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===Bidding variations=== |
===Bidding variations=== |
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;Sum of bids: One variant, borrowed from the related game ''[[ |
;Sum of bids: One variant, borrowed from the related game ''[[Oh Hell]]'', is that the sum of all bids must not equal the number of tricks to be played. This ensures that at least one player or team will be set or "bagged" (forced to take an overtrick). Another game variation allows each player to optionally increase their bid by one point after all players have bid but before game play starts. A reduction in bid, once bids are made, is never allowed. |
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;Nil: A player that has already looked at their cards can bid |
;Nil: A player that has already looked at their cards can bid Nil. The object of the bidder is to take no tricks during the hand. The player's partner may make a normal bid and then help them by attempting to take tricks the Nil bidder would otherwise take. In solo/cutthroat spades, successful Nil bids are rare since there is no partner to help by taking the bidder's higher cards. If the Nil bidder takes no tricks, that player receive the Nil bonus; if unsuccessful, the player or team subtracts that bonus.<ref name="pagat1"/> More than one player (opponents or teammates in partners) may bid Nil on a deal. |
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;Double |
;Double Nil: Both players in a partnership bid Nil and if successful, the team's Nil bonuses are doubled. If either player or both players fail(s) to make theirs Nil bid, there is no penalty.<ref name="pagat1"/> |
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;Blind bidding: Virtually all games include a variant that may happen during bidding; one or more players, having not yet looked at their cards, may choose to bid on the number of tricks they will take. When bidding "blind", the player's bid, if made exactly by that player, is rewarded with bonus points, while failing to make the bid results in the bonus being subtracted from the player's or team's score. Blind bidding is capped at a bid of seven. Thus, bidding a blind 8 or higher is contrary to standard game play, and is not allowed. Quite commonly, blind bids are allowed only if the bidding team is at least 100 points behind, and in many cases, whether a minimum point spread is required, these risky bids are typically made by a team with a large deficit as a last-ditch effort; blind bids made in this situation are typically called "trailing blind bids". |
;Blind bidding: Virtually all games include a variant that may happen during bidding; one or more players, having not yet looked at their cards, may choose to bid on the number of tricks they will take. When bidding "blind", the player's bid, if made exactly by that player, is rewarded with bonus points, while failing to make the bid results in the bonus being subtracted from the player's or team's score. Blind bidding is capped at a bid of seven. Thus, bidding a blind 8 or higher is contrary to standard game play, and is not allowed. Quite commonly, blind bids are allowed only if the bidding team is at least 100 points behind, and in many cases, whether a minimum point spread is required, these risky bids are typically made by a team with a large deficit as a last-ditch effort; blind bids made in this situation are typically called "trailing blind bids". |
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;Blind |
;Blind Nil: The most common blind bid, the player bids that they will not take a single trick during play of the hand. Bidding nil offers an additional bonus on top of the blind bid. A failed nil bid, similar to a failed blind, results in the bonus being deducted from the score. |
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⚫ | ;Double Blind Nil: It is possible for both players of a partnership to bid Blind Nil. If this is done successfully, the team wins the game outright or takes double the combined bonus. If either or both players take tricks, however, there is no penalty.<ref name="pagat1"/> |
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⚫ | ;Passing: Passing, or the exchanging of cards between players, is optional and rare in Spades. However, one more common exception relates to Nil bids, which are generally considered difficult to make, especially when the bid was blindly made. To offset this difficulty slightly, a partnership in which one player has bid NilorBlind Nil can choose to pass two cards between players; the most common arrangement is one card for regular nil and two cards for blind nil. When passing, the partners agree on a number of cards to pass, then select that number of cards and place them face down in front of their partner. Neither partner should look at the cards passed to them before they have passed their own cards. In passing this way, the idea is for the partner who bid Nil to offload their highest trumps or other face cards in return for low cards from their partner, which both decreases the likelihood that the nil bidder can be forced to take a trick, and increases the likelihood that their partner will be able to "cover", or overplay high cards the nil bidder still holds that would otherwise take a trick. The number of cards passed should be determined before the game begins so that each team can use this as they bid. |
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⚫ |
;Double |
