Spades vs Computer

How to play Spades

Spades is a classic four-player, trick-taking card game played in two fixed partnerships. It rose to worldwide popularity in the mid-20th century and remains one of the most-played card games online. In this app you sit South and team up with a computer partner sitting North, while two computer opponents take the East and West seats. Every hand your side predicts — bids — how many of the thirteen tricks it will win, then tries to make that bid exactly. Spades are always the trump suit, so even a low spade beats the highest card of any other suit. The rules are quick to pick up, but reading your hand, counting spades and supporting your partner give the game real depth. Play at three difficulty levels and earn ranking points every time your partnership wins.

The goal

Spades is a race to 500 points played across many hands. The four players form two partnerships: you and North against East and West. Before each hand every player privately promises a number of tricks; the two partners’ promises add up to their side’s contract. Your team scores by taking exactly as many tricks as it bid — no fewer, and ideally not too many more. The first partnership whose running total reaches 500 points at the end of a hand wins the game. Beat the computer and your side earns ranking points: +10 on Easy, +30 on Normal and +100 on Expert.

The cards and the deal

Spades uses a standard 52-card deck with no jokers. All four hands are dealt out completely, thirteen cards to each player, so there is no stock or discard pile. Within a suit the ace is high and the two is low. The four suits are spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs, but spades are special: they are the permanent trump suit for the whole game. That means any spade beats any card in hearts, diamonds or clubs, no matter how high. Only your own thirteen cards are shown; your partner’s and opponents’ hands stay hidden — this is why Spades has no same-screen two-player mode here, since seeing another hand would spoil the bidding.

Bidding

After the deal, each player in turn bids the number of tricks they expect to win, from 0 up to 13. You bid by looking at your own hand only — you cannot see anyone else’s cards. Your partner bids separately, and the two bids are added together to form your side’s contract for the hand. For example, if you bid 4 and your partner bids 3, your team must win at least 7 tricks. To estimate a bid, count your near-certain winners: aces will usually win, guarded kings often win, and long or high spades win because they are trump. A typical hand is worth three to five tricks. The computer partner bids the same way, weighing high cards, long suits and its guaranteed spade tricks.

Nil bids

A bid of zero is called “nil”. When you bid nil you are promising to win no tricks at all during the hand — a bold bid that is worth a big bonus. If a nil succeeds, your partnership scores an extra 100 points; if you are forced to take even a single trick, the nil fails and your side loses 100 points instead. A nil is scored separately from your partner’s bid: your partner still has their own contract to make with their own tricks, and the tricks a failed nil bidder accidentally wins do not help fulfil the partner’s bid — they only pile up as “bags”. Nil is best attempted with a hand full of low cards, few spades and no aces or kings, so you can safely duck under every trick.

Playing a hand

• The player to the dealer’s left leads the first trick. Play then moves clockwise around the table, one card per player, until all four have played.
• You must follow the led suit if you can. If a heart is led and you hold hearts, you must play a heart; only when you are void in the led suit may you play a spade or discard another suit.
• Spades are trump, so a spade beats every card of the three other suits. A trick with any spade in it is won by the highest spade; a trick with no spades is won by the highest card of the suit that was led.
• You may not LEAD spades until they have been “broken” — that is, until someone has played a spade because they could not follow the led suit. The only exception is when spades are the only cards left in your hand.
• Whoever wins a trick leads the next one. The number of tricks each side has taken is tracked all hand long, and after the thirteenth trick the hand is scored.

Scoring a hand

At the end of each hand every partnership compares the tricks it won with the tricks it bid. The two partners’ tricks are pooled, and so are their bids.

• Made contract: if your side takes at least as many tricks as it bid, you score 10 points per bid trick. Bidding 7 and making it is worth 70 points.
• Overtricks (bags): every trick you take beyond your bid is worth just 1 extra point but counts as a “bag”. They add up and can hurt you later.
• Failed contract (set): if your side takes fewer tricks than it bid, you score nothing for the tricks and lose 10 points per bid trick instead — bidding 7 and missing costs 70 points.
• Nil: a successful nil adds 100 points, a failed nil subtracts 100. The nil is scored on its own, on top of whatever the partner’s separate contract earns or loses.

Bags and the bag penalty

Each overtrick your side takes is a “bag”, and bags are counted from hand to hand. They are worth a tiny +1 point each in the moment, which tempts greedy play, but they carry a sting: as soon as your accumulated bags reach ten, your side is penalised 100 points and ten bags are cleared away (any extra bags carry over toward the next penalty). Because of this, winning far more tricks than you bid is dangerous — a string of over-tricky hands can quietly wipe out a hundred points. Good Spades is about bidding accurately and taking your tricks, no more, so you avoid handing yourself a bag penalty.

Winning the game

The game continues, hand after hand, until at least one partnership reaches the target of 500 points at the end of a hand. The side with the higher total then wins. If both sides cross 500 in the same hand, the one with more points wins; if they are somehow tied, another hand is played to break it. Your partnership — you and North — must finish ahead of the East–West bots. When it does, you win the game and, against the computer, collect your ranking points.

Playing the computer (ranked)

Choose one of three difficulty levels before you start. On Easy the bots bid roughly and play more or less random legal cards, so a beginner can win comfortably. On Normal they bid sensibly, follow suit with purpose, cover their partner and grab tricks they can win cheaply. On Expert they track which spades have gone, set the opponents by denying tricks they need, protect their own nil bids and avoid taking needless bags. Your bot partner plays at the same level you choose. Everything runs on your device, so the game works fully offline. Win the game to earn ranking points — Easy +10, Normal +30, Expert +100 — and sign in to place your best result on the leaderboard.

Strategy tips

• Bid what your hand is really worth. Count your aces and guarded kings, add tricks for long or high spades, and be honest — over-bidding leads to sets, while under-bidding buys bags.
• Hold your high spades for control. Spades win any trick, so save the ace and king of spades to grab tricks you actually need rather than wasting them early.
• Support your partner. If your partner is already winning a trick, play a low card and keep your winners; if an opponent is winning and you can take it cheaply, do so to make your combined bid.
• Watch the bag count. Once you have made your bid, avoid taking extra tricks you do not need — dump low cards and let the opponents take the leftovers so you do not creep toward the 100-point bag penalty.
• Try nil only with the right hand. Lots of low cards, no aces or kings and few spades make a nil safe; then duck every trick by playing just under whatever has been led.

Frequently asked questions