These are the questions that come up most often around a Spades table, with short, plain answers to settle them fast. Each one links through to a fuller explanation if you want the detail, but the quick answer is right here. If you’re starting from scratch, the Spades rules page walks through the whole game from the beginning.
The Basics
Spades is usually played by four people in two partnerships, with partners sitting across from each other. It can also be played by two or three players with small adjustments to the setup.
In the standard four-player game, the whole deck is dealt out evenly, so each player gets 13 cards. There are 13 tricks in every hand.
Yes. Spades are always trump, which means any spade beats any card in the other three suits. Even the two of spades will beat the ace of hearts.
The player to the dealer’s left leads the very first trick, and they have to lead with something other than a spade.
Bidding and Nil
You can’t pass. Every player must bid a number of tricks they expect to win. Unlike some card games, your bid doesn’t have to be higher than the person before you.
If your team doesn’t reach its combined bid, you’re “set.” You score nothing for the hand and lose 10 points for every trick you bid, which is why overbidding is so costly. The full math is on the Spades scoring page.
Nil is a bid of zero, a promise to win no tricks at all that hand. Make it and your team gains 100 points; take even a single trick and it costs you 100. The Nil and Blind Nil page covers how to play one safely.
It’s a Nil declared before you’ve looked at your cards, for double the stakes at 200 points either way. Most groups only allow it when your team is well behind.
Scoring and Bags
Most games are played to 500 points, and the first team to reach 500 wins. You score 10 points for each trick you bid, as long as you make your bid.
Bags are overtricks, the tricks you win beyond your bid. Each one is worth a single point in the moment, but they pile up on a running tally. The bags and sandbagging page explains why they’re dangerous.
The instant your team’s bag tally hits 10, you lose 100 points in one go, and any extra bags carry over to start the next cycle. It’s the penalty that decides a lot of close games.
Being set means you missed your bid and lose points for the hand. Being bagged means you took more tricks than you bid and collected overtricks, which count toward that 100-point penalty later.
Rules of Play
Not at the start. You can’t lead a spade until spades have been “broken.” The breaking Spades page explains exactly when that happens.
Spades get broken the first time a player plays one because they couldn’t follow the suit that was led. From that point on, anyone can lead spades for the rest of the hand.
No. Any spade beats any card in the other three suits, so the lowest spade still beats the ace of hearts, diamonds, or clubs. That’s what makes spades trump.
If you’re out of the suit that was led, you may play any card, including a spade. But if you could have followed suit and didn’t, that’s called reneging, and it carries a penalty.
No. All of your teamwork has to happen through your legal bids and the cards you play. Talking across the table or signaling your hand isn’t allowed.
Because Spades has dozens of house variations, from different bag penalties to special bids and Nil values. None are wrong, but you should agree on them before the first hand. The common ones are gathered on the house rules and variations page.