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⚫ | :Passing does not have to be limited to this one case; players may agree that a certain number of cards may, or must, be passed either between partners or to the opponent on each player's left or right, before or after making a bid. Passing between opponents is borrowed from [[Hearts (card game)|hearts]] and generally allows players to attempt to "shorten" or "void" a suit, or get rid of "dangerous" cards such as upper pip cards or low face cards, which may win a trick the player didn't bid to take. Passing between partners in situations other than Nil bids is rare, as the players would have little or no information about cards their partner would want or that opponents wouldn't. |
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⚫ |
;Passing: Passing, or the exchanging of cards between players, is optional and rare in |
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⚫ | ;Board: Each team is required to make a minimum required bid of four tricks. When bidding Nil, the player's teammates must bid a minimum of four tricks or bid Double NilorTriple Nil with three teammates. When playing solo, one can bid Nil or board. You can never bid anything between Nil or board. A variation to this play involves setting the minimum bid to whatever number the players agree on. |
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⚫ |
:Passing does not have to be limited to this one case; players may agree that a certain number of cards may, or must, be passed either between partners or to the opponent on each player's left or right, before or after making a bid. Passing between opponents is borrowed from [[Hearts (card game)|hearts]] and generally allows players to attempt to "shorten" or "void" a suit, or get rid of "dangerous" cards such as upper pip cards or low face cards, which may win a trick the player didn't bid to take. Passing between partners in situations other than |
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⚫ | ;Partnership bidding: This variant allows partners to "talk" during the bidding round and bid as a partnership rather than individuals. The partnership that did not deal makes their bid first, and the opposing partnership may use this information to craft their bid, although the total number of tricks bid by both teams does not need to equal 13. The minimum bid is "Board" or 4 tricks, and there is no Nil bidding. Players are allowed to discuss how many tricks they think they can take with each other, but any discussion that identifies specific cards or strength of a particular suit constitutes "cross-boarding" and results in a misdeal, for which the penalty can range from the deal passing to the left to adding a predetermined number of "bags" to the offending partnership to a score penalty of up to 100 points. |
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⚫ |
;Board: Each team is required to make a minimum required bid of four tricks. When bidding |
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⚫ | :The only exception to this rule is the ''Ace Check'' rule. If a player holds three or more aces in their hand, that player may use the phrase ''ace check'' during the bidding round. The partner then discloses whether or not they have an Ace. If the initiating partner can now determine that all four aces are held within the partnership, they may pass a card face down to their partner. Doing so creates a special contract where if the partnership retains all 4 aces after all cards are played for the hand, they receive a 100-point bonus. If not, they receive a 100-point penalty. The ''ace check'' variant is optional to '''partnership bidding''', and is generally only used in combination with "deuces high" or similar trump variants where the ace of spades is more difficult to retain since other cards in the deck are assigned a higher rank. |
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⚫ |
;Partnership bidding: This variant allows partners to "talk" during the bidding round and bid as a partnership rather than individuals. The partnership that did not deal makes their bid first, and the opposing partnership may use this information to craft their bid, although the total number of tricks bid by both teams does not need to equal 13. The minimum bid is "Board" or 4 tricks, and there is no |
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⚫ | ;Auction Spades: This variant is a combination of spades with the auction-based bidding of [[Contract Bridge]]. Each player must bid a minimum of 1 trick; by making the bid, they are committing their partnership to take the minimum 6 tricks plus the number bid. Subsequent bidders must raise the bid or pass; once they pass, they cannot bid further. Once all other players have passed, the winning partnership (declarers) must take a number of tricks equal to the winning bid plus 6 (so a winning bid of 2 commits the declarers to winning 8 tricks), while the defenders attempt to set them. If the declarers make contract, they get 10 points per bid trick; if they are set they get nothing. The defenders get 10 points per overtrick made by, or undertrick missed by, the declarers (if the declarers bid 2 and only make 6 tricks, the declarers get nothing and defenders get 20 points; if the declarers make 10 tricks, the declarers get 80 points but the defenders get 20 for the 2 unbid overtricks). Thus, the defenders have a choice of tactics; they can either set the declarers so they get no points, or may "bag" the declarers by forcing them to take overtricks so both sides get points. |
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⚫ |
:The only exception to this rule is the '' |
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⚫ | ;No-trump bids: This variant's name is misleading as it is not the same as the equivalent bid in Contract Bridge; Spades are still trumps, but a player who bids some number of tricks with "no trump" promises not to win any tricks with spades, except when spades are led. A player may only bid "No Trump" if that player holds at least one spade in their hand, and their partner agrees to let them bid NT. A player who successfully makes a No Trump bid counts each trick taken by that player as double (normally 20 points).<ref name="pagat1"/> |
