♠️ Spades
Spades is the most strategic card game here and the one worth learning properly. The whole game runs on your bid: promise too much and you lose it all, promise too little and the extra tricks pile up as bags until they cost you a hundred points.
- 4 players
- Head to head
- 2v2 team mode
- Bots available
How to play
- Partners sit opposite — seats 1 and 3 against seats 2 and 4.
- Each player bids how many of the 13 tricks they will take. Bid 0 for Nil.
- You must follow the suit that was led if you can. Spades are trumps and beat any other suit.
- Spades cannot be led until somebody has been forced to play one ("broken").
- Make your team’s combined bid and score 10 points a trick. Miss it and lose 10 a trick instead.
- Tricks above your bid are bags. Ten bags cost you 100 points. Nil made is +100; Nil failed is −100.
How you win
First team to 200 points, or the higher score after six hands.
Tips that actually help
- Count your aces, kings and spare spades. That count is usually close to your real bid.
- If your partner is already winning a trick, throw your lowest card. Overtaking your own partner wastes a winner.
- Watch your bag count. At eight or nine bags, deliberately losing a trick is the correct play.
- Nil is winnable with a hand full of twos and threes and no spades above a jack — not with an ace anywhere.
In-game summary
Partners sit opposite (seats 1+3 vs 2+4). Everyone bids how many of the 13 tricks they will win — bid 0 for Nil and take none for a 100 point bonus. Follow the suit that was led if you can. Spades are trumps but cannot be led until someone has been forced to play one. Make your team's combined bid for 10 points a trick; miss it and you lose that much. Extra tricks are bags, and 10 bags cost you 100. First team to 200 wins.