and more than once a spade card is led, the trick is won by the player with the highest spade card.
Breaking Spades
Breaking spades is quite a simple rule. When a player can’t follow suit and chooses to play a spade, it is termed a breaking spade. Although it is not a requirement, yet when players can’t follow suit, they can play a spade. There are also chances where a player won’t have any other choice but to play a spade, even then it is considered as breaking spades.
Scoring
If any team meets its bid, then each of the “tricks” will gain them 10 points. In case there are any tricks that exceed the bid, then 1 point is counted for each bid. If the team players can’t meet their initial bid, they get a 10 point penalty for each trick. If a partnership does not meet its bid, it scores 10 negative points for each trick it bids. Scoring is the most important key pointer to the question of how to play spades games. So, mentioned above was the scoring of NIL bids.
If at the end of the hand, none of the teams reaches the goal of 500 points, the dealer should deal another hand. Again the same rules are applied to the new hand.
Winning
Winning is simple and easy to understand. The first team that reaches the goal of 500 points wins the game. In case, both the teams reach 500 points at the same time, the team with a higher total score wins.
Though it is a rare case scenario, if the team reaches a tie, i.e., both reach 500 points at the same time, and with the same, another hand should be played to settle the winner.
We hope that this guide answered your question – about how to play spades games. If you have queries, feel free to drop them in the comment section.