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⚫ |
;Auction |
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⚫ | ;10-for-200: Also known as '''Bidding A Flight''' or '''Wheels'''. Bidding 10-for-200 commits a side to win at least 10 tricks; if successful, the team scores 200 points. If the side wins fewer than 10 tricks, they lose 200 points.<ref name="pagat1"/><ref name="spadeology1"/> Some play a lost bid only loses 100, not 200. In some variations, to make a 10-for-200 bid, the side must win exactly 10 tricks. If a team pulls more than 10 the extra tricks are still bags or "ob's" Some play that any bid of 10 is automatically a 10-for-200 bid. In some places the 10-for-200 bid is called 10-for-2, which is written on the score sheet as 10-4-2. Another way of writing the 200 score is with the two zeros linked together at the top; this is called Wheels, as the zeroes are supposed to look like train wheels. Making this bid is also significant in that the other team is automatically set if Nils are not allowed, since they would not even make Board, thus the winning team will be ahead by at least 240 points (200 for the score + 40 point penalty of the other team). |
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⚫ |
;No-trump bids: This variant's name is misleading as it is not the same as the equivalent bid in |
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⚫ | ; Eight & Ten Rule: Variation of bonus where bonuses are split into two between 4 players (8 + 3 and 10 + 3). This variation is played widely in India and England.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} |
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⚫ |
;10-for-200: Also known as ''' |
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⚫ |
; Eight & |
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;Big & Little Moe: A series of bids where the partnership states their intention to take, respectively, eight or six tricks ''consecutively''. Any capture of a trick by opponents "resets" the count. A partnership bidding Big Moe and capturing eight tricks in a row gains 300 points; one bidding Little Moe and capturing six tricks in a row gains 150 points. Bags or overtricks, if applicable, are not counted. |
;Big & Little Moe: A series of bids where the partnership states their intention to take, respectively, eight or six tricks ''consecutively''. Any capture of a trick by opponents "resets" the count. A partnership bidding Big Moe and capturing eight tricks in a row gains 300 points; one bidding Little Moe and capturing six tricks in a row gains 150 points. Bags or overtricks, if applicable, are not counted. |
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;Blind 6: This must be declared by a side before either partner looks at their cards. It scores 120 points if the side takes exactly six tricks. If they take some other number of tricks they lose 120. It is also commonly played that the side must win at least six tricks and overtricks are not counted, or that failing to make six tricks only loses 60.<ref name="pagat1"/> |
;Blind 6: This must be declared by a side before either partner looks at their cards. It scores 120 points if the side takes exactly six tricks. If they take some other number of tricks they lose 120. It is also commonly played that the side must win at least six tricks and overtricks are not counted, or that failing to make six tricks only loses 60.<ref name="pagat1"/> |
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;Trailing |
;Trailing Blind Bids: Only a player or partnership that is 100 points behind the leader may make blind bids of any kind, and they are scored at 20 points per bid trick, with no overtricks scored. Failing a blind contract is penalized at the normal 10 points per trick bid. Played with or without Jokers. |
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;No |
;No Nines, No Blinds: A variation of partnership bidding - neither blind bids nor a cumulative bid of 9 is allowed. This can make the game more competitive since a partnership with a strong hand has to either bid an 8 or 10-for-200, risking "overbidding" their hand and teams cannot catch up through Trailing Blind Bids. |
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;Boston: Also known as ''' |
;Boston: Also known as '''Shooting The Moon''' or '''Slamming'''. Related to but opposite of a Double Nil bid. If a team bids to take all the tricks in a hand and does so, that team wins the game outright regardless of the score before the hand. A team cannot bid to Shoot The Moon if the other team bids Double Nil, and vice versa.<ref name="pagat1"/> |
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;Blind |
;Blind Moon: This is a blind bid to take all tricks in a hand, made before either partner has looked at their cards. Again, the first team to bid either Double Blind NilorBlind Moon has precedence.<ref name="pagat1"/> |
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;Lexington: Similar to '''Boston''' but 12 tricks are made. Variations include automatically scoring 240 points regardless the bid.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} |
;Lexington: Similar to '''Boston''' but 12 tricks are made. Variations include automatically scoring 240 points regardless the bid.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} |
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;Half |
