Complete Rules for Spades (4-Player Partnership)

Objective

First team to reach 500 points wins.

Setup

• 4 players, 2 partnerships (partners sit opposite)
• Standard 52-card deck. Spades are always trump
• Rank: A (high), K, Q, J, 10–2 (low)
• Deal 13 cards each

Bidding

• Each player bids 0–13 tricks they'll win
• Nil: Bid 0 tricks; success = +100 pts
• Blind Nil: Bid 0 before looking at hand; success = +200 pts

Play

• Player left of dealer leads first trick (cannot lead spades unless broken)
• Must follow suit if possible; otherwise any card
• Highest card of led suit wins, unless a spade is played—highest spade wins
• Winner leads next trick

Scoring

• Make bid: 10 pts per trick bid (e.g., bid 5, win 5 → 50 pts)
• Overtricks (bags): 1 pt each. 10 bags = -100 pts.
• Fail bid: -10 pts per trick bid
• Nil made: +100; failed: -100. Blind Nil: ±200

Common Variants

• Cutthroat: 3–4 players, no partners
• Auction Spades: High bid sets trump