The quick version
Deal 13 each and add partners' bids. Follow suit; if you have none, you may trump with a spade. Making the team bid earns ten per bid trick plus one per extra; missing it loses ten per bid trick.
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Deal, bid, and agree on the finish
Use one deck without jokers. Seat partners opposite. Choose a dealer by chance, shuffle, and deal one card clockwise until everyone has 13. Cards rank ace high, king, queen, jack, ten down to two. All spades are trumps.
Starting to the dealer's left, each player announces a bid from one to 13 for tricks they expect to win. Record the bids without consulting your partner's hand. Add partners' numbers for the team contract: bids of three and four create a target of seven. A trick is one card played by each of the four players.
Score both teams after every complete hand. When at least one reaches 500, the higher total wins. A tied total requires another complete hand. This selected format has no early loss threshold for negative scores. Otherwise gather, shuffle, and move the dealer clockwise for another deal.
Play the tricks and calculate the score
Lead from the dealer's left
That player starts with any non-spade, unless holding only spades. Everyone else plays one card clockwise. You must follow the suit led if you hold it; you cannot trump merely because your spade is stronger.
Use trump when you are out of suit
If you lack the led suit, play any card. A spade played off-suit breaks spades, allowing them to be led on future tricks. Before that, a leader may lead a spade only if their entire remaining hand is spades.
Collect and lead
The highest spade wins any trick containing spades. Otherwise the highest card of the led suit wins. Its player collects the four cards, keeps won tricks countable, and leads next. Play all 13 tricks.
Make or miss the contract
If your team's combined tricks meet its contract, earn ten times the bid plus one per excess trick. Bid six and win eight: score 62 and two bags. Miss the contract and subtract ten times the bid; bid six and win five: score minus 60, not 50.
Carry the bags
Track extras, called bags, separately across hands. Whenever a team accumulates ten bags, subtract 100 points and reduce its bag count by ten; carry any remainder. Nine old bags plus two new ones creates the penalty and leaves one. Apply all hand scores and bag penalties before checking the match finish.
Keep bids and tricks visible
Use score columns for team bid, tricks won, hand points, running points, and bags. Keep won tricks in distinct four-card packets so everyone can check them.
Demonstrate a low spade beating another suit's high card. Save strategic advice and information about your hand until after scored play.
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Ideas & Twists
Choose a variation together before you start.
Spades · See main rules
Suggested house variationAllow nil bids
Permit one player per team to bid nil, promising zero tricks; their partner bids normally. A successful nil adds 100; any captured trick makes it minus 100. Score the partner's contract using only that partner's tricks. A failed nil's tricks never help the contract; each adds one point and one bag. Add the nil result to the partner's score and apply accumulated bag penalties. No card exchange or blind nil. The same 500-point higher-total finish applies.
Spades · See main rules
Documented platform variationRemove the bag penalty
Keep the core positive-bid format, but extras only earn their one point: do not accumulate bags or subtract 100 at ten. Missing a contract still loses ten per bid trick. Complete hands until someone reaches 500; higher score wins, with an extra hand for a tie. This lets teams pursue spare tricks without the longer-term bag cost.
Spades · See main rules
Suggested house variationPlay to 150
Use the core positive bids, ordinary scoring, and ten-bag penalty, but set the match threshold to 150. Score both teams fully after the crossing hand, including bag penalties. Higher total wins; tied totals require another full hand. Keep all 13 tricks in every deal rather than stopping as soon as a team looks ahead.
About this guide
The selected partnership format uses negative points for missed contracts, unlike Bicycle's zero-score version. Base bids are positive; nil and shorter matches are optional. Failed-nil tricks count as bags, not contract tricks. The stated finish omits platform mercy-loss thresholds. Choose a variation before dealing.
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