;Half Tricks: In this variation, the first partner of a team to bid may optionally bid tricks in increment of one-half instead of one, i.e. "I bid three-and-one-half". Their partner is then required to bid such that the team bid rounds out to a whole number, i.e. "I'll bid two-and-one-half" for a team bid of six tricks. This gives some information between partners; a player is bidding that they will take three tricks and might take a fourth. Their partner can then use this in determining the other half of the partnership's bid.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} |
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;Suicide: Played by four players, playing as partners. Each player must bid either |
;Suicide: Played by four players, playing as partners. Each player must bid either Nil or at least four tricks. The second player to bid in each partnership may either bid the opposite, i.e., Nil if partner bid four or more, or may bid what their partner bid, thus forcing their partner to take the opposite bid.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} |
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:Another version of |
:Another version of Suicide is played by four players, playing as partners. The bidding is the same as normal, except that one person in each team is forced to bid nil, so if the leading partner does not bid nil they must do so. This limits the hands which the first and second person want to bid a non-Nil amount, as if they do not have the ace of spades, they cannot place it and therefore risk having it in their partner's hand.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} |
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;Whiz: In this variant, each player must bid the exact number of spades in their hand or go |
;Whiz: In this variant, each player must bid the exact number of spades in their hand or go Nil. There is no minimum amount for teams to bid. Blind bidding is not allowed, however bags are counted as usual.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} |
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;Mirrors: Related to |
;Mirrors: Related to Whiz, each player must bid the number of spades in their hand. Players do not have the option to go Nil unless they have no Spades and ''must'' bid Nil if this is the case. Bags are counted as normal.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} |
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;Fredieu: In this variant, each player must bid a minimum four tricks unless going nil, blind nil or |
;Fredieu: In this variant, each player must bid a minimum four tricks unless going nil, blind nil or Wheels (10 for 200). The objective is to force as many bags as possible on the opposing players to give them the most sandbags. Sandbags are counted as usual.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} |
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===Trump variations=== |
===Trump variations=== |
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Find sources: "Spades" card game – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Spades | |
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Origin | United States |
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Alternative names | Call Bridge |
Type | Trick-taking |
Family | Auction Whist |
Players | 4 (standard)[1][2] to 6 |
Skills | Card counting, tactics |
Age range | All |
Cards | 52–54 |
Deck | French |
Rank (high→low) | A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 |
Play | Clockwise |
Playing time | 90 min.[citation needed] |
Chance | Moderate |
Spades is a trick-taking card game devised in the United States in the 1930s. It can be played as either a partnership or solo/"cutthroat" game. The object is to take the number of tricks that were bid before play of the hand began. Spades is a descendant of the whist family of card games, which also includes bridge, hearts, and oh hell. Its major difference as compared to other whist variants is that, instead of trump being decided by the highest bidder or at random, the spade suit always trumps, hence the name.[3]
Spades was devised in the Midwest of the United States in the late 1930s.[4][5] Bridge author, George Coffin ascertained that it originated in Cincinnati between 1937 and 1939.[6] The game is descended from Whist and is closely related to Bridge, Pinochle and Euchre.[6] It appears like a simplification of contract bridge such that a skilled spades player can learn bridge relatively quickly (the major additional rules being dynamic trump, the auction, dummy play, and rubber scoring).
The game's rise to popularity in the U.S. came during World War II, when it was spread by soldiers traveling around the globe. The game's popularity in the armed forces stems from its simplicity compared to Bridge and Euchre and the fact that it can be more easily interrupted than Poker, all of which were also popular military card games. After the war, veterans brought the game back home to the U.S., where due to the GI Bill it spread to, and became popular among, college students as well as in-home games.[7] It also remained widely popular in countries in which U.S. troops were stationed, both in WWII and later deployments.
The first dealer is chosen by a draw for "first spade" or "highest card", and thereafter the deal passes to the dealer's left after each hand. The dealer shuffles, and the player to the right is given the opportunity to "cut" the cards to prevent the dealer stacking the deck. The entire deck is then dealt face-down one card at a time in clockwise order (with four players, each player should receive 13 cards).[4] The players then pick up their cards, verify the correct count of the cards, and arrange them as desired (the most common arrangement is by suit, then rank).
