How to Play Spades: Step by Step

If you want to learn how to play Spades step by step, then this is the guide for you. Spades has been around since the 1930s and is one of the most common card games you can play with a traditional deck. A descendant of the whist family of card games (which includes bridge and hearts), Spades includes dealing, bidding, playing tricks, and keeping a close eye on the score. That might feel a little overwhelming at first, but with the help of this thorough guide, you'll be a pro in no time flat.

Setting Up and Starting the Game

Before diving into a round, let's take a closer look at the setup and how to actually start the game.

Number of Players and Card Setup

Spades can be played with anywhere from four to six players who can be divided into teams or play cutthroat style. Rules and gameplay vary slightly depending on how many people are playing, which can make things tricky. For our purposes, we're going to focus on the standard Spades setup, which means four players split into two teams of two.

You'll want a standard French deck to play with, with 52 cards and four suits. The spade suit is always the trump suit, which means spades are the most valuable cards in the deck and will always win a round over cards of another suit. Aces are the highest cards, and twos are the lowest, which is typical. But it means that a two of spades would be valued more highly than a king of hearts if no other spades are in play.

How to Deal the Cards

Once you've got your cards and your players, how many cards do you deal for Spades? Short answer: all of them. You'll want to deal 13 cards to each player. You'll hand one card to each person, going around in a circle, until you run out of cards and everyone has 13 in their hand. Once everyone is situated, they're allowed to assess their hands to prepare for bidding. This might include organizing your cards from lowest to highest value cards by suit. That way, you can more easily see what possible moves you may have once the game gets going. We'll talk more about bidding below.

Understanding the Goal before Gameplay Begins

So what's the actual goal? When learning how to play Spades step-by-step, you know you want to win, but how? The overall goal is to win as many points as possible, aiming to hit a total of 500 points between you and your partner. The way you do that is by bidding on how many tricks you think you'll win in a game. This isn't a bluffing game. Rather, the more accurate you are, the better your team is likely to do.

Part of that is because you can incur penalties both for failing to make your bid and for winning too many tricks over your bid. In some instances, say if you have a particularly poor hand, you can even make a nil bid, meaning you don't think you'll win any tricks. Both you and your partner are assessing your individual hands only. Your bid shouldn't try to guess how many you'll win as a team.

Playing and Scoring in Spades

Now that you understand the gist, it's time to dig into the specifics of gameplay and scoring.

How to Bid in Spades

When you assess your hand, you'll want to be on the lookout for high cards of any suit, like aces, kings, and queens, and any and all spades. Your high cards can all be looked at as likely wins, and you'll use that information to start considering your bid. The only card you can count on as a guaranteed win is the ace of spades, but other aces and high cards can be considered likely wins. Tally up that number and use it to make your final bid.

The Trick-Taking Process

Taking a trick is when you have the highest or best card once everyone has played a card. Then you win or "take" the trick. Tallying up how many you take is essential to winning the game. The process begins with the player to the left of the dealer leading the first trick, which means they're the first one to play a card. Whoever is the first player to put down a card during a trick also gets to determine the suit.

All the other players then go around clockwise, following suit. If you can't follow suit because you don't have any cards of that suit in your hand, then you can play a spade (which gives you a chance to win the trick if no one else plays a spade) or any other card (which means you automatically forfeit the round).

Just remember: no one can lead with a spade until spades have been "broken." That means another player could not follow suit and played a spade.

How to Score in Spades

Scoring in Spades is pretty simple, even though there are a couple of things to keep track of at once. The simplest part of scoring is to keep track of your bid and how many tricks you take. For every trick you take up until you match your bid, you earn 10 points. If you win more tricks than you bid, these are called bags. Bags are only worth 1 point each. But if you reach 10 bags or more, you get a 100-point penalty. Nil bids (when you bid that you'll win no tricks) are worth 100 points if you match your bid or a 100-point penalty if you fail. Learn more about scoring with our complete guide here.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

There are three key mistakes to look out for when you're learning to play:

1. Overbidding: If you overestimate your hand, you risk not landing enough tricks and getting hit with a 0 for the entire round.
2. Underbidding and bag penalties: If you underestimate your hand and win more tricks than you bid, you'll be okay for a short while, but if you hit 10 bags, that's a 100-point penalty.
3. Misusing spades: If you attempt to play a spade before they've been broken, you give away a crucial part of your hand to your opponents, who now know what to look out for!

Learn Spades the Easy Way

Hopefully, Spades doesn't feel nearly as intimidating now that you understand the basics. Setup is pretty uncomplicated, but with a grasp on bidding, trick taking, and scoring, you're ready to dive into a game night any time! If you want to sharpen your skills, though, the only way to do it is through practice. Luckily, on 247 Solitaire, you can play as many practice rounds as you want, keeping track of your wins and losses to look for improvement. Start playing for free today.

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