Spades Winning

The first Individual / partnership to reach 500 points (unless otherwise agreed upon a different amount of points) is the winner. If both partnerships or two individuals reach that amount in the same hand, the Individual / partnership with the highest score is the winner. If there’s a tie, play another hand.

Continuing Play

After scoring a hand, if neither Individual / partnership has reached 500 points, the player to the dealer’s left becomes the new dealer.

Sandbagging

An Individual / partnership should avoid winning too many tricks above its bid. Each time an Individual / partnership wins 10 bags (cumulative through a game), that Individual / partnership receives a 100-point penalty.
EXAMPLE: Alex and Charlie bid 4 tricks and win 7, then they bid 3 and win 6, then they bid 4 and win 9. They now have 11 bags (3+3+4) and receive a 100-point penalty. The additional bag carries over. If Alex and Charlie win 9 more bags, they receive another penalty.

Scoring

Each trick in a bid counts for 10 points if a partnership meets its bid. Tricks won above the bid are worth 1 point each. EXAMPLE: Beth and David bid 5 tricks and they won 7 tricks. They score 52 points (50 for the tricks bid, plus 2 for the extras, which are known as “bags.”)
If a partnership does not meet its bid, it scores 10 negative points for each trick it bid.
Scoring for Nil and Double Nil bids takes place as described above. When a player bidding Nil fails, tricks won by that player don’t count toward making his partner’s bid, but they do count as bags for the partnership.
In Cutthroat, if a player won as many tricks as their original bid, they will receive 10 points for every trick and if they happen to have any bags (a bag is a trick that is won in addition to the initial bid. Example: If a player bids 4 tricks and makes 5, the additional trick is called a “bag”), they will receive 1 point for each bag. Please read the examples below for further clarification:
EXAMPLE: If a player bid and won 4 tricks, their score will have 40 added to it.
EXAMPLE: If the same player who bid 4 tricks also won 2 over tricks, 40 points from their original bid + 2 points for the bags will bring their total score for the round to 42 points.
Bags can be a great source of points, however, if you accumulate 10 or more over a period of hands, you will lose 100 points from your total score. Any bags beyond ten are carried over to the next cycle, meaning that if you reach twenty bags you would lose an additional 100 points.
If a player doesn’t make their bid, that player loses 10 points for each trick they originally bid.

EXAMPLE: If your score was 100 at the beginning of the game, and you bid 5 tricks but only won 3, you will lose 50 points and your new score will be 50: 100 points - 50 points for the incomplete bid of 5 tricks

If you have a score of 400 points and had a successful bid of nil, your score will now be 500, however should you fail to win your bid of nil, your score will now 300 be and any tricks you won will count as bags.
 A bid of blind nil scores twice as much as an ordinary nil so you will have the opportunity to gain 200 points, but be careful, you can lose 200 points should you fail.

Example: If you start with 300 points and successfully win a blind nil hand, your new score will be 400 points, however, should you lose the blind nil, your score will be 200 points.
*It should be noted that a player may bid blind nil only if he is behind by at least 100 points.
The player that reaches the set point limit first (usually between 200 and 500 points) wins the game. If all players reach the set point limit in a single deal, the player with the higher score wins.

Breaking Spades

Spades are broken when a player cannot follow suit and chooses to play a spade. When a player cannot follow suit, he may choose to play spades, but is not required to.
NOTE: Spades are also broken if a player has no option and leads with spades.
EXAMPLE: Alex leads with hearts. Beth and Charlie both play hearts as well. David has no hearts, so he could choose to play spades instead. But David could also choose to play clubs or diamonds.

Game play

The player to the dealer’s left plays first (”leads”). He may not lead with a spade unless his hand only includes spades. In fact, unless a player has no option, spades may never be led until the suit is “broken” (see below).
Play continues clockwise. Each player must follow suit (i.e. play the same suit that was led) if possible.
Generally, each trick is won by the player who played the highest rank of the suit led. However, if one or more players played spades, the trick is won by the player who played the highest rank of spades.
When a trick is won, the winning player sets the trick in front of himself so that it’s easy to tell how many tricks each player has won.

In Cutthroat, The player who wins the trick leads the next, and the other two players follow suit unless either player has none of that suit. If neither of the other players has a card of the suit led and both decide to play a spade, then the higher spade wins, however, you can’t lead a spade until a spade has been used to take another trick led by a non spade, or unless a player has nothing left in his hand but spades.

Double Nil

Before looking at his cards, a player may bid Double Nil, also known as Blind Nil. After bidding Double Nil, the player looks at his cards and exchanges three cards with his partner. If he’s successful, he / his partnership earns a 200-point bonus. However, if he fails, he / his partnership receives a 200-point penalty.
NOTE: It’s legal for partners to both bid Double Nil. When this happens, no cards are exchanged. If both are successful, the partnership earns a 400-point bonus. However, if both partners fail, the partnership receives a 400-point penalty. If one partner succeeds and the other fails, the bonus and penalty wipe each other out; the net effect is 0 points.