A misdeal is a deal in which all players have not received the same number of cards or a player has dealt out of turn. A misdeal may be discovered immediately by counting the cards after they are dealt, or it may be discovered during play of a hand. If a single card is misdealt and discovered before players in question have seen their cards the player that is short a card can pull a card at random from the player with an extra card. Otherwise a hand is misdealt, the hand is considered void and the hand must be redealt by the same dealer (unless the reason for the redeal is the hand was dealt out of turn).
Each player bids the number of tricks they expect to take. The player to the left of the dealer starts the bidding, and bidding continues in a clockwise direction, ending with the dealer. As spades are always trump, no trump suit is named during bidding as with some other variants. A bid of "zero" is called "nil"; players must bid at least one if they don't want to bid "nil" (see below).
In partnership spades, the standard rule is that the bids by the two members of each partnership are added together.
Two very common variants of bidding are for a player or partnership to bid "blind", without having looked at their cards, or to bid "nil", stating that they will not take a single trick during play of the hand. These bids give the partnership a bonus if the players exactly meet their bid, but penalizes them if the players takes more or fewer. A combined bid of two "blind nil" is usually allowed and is worth both the blind and nil bonuses or penalties. In some variants, the player bidding nil passes one or two of their cards (depending on the variant rules) to their partner and receives an equal number of cards back from said partner. Nil passing may be allowed only in the case of a blind nil. Usually teams must be down by 100 points to bid blind nil.
Each hand consists of a number of tricks; a four-handed game consists of thirteen tricks using all fifty-two cards. The player on the dealer's left makes the opening lead by playing a single card of their choice.[9] Players in clockwise fashion then play cards of their choice. They must follow suit if possible; otherwise they may play any card, including a trump spade.[8] Once a card has left the hand of a player, it stands and cannot be retrieved unless the player who threw the card makes an effort to correct their mistake before the next player lays down a card.
A common variant rule, borrowed from Hearts, is that a player may not lead spades until a spade has been played to trump another trick.[3][9] This prevents a player who is "long" in spades (having a large number of them) from leading spades one after the other at the beginning of the hand to deplete them and thus prevent other players using them as trumps. The act of playing the first spade in a hand is known as "breaking spades", derived from its parent rule, "breaking hearts". When a player leads with a spade after spades has been broken, the other players must follow suit.
Another common variant rule, also borrowed from Hearts, is that a player cannot lead spades in the first trick.
The trick is won or taken by the player who played the highest card of the led suit; if trumps were played, the highest trump card wins.[8] The player who wins the trick gathers the cards up into a facedown arrangement that allows players to count the number of tricks taken. The contents of each trick can not be viewed after this point, except to determine whether a player reneged. The number of tricks a player has won cannot be disguised;[3] if asked, each player must count out their tricks until everyone has agreed on the "trick count". The player who wins any given trick leads the next. Play continues until all players have exhausted their hands, which should occur on the same (last) trick. Otherwise, it is declared a misdeal.
A partnership reneges on their contract if they violate the rules of play; most often this happens when a player plays offsuit when they could have—and therefore should have—followed suit. This may not be noticed until later in the game.
Common penalties for reneging are for the reneging player to automatically lose their bid, or for the reneger to have three tricks added to their bid as a penalty, meaning that the team may still make contract but must take three additional tricks to do so. It does not matter whether the player reneged on purpose.[10]
Once the final trick is played, the hand is then scored. Many variants for scoring exist; what follows is the basic method. All players must align tricks earned from time played consecutively to last hand
Once a hand is completed, the players count the number of tricks they took and, in the case of partnerships or teams, the members' trick counts are summed to form a team count.
Each player's or team's trick count is then compared to their contract. If the player or team made at least the number of tricks bid, 10 points for each bid trick are awarded (a bid of 5 would earn 50 points if made). If a team did not make its contract, it was "set" and 10 points for each bid trick are deducted from the team's score (e.g.: six bid and any number less than six taken results in minus 60 points).
