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Spades Reference
Scoring, the rules of play, and what to track to win at Spades.
Scoring · make your bid
Make itTake at least as many tricks (books) as you bid and you score 10 × your bid, plus 1 point per overtrick(a “bag”).
Get setFall short of your bid and you are set — −10 × your bid. Overbidding is punished as hard as underplaying.
BagsOvertricks (bags) score +1 each but are dangerous: in most rules every 10 bags collected costs you −100. Bid your hand, don't sandbag.
NilBidding nil claims you will take zero tricks: succeed for a big bonus (commonly +100), but take even one book and it's −100.
Rules of play
Spades trumpSpades are always trump. Any spade beats every card of the led suit; the highest spade played wins the trick.
Follow suitYou must follow the led suit if you can. Only when you are void in it may you play another suit — including a trump spade to ruff.
Break ♠You cannot lead a spadeuntil spades are “broken” — i.e. a spade has been played because someone could not follow suit (unless spades are all you hold).
No 2♣Unlike Hearts there is no forced opening card. The first leader simply leads any non-spade to start the round.
WinnerThe highest spade wins; with no spade played, the highest card of the led suit wins. The winner leads the next trick.
What to track
Count booksKeep a running count of the books you and each opponent have won against their bids — it tells you who still needs tricks and who is fighting bags.
A♠ K♠Watch the high spades — A♠ and K♠. Until they fall, the boss trumps are live and can swallow your winners. Knowing they are gone frees your own spades.
Count ♠Count how many spades have been played. When trump is exhausted, long side suits and your remaining spades become winners.
Read voidsWhen a player discards or ruffs off the led suit, they have revealed a void in it. A void seat will trump that suit next time — lead carefully, and use voids to place the cards still out there.