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Spades

Four players in two teams of partners. Each hand, everyone bids how many tricks they think they'll take, and partners add their bids together. Spades are trump, so they beat every other suit. Make your team's bid and you score. Fall short and you lose points. First team to 500 wins.

first round is practice. stop and ask anytime.

Set up · 1 of 2

Sit across from your partner.

Set up · 2 of 2

Deal the whole deck, 13 cards each.

How to play · 1 of 6

Bid

Starting left of the dealer, each player says how many tricks they think they'll win. Add partners' bids together. That's your team's target for the hand.

How to play · 2 of 6

Lead

The player left of the dealer leads any card except a spade. Nobody can lead a spade until a spade has been played on another suit, unless spades are all they have.

How to play · 3 of 6

Follow suit

Going clockwise, everyone plays one card. You have to play the suit that was led if you have it. If you don't, play anything, spades included.

How to play · 4 of 6

Win the trick

The highest spade wins. If no spades were played, the highest card of the suit led wins. The winner takes the four cards and leads next.

How to play · 5 of 6

Score

Make your bid: 10 points for each trick you bid, plus 1 for each extra trick, called a bag. Every 10 bags costs your team 100 points. Miss your bid: lose 10 points for each trick you bid.

How to play · 6 of 6

Go nil

Bid zero and win no tricks at all to score 100 for your team. Take even one and lose 100. Your partner's bid is scored on its own.

How to win

The first team to reach 500 points wins.