Spades

About Spades

Spades is an enjoyable and popular partnership whist trick-taking game. Team up with one of our partner AIs to beat your opponents in Coppercod’s take on this classic card game.

To win, you and your partner must be the first pair reach 500 points. Points are scored by winning tricks, and for partnerships correctly predicting how many tricks they will win at the bid stage. Points will be deducted if your partnership fails to win the number of tricks bid.

Spades is simple to learn, but tricky to master as you take on AI opponents with perfect memory. Choose between easy and hard mode and make sure to track your all time and session stats to follow your improvement as you learn!

Quickfire Rules

After the cards are dealt evenly between four players, each player bids on the number of tricks they think they can win, based on their hand. Each player then plays one card in turn, following suit if they can. If they cannot follow suit they may play any other card in their hand, including a Spade, which is the Trump. No player can lead with a Spade until the first has been played – Spades are broken.

At the end of each round, points are scored by the number of tricks each partnership has collected. 10 points are awarded for every trick collected if the partnership bid is matched or bettered, and 10 points are deducted for every trick bid if the partnership bid is not matched. If any player bids nil for a round, the partnership received 100 bonus points if the player takes no tricks, but minus 100 points if the nil bid fails.

Spades app screenshot 1Spades app screenshot 2Spades app screenshot 3Spades app screenshot 4Spades app screenshot 5Spades app screenshot 6

Available on App and Play Stores

Spades Terms

Bid: Each player decides based upon the cards in their hand how many tricks they will win.​Trick: Each player plays a card in turn, and the best card played wins that trick.

Trump: Spades are the Trump suit and are elevated higher than all other cards. They can be played when a player cannot otherwise follow suit.

Spades are broken: After the first Spade is played, players may then lead with Spades.

How Your Partner Plays

Playing with a partner you can't communicate with can be frustrating, but here are some tips on how you can get along:

  • With the opening lead, your partner will play a singleton or low in their strongest suit to tell you which suit they want you to bring back
  • They will watch your opening lead and try to bring that suit back for you if they can
  • If they spot that you are void in a suit they will run that suit to give you the opportunity to trump
  • Once your contract is looking made they will either shed winning cards to try and avoid bags or try to set the opponents if that is possible
  • If you bid nil, they will lead any suit you are out of or else lead their highest cards, taking bags if needed
  • They won't 'nil bid' unless they don't hold a spade honor, don't hold any ace, you haven't nil bid and you aren't within sight of victory
  • They won't 'blind nil' unless you have acted, you have not bid nil, you could lose the game this round or they are last and the bids in front of them are 10 or over

How To Play

Spades is a classic four-player partnership game using one standard deck of 52 cards.

The aim of the game is to be the first partnership to reach 500 points.

At the end of each round, points are scored by the number of tricks each partnership has collected. 10 points are awarded for every trick collected if the partnership bid is matched or bettered, and 10 points are deducted for every trick bid if the partnership bid is not matched.

Deal

The dealer is initially chosen at random, and then moves clockwise round the table for subsequent rounds.

13 cards are dealt to each player.

Bidding

Before each hand commences, every player must say how many tricks they will win, between zero (or nil) and 13.

Play

Whoever is left of the dealer leads a card to start. Each player must play one card in a clockwise order, following suit where they can.

The winner of each trick is the player who plays the highest card matching the suit of the first player to play, unless a Trump (Spade) is played, in which case the highest Spade will win the trick.

If you cannot follow suit you may play any other card from your hand.

No player may lead with a Spade until the first Spade is played ('Spades are broken').

Scoring

At the end of each hand, the tricks each partnership collects are totalled and compared to the combined bid.

10 points are awarded for every trick bid if the bid is successful. 10 points are deducted for each trick bid if not.

Successful nil bids are awarded 100 points, unsuccessful nil bids are deducted 100 points.

Every trick a partnership wins over the total bid is awarded one point and a bag is added to the team’s total bags. When the team reaches 10 bags, a bag penalty is applied, and 100 points are deducted from their score.

Tricks won by a nil bidder are not counted towards their partnership total tricks won, but still count for the bag score.

The Mercy Rule ends the game if a team's score falls below -200 points, instantly declaring the other team as the winner. This rule adds a unique twist and can accelerate the game, ensuring a swift conclusion if one team is struggling.

Settings

Choose from the following settings (defaults shown in italics):

Sound: On, off.

Speed: Normal, fast.

Orientation: Portrait, landscape left, landscape right or landscape free.

Single click play: On, off.

AI level: Easy, medium or hard.

Game type: Partnership or solo. When playing in a partnership, you are paired with North for the whole game against East and West. In Solo mode, it's every player for themselves.

Blind Nil Bids: On - pass one card, on - pass two cards, on - no card passing or off. When on, players may bid 'blind nil' before revealing their cards. They may exchange two, one or no cards with their partner depending on the setting to help the bid

Bag penalty: On, off. When on, if a team reaches 10 bags, a bag penalty is applied, and 100 points are deducted from their score.

10-for-200: On, off. When on, if a team bids 10 or more, they receive 100 bonus points for making the bid.

Jokers: On, off. When on, the big and little jokers are added to the deck, becoming the highest Spades. The two of diamonds and the two of clubs are removed from the deck.

Mercy Rule: On, off. When on, the Mercy Rule ends the game if a team's score falls below -200 points, instantly declaring the other team as the winner.

Win target: 500, 300. The score a partnership much reach to win the game

Cards: Classic, coppercod or modern.

Deck: Choose from 18 different deck designs for coppercod, 16 for modern.

Mobile Cards: Off or on. Only available on phones.

Theme: Green, merlot, dark red, light blue, black, purple, teal, pink, orange or blue.

Interface

Home screen:

From the home screen you can access the following options:

  • Start new game
  • Continue game: if there is a game in progress it can be continued
  • Settings (cog icon, bottom left). Once open you can close it by tapping close or tapping > at the top right.
  • Information (question mark icon, bottom right). Once open you can close it by tapping close or tapping > at the top right.
  • Stats (trophy icon, top left)
  • Sound: Tap the speaker icon at the top right of the home screen to toggle between sound on and off
During a game

Your cards are displayed face up at the bottom of the screen, your partners are face down at the top of the screen, and your opponents’ cards are face down at the left and right. Your cards are ordered first by suit, then low to high from left to right. Your partners and opponents’ cards are ordered at random.

During play, each player’s score for the game is shown in front of their hand. A green or red light is displayed next to your score to display green when it is your turn to act, or red when it is not. A bid panel is shown each round when it is your turn to bid.

When it is your turn to act, tap on a card from your hand that you want to select, and then tap it again to play the card (or tap it just once if the 'single click play' setting is turned on). Alternatively, you can drag the card into position. You can change which cards are selected before playing by tapping on other cards.

At the end of the hand the scores each player partnership receives are displayed, as well as the total bags and total score for each partnership for the game.

Thank you for playing Spades!