Bidding Nil

A player who bids Nil (zero) is claiming that he won’t win any tricks during the hand. If he’s successful, he / his partnership earns a 100-point bonus. However, if he wins one or more tricks, he / his partnership receives a 100-point penalty.
If a player bids Nil and his partner bids a number, then his partner must still try to win that number of tricks.
EXAMPLE: Alex bids 4. Charlie, her partner, bids Nil. Charlie will play the hand trying not to win any tricks. However, Alex needs to win at least four tricks.
NOTE: It’s legal for partners to both bid Nil. If both are successful, the partnership earns a 200-point bonus. However, if both partners fail, the partnership receives a 200-point penalty. If one partner succeeds and the other fails, the bonus and penalty wipe each other out; the net effect is 0 points.

Rules Of the card game Spades

Spades is a very popular trick-taking game played by either Individuals or two partnerships version.
Players
4 players. Individuals, or two partnerships.
Deck
Standard 52-card deck. Ace is high; 2 is low.
Goal

To be the first Individual or partnership to reach 200 or 500 points as agreed upon.

Setup

Individual player / Partners sit across the table from each other. Choose a dealer. Shuffle the deck and deal each player 13 cards.
When playing Cutthroat, individual players are dealt 17 cards each and the remaining card is tossed out of play for that particular game.

Bidding

The player to the dealer’s left bids first. Each player looks at his cards and bids, indicating a number of tricks. Partners’ bids are added; the sum is the number of tricks that partnership must win to score points.
Any number from 0 (”Nil”) to 13 is a legal bid for each player. Players may not pass. Bids do not have to increase with each player. There’s only one round of bidding.
EXAMPLE: Alex bids 4. Then Beth bids 3, Charlie bids 2 and David bids 2. Alex and Charlie need to win at least 6 tricks; Beth and David need to win at least 5.
In Cutthroat Players then bid for the number of tricks they believe they can make between 0 and 17. Players are also allowed to bid nil or blind nil in Cutthroat games. You can also play where the total of the three bets cannot equal 17 tricks, making it impossible for each player to make their bet exactly.
Once everyone has placed their bid, the player to the dealer’s left can begin with any card except a spade. Continuing clockwise, each player in turn must follow suit but if they are unable to follow suit, the player may play any card.

Spades a trick-taking card game

spades gameObject: The object of spades is to reach a pre-determined score; players (or partnerships) score by collecting the exact amount of tricks that you (or your partnership) bid.
Note: There are many variations of spades. This page will describe Individual, Cutthroat, and Partnership Spades.
The deck: A standard 52-card deck is used. Spades is the highest suit, followed by hearts, diamonds, and clubs. Within each suit, Aces rank highest, followed by K, Q, J, 10, …, 3, 2.
The deal, the bid, and the play: An equal number of cards from a standard 52-card deck are dealt to the players, with any odd cards set aside for that hand. Players in turn announce the number of tricks that they will take for that hand. Once all players have bid, the player to the left of the dealer begins play by leading any non-spade. Players in turn must follow suit of they are able, and may play any card if unable to follow suit. The highest ranking card of the led suit wins the trick unless a spade is played (due to the fact that a player did not have the led suit and decided to play a spade on that trick), in which case the highest ranking spade wins the trick. The player that took the last trick plays the first card of the next trick. A player may not lead a spade until such time as a spade is played on a previous trick. Play continues in this manner until all cards are played from each player’s hand.
Scoring: Players score 10 points for each trick that they bid and made, and score an additional 1 point for any additional tricks that they made over their bid. Players lose 10 point for each bid trick if they do not take the number of tricks that they bid. For example, a player that bids 3 tricks would score 30 if they took exactly 3 tricks, 32 if they took 5 tricks, and -30 if they took any number of tricks less than 3. Beware of making too many tricks over the number that you bid! If a player, of the course of a game, reaches 10 additional tricks, then that player loses 100 points!
Scores are totaled at the conclusion of each hand, and the game is won by the player (or partnership) that reaches the pre-determined score (usually 200 or 500).
Complete Rules and Strategy: Other sites, the Wikipedia for example, have written complete rules and some strategies for playing spades. You can also find the rules for Individual spades, Cutthroat spades, and Partnership spades (as played at Spadester)
Online Play Rankings (Important!): When playing online spades (for money) at most of the skill games sites, your ranking will fluctuate as you play. All players start with the same ranking when they first register, and their ranking increases with each win and decreases with each loss. A word of caution — be wary of playing a newly-registered player for large stakes, as the player could very well be an expert whose ranking does not yet reflect their skill (since they have played only a very few games on the site).