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Spades is one of those hardcore games your grandparents most likely learned while in the army. If you’re a woman who enjoys a game of cards every night, then it’s time to become a master at Spades. (Or at the very least get the basics down.)
Spades originated in the 1930s and became wildly popular in the 1940s when the military picked it up in its birthplace of Cincinnati, Ohio. Inspired by the game Bridge (though much more simplified), Spades skyrocketed in popularity and spread around the world.
In order to play, you will need two or more players and a 52-card deck. Once you have your players and your cards, you must decide what the score for the game will be. The score should be set by the hundreds; 500 is the standard score. Once you have all your players, you must draw a card and whoever has the highest scoring card (the ace is the highest) gets to be the first dealer. Time to divvy up the cards evenly. Once everyone picks up their cards, determine how many rounds, or “tricks,” you’ll be able to win.
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Next, start making bids. Bidding starts to the left of the dealer and is based on how many “tricks” you think you’ll win. If you want to make a bid without looking at your cards, that’s called a “blind bid.” If you make a bid that won’t make any tricks, that’s called a nil bid. Don’t forget to write down everyone’s bids. A nil bid gets 50 points when correct but if you win a trick and you had a nil bid, then you lose 50 points.
Now that the set-up is all good, it’s time to play. The first player puts down a card; they can put down any card besides the Spade card (since it is a trump card). The card with the highest worth is the ace of any suit and value goes down in descending order. The suits themselves also have ranks with diamonds being the lowest, then clubs, then hearts. Whichever card was put down first, the next player in the clockwise direction puts down a card that beats that card in number, suit or both. You may add a card with a lower number next if it’s the same suit.
If you run out of cards in that particular suit, you have to put a card of a higher suit in its place, but then everyone else has to now use that suit. When everyone has played their cards, the trick is over. The cards from that trick will be put in a separate pile to keep track of which cards have already been played.
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Spades, the forbidden card and name of the game, cannot be played unless the player has no other option (i.e. he or she doesn’t have any more of the suit available and/or has nothing with a higher number).
Once the trick is done, the player with the highest card gets 10 points. If a player bids three tricks and wins all three, then he or she gets 30 points. But if that same player were to bid three but lose two then he or she would lose 30 points (even though points were won). If a player were to win more tricks than he or she bid, then each additional trick is worth one point. This is called a “sandbag.” If it seems like sandbags are a really great or safe way to get more points, you’d be wrong. You still have to be careful with them since sandbags are counted and totaled up. So that if you get 10 sandbags, you lose 100 points. Ouch.
Now it’s time to tally all the points. Whichever team or player to reach the decided set of points wins!
Spades is both an entertaining and competitive game. You can play with friends and family and continue a long American tradition. If you’re curious, there are websites that have info on tournaments and that can direct you to a relatively large online community. Anyone with a hardcore competitive side, take note – this game might be for you!
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All instructions in this article were found from Ways and How’s video “How To Play Spades.”
