Spades card game: play free online with a partner, bid tips

What is Spades?

Partnership Spades: you and Buffer against Zip and Skip. Bid the tricks you can take, spades are always trump, and every extra trick is a bag. This table plays to 250 instead of 500.

Spades is a partnership trick-taking game for four. Each player says how many tricks they'll take, partners add their bids together, and spades are always trump. Making your bid exactly is the art: too few tricks costs you, too many builds up bags.

Spades was devised in the United States in the late 1930s, from the same family as Whist and Bridge, and spread widely with American soldiers during the Second World War. It's still a favourite at family tables, in college dorms and online. Common variants add a blind nil, use two Jokers as top trumps, play Cutthroat with every player for themselves, or Suicide Spades, where one partner on each team must bid nil.

On SkillXGames you sit across from Buffer, against Zip and Skip. Each seat shows its bid and the tricks it has won, your team bid is added up for you, and the end of each hand breaks down points, bags and any nil. A game here runs to 250 points, and nil is the only special bid.

At a glance

Category

Card Room

Difficulty

Medium

Play time

10–15 min

Price

Free, in your browser, sign-up optional

How to play

Bid

Each player bids the tricks they expect to take; partners' bids add up. Bid nil to promise none: +100 or −100.

Follow suit

Play the suit led if you can. With none, trump with a spade or discard. Spades can't be led until one has been played.

Win the trick

The highest spade wins; with no spade, the highest card of the suit led.

Score

Make your bid: 10 per trick bid, +1 per extra trick (a bag). Miss it: −10 per trick bid. Every 10 bags cost 100. First team to 250 wins.

Scoring

Make your team bid: 10 per trick bid plus 1 per bag. Miss it: −10 per trick bid. Nil is +100 or −100, and every 10 bags cost 100.

First team to 250 wins. Your table score is your team's total (at least 0), plus 200 if you and Buffer win.

What it trains

Estimation

Judging how many tricks a hand is really worth.

Teamwork

Reading your partner's bid and covering each other's weak spots.

Card counting

Tracking spades and high cards as they fall.

Strategy and tips

Value side suits by length

An Ace in a side suit is usually a trick. A King is often one when you hold two or three cards of that suit, but in a long suit the others run out and trump it. Count long-suit Kings as maybes.

Short suits make trump tricks

A void or a single card in a side suit lets you trump early. With a few small spades and a void, you can add a trick to your bid.

Listen to your partner's bid

If Buffer bid high, bid tight and support: you don't need to win tricks your partner will win anyway.

Cover a partner's nil

When Buffer bids nil, your job changes. Play your high cards early in each suit so Buffer can safely drop low cards under them.

Set the other team

If Zip and Skip bid high, making them miss by a single trick costs them 10 for every trick they bid. Taking one extra bag to set them is often worth it.

Watch the bag count

Ten bags cost 100 points. When your team sits at 7 or 8 bags, bid closer to your full strength and duck extra tricks.

Count the spades

There are 13 spades. Track how many have fallen: once the high ones are gone, your middle spades become winners.

Why play Spades?

Spades trains estimation: looking at 13 cards and judging, honestly, how many tricks they're worth. It also rewards counting, since knowing which spades and high cards are gone turns guesses into certainties.

Most of all, it's a team game. You learn to read your partner's bid and plays, cover each other's weak spots and make a shared plan without saying a word.

Frequently asked questions