If a player/team took more tricks than they bid, a single point is scored for each overtrick, called an "overtrick", "bag", or "sandbag" (a bid of 5 tricks with 6 tricks taken results in a score of 51 points).[9]
To this contract score, players add bonuses earned and subtract penalties assessed based on whether the player successfully did or failed to do any of the more specific things they said they would in the bidding phase. Many variants exist that award or penalize according to certain behaviors; they are covered below. For the basic nil and blind bids, points are awarded as follows:[8][9]
Bid made | If bid met exactly | If player took fewer | If player took more |
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Nil | 100 | N/A | −100 |
Blind nil | 200 | N/A | −200 |
Double nil | 400 or game | N/A | 0 or −200 |
Double blind nil | 800 or game | N/A | 0 or −400 |
Though some variant bonuses or penalties are based on the contract score, normally a bonus or penalty does not affect and is not affected by any other bonus or penalty, or the contract score. As a result, a partnership can have a net positive score even if they failed to make their contract. For instance, if one player successfully made a nil bid, but their partner bid 5 tricks and only took 4 tricks, the partnership still gets the bonus which is represented as −50 points + 100 points = 50 points. Conversely, a partnership can have a net negative score in much the same way; if a player failed a nil bid but the partnership bid and took 5 tricks, the net score is −50 points.
If a nil bid is set, most tournament rules dictate that the overtricks make the nil invalid.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]
A common scoring variant is designed to penalize players for underestimating the number of tricks they will take, while at the same time not removing the possible strategy of intentionally taking overtricks, or "bags", in order to "set" the other team. This is accomplished by keeping track of bags in the ones place on the scorecard, and assessing a 100-point penalty when 10 bags are accumulated and the ones place rolls over.[9] In shorter variants of the game, where players play to 250 points (instead of the standard 500 points), sandbag penalties can be assessed earlier. In these variants, a 50-point penalty would be assessed when 5 bags are accumulated.
For example, if a team's bid is 5 tricks and they take 8 tricks, the score for the hand is 53 points. If the team's total score before this hand had a digit in the ones place of 7 or more, for instance 108, the team has "bagged out" or been "sandbagged"; the hand's score is added to the total and then 100 points are deducted. In the example, the score would be 61 points after the penalty. The 10 bags could be considered to make the penalty 90 points (the penalty can instead be 110 points to offset this, or the ones' place can simply not be carried when adding). Anything over 10 sandbags is retained in the first digit and count towards future overtricks; a player or team can bag out multiple times in a game. Sandbags do not count as points.[18]
One of the players is the scorer and has written the bids down, so that during the play and for the scoring afterward, this information will be available to all the players. When a hand is over, the scores should be recorded next to the bids. Alternatively, the scorer can turn the bid into the contract score by writing in the number of bags (zero if there were none) behind the bid, and a minus sign before it if the team was set, then add bonuses and subtract penalties beneath. A running score should be kept so that players can readily see each other's total points.
The most common condition is the first to reach 500 points, or forcing the opposing team to drop to −200 points. Alternatively, the game could be played for a fixed number of hands or a fixed time limit; with four players, eight hands can generally be played in about an hour. If there is a tie, then all players participate in one more round of play until a winner is decided.
As with any widely played game of such a flexible nature, Spades has many variations, ranging from significant changes in play to small tweaks that suit individual or household preference.
Traditionally spades is played with four players in two partnerships. However, there are variations that allow for greater or fewer players. Partnerships are optional even with four players. All other rules should be agreed upon beforehand by the players.
The differences partners spades and cutthroat bidding and play are substantial. In partners, a player would bid a trick for every ace, king, and queen in a side suit (i.e.: non-Spade). In cutthroat, a player would rarely bid on a king in a long side suit (5+ cards) nor a queen in any length side suit because of the risk of their being trumped. This risk is reduced in partners by the possibility that partner may be out of the long suit and able to discard or to overtrump an opponent.
In partners, nil bids are easier to make because the nil bidder's partner can overtake or trump the nil bidder's high cards. In cutthroat, this safety valve is not available.
Partners allows a mix of weak and strong players by pairing a weak player with a strong one, resulting in a more satisfying game (provided that the division of talent is about even) than in Cutthroat where individual weak players would stand little or no chance against strong players.
Conversely, against a computer program where the object is for a human to beat the computer software, being saddled with a weak computer partner does not provide a satisfying game. Thus, Cutthroat makes more sense for a computer game than Partners.
Authority control databases: National ![]() |
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