Spades

Goal

Make your partnership's bid while managing extra tricks and bags.

How do teams and bids work?

You and North form a team against West and East. Four players receive 13 cards each. Bid how many tricks you expect to take, then work together to meet the sum of your team’s bids. This course starts with a 500-point target and the ten-bag penalty on. The engine recorded a bid of three. North’s separate bid will be added to yours for the team contract; you do not have to take exactly your own bid individually.

How do I bid and play?

Click, tap, or use Tab and Enter. Choose a bid from Nil through 13. During play, select an enabled card to play it immediately. Players act around the table; the player to the dealer’s left bids and leads first.

Which card wins a trick?

Each player contributes one card. Follow the led suit if you have it. If no Spade is played, the highest card of the led suit wins. Any Spade beats every non-Spade; the highest Spade wins. Ace is high, then King down to 2. The winner leads next. You followed suit and outranked the King. A Spade could not be played while a Diamond remained in your hand. The Two was a legal follower and East kept the trick. Low cards can preserve stronger cards for later or avoid unwanted bags. Even the lowest Spade beat the Diamond King. Playing a Spade on another suit also broke Spades for later leads. The King outranked the Five within the trump suit, so your team took the trick.

When can I lead Spades?

A Spade lead is now legal even with other suits in hand. Before breaking, lead a non-Spade when one is available. The all-Spades exception allowed the lead. In this engine, an off-suit Spade sets the broken flag; leading Spades under this exception does not need that flag.

What is Nil?

Nil recorded a bid of zero. Its bonus or penalty is scored separately from the partnership’s normal contract. A successful Nil earns +100; taking even one trick costs −100. The partner still tries to meet the team contract. Tricks taken by a failed Nil bidder count toward the team’s contract and bags. This game has no blind-Nil or double-Nil option. You finished with zero tricks, earning +100 for Nil. Your partnership missed its one-trick contract for −10, so its net deal score was +90. Your team took eight tricks against a contract of six: +62, then −100 for your failed Nil, giving −38. The captured tricks still counted toward the team total.

How is a contract scored?

Your team took eight tricks: six contracted tricks earned 60 points and two overtricks earned 2 points, for +62 and two bags. Missing the nine-trick team contract cost 90 points. This implementation subtracts ten per bid trick; it does not award partial credit.

How do bags and the bag option work?

The +62 deal added two bags. Eleven accumulated bags triggered −100 and left one bag, so the net deal change was −38. The next position disables the ten-bag penalty while keeping the 500-point target. Overtricks still earn one point each, but bags no longer accumulate or deduct points. Changing this option in normal play starts a fresh match. Eight tricks still earned +62. With the penalty off, the two overtricks did not add bags or trigger a deduction.

Can I choose the match target?

Now use the 250-point target with the bag penalty back on. A match ends once a team reaches the target and the totals differ; the higher total wins. There is no separate negative-score loss threshold. The +62 deal brought your team to 262. The totals differed, so the 250-point match ended with your team ahead. The final positions use the 500-point target and the bag penalty on. The bidding and card rules stay the same; only the match finishing line changes. The +62 deal brought the total to 512, ending the match with your team ahead. Both totals became 500. The shipped game continues tied matches even when the target has been reached; another deal must separate the scores. Your team’s contract earned +62, taking its total from 450 to 512. The engine confirmed the higher score and completed the match.

What carries into the next deal?

Scores and bags carried forward. The dealer rotated, so the next player starts bidding. Bids and trick counts reset for the new deal.

What changes with difficulty?

Relaxed, Standard and Challenge keep these rules. They change pace and contract, Nil and bag decisions. Challenge removes normal Hint, Undo and Redo. Normal Undo restores the last saved move snapshot. Practice uses scripted legal replies and never lets the computer finish your task.