Play Spades Card Game for Free Online
Spades is a partnership trick-taking game where each player bids how many tricks they expect to win, then tries to help the team make its combined bid. Spades are always trump. The playable version above includes bidding, legal-card highlighting, partnership scoring, undo, saved progress, and computer opponents.
Objective
The objective is to score points by making your team's bid. If your partnership takes at least the number of tricks it bid, you score 10 points per bid trick plus one point for each extra trick. Missing the bid costs 10 points per bid trick.
Setup and Play Area
- Spades uses one standard 52-card deck with no jokers.
- Four players sit in partnerships, with partners across from each other.
- Each player receives 13 cards.
- Before play begins, every player bids the number of tricks they expect to win.
Available Moves
- The leader plays one card to start a trick.
- Each other player must follow suit if possible.
- If you cannot follow suit, you may play a spade to trump or discard another suit.
- The highest card of the led suit wins unless a spade is played; then the highest spade wins.
- Spades cannot be led until they have been broken, unless the leader has only spades.
Spades Card Game Strategy
- Bid from likely winners, not just high-card count. Aces outside spades are strong, but short suits and trump length change the hand quickly.
- Watch bags. Extra tricks score one point, but too many overtricks can trigger a bag penalty in common Spades scoring.
- Protect your partner's bid. Sometimes ducking a trick is better than taking an unnecessary overtrick.
- Nil bids are safest with low cards across several suits and enough partner strength to cover forced wins.
- Lead spades only when it helps pull trump or protect your team's bid. Breaking spades too early can give opponents control.
Variants
- Some Spades tables include nil and blind nil bids. The playable version focuses on standard partnership bidding.
- Some groups use bag penalties after 10 overtricks. CardGamesHQ tracks overtricks in the common one-point bag style.
- Related trick-taking games include Hearts and Euchre, but Spades is more bid-driven because trump is fixed for the whole hand.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you pass cards in Spades?
No, standard partnership Spades does not include passing cards before the hand. Passing belongs to games such as Hearts and to some house-rule variants.
When can you lead spades?
You can lead spades after spades have been broken, or when your hand contains only spades.
What are bags in Spades?
Bags are overtricks: tricks taken above your team bid. They usually score one point each, but collecting too many can create a penalty depending on the ruleset.
Play Spades Online
Spades is a four-player partnership card game where players bid how many tricks they expect to take. Spades are always trump, and the first team to reach the target score wins.
How to Play
Bid how many tricks you expect to win, then play one card to each trick. Follow suit when you can, and remember that spades are trump once they have been broken.
Spades Rules
Spades are always trump. You cannot lead spades until a spade has been played on another suit, unless your hand contains only spades. Partnership bids score 10 points per bid trick when made, plus 1 point for each overtrick.
Controls
Tap a bid chip before the hand starts, then tap a highlighted legal card to play. Use Undo to step back through your last decision, or press Ctrl+Z on desktop.