How do you play spades?

Question

My friends always have get togethers and their is always a spades game going! I do not know how to play. Some people are great too. They seem to know what the other people have in there hand! Help, I want to play and WIN!

Answer 1

Spade is a card game that can be played with 2, 3, or 4 people. The usual version is with 4 people (2 teams of 2) and they are called partners and sit opposite each other.

Every area seems to have its own variations so ask, the most traditional variation is with both Jokers inserted (1 High & 1 Low), then the 2 of diamonds & then the 2 of spades, then the A-3 in descending order of spades and so on for the other suits. Each person gets dealt 13 cards, arrange your hand with the suits together diamonds with diamonds, etc and group your spades also inc. the jokers and above deuces.

The object is to bid how many books (groups of 4 cards you and your partner are going to win). To get all 13 books is called a Boston and to bid 4 is called board. If your score is lower than your opponents bya 100pts or more you can bid before seeing your cards (this is called a blind and is worth double). Each book is worth 10 pts. If you bid (let's say 6 books) and only make 5 that is called "being set" (as in setback) and you lose the amount of points you bid.

The best way to bet is always count the jokers as 1 book each, the 2 deuces as 1 book each, and the aces also as 1 book each. But beware, someone even you might have very little or no cards from 1 particular suit and that person can "cut" a high card with a spade.

(Example you play the Ace of Diamonds, the player to your left plays the 10 of diamonds, your partner plays a 3 of diamonds, and the player to your right -who has no diamonds- plays the 3 of spades. The 3 of spades trumps your ace of diamonds and the opponents would win that "book").

The game ends when 1 team gets to a predetermined final score, usually 500pts.

Answer 2

You can have four players in spades. The players sitting across from each other are on teams.

It's Easy. First, you have to know what the top five cards are. Remove the 2 of hearts and the 2 of clubs, and put in the jokers. The colored joker is the highest, the black and white is the next highest, then the Ace of spades, then the 2 of diamonds, then the 2 of spades, in that order, from highest to lowest.
Each player gets thirteen cards. It helps to order your cards by the suit, so you can see what the highest cards are in each suit. If you have a lot of spades, that is also good.
Then, you and your teammate have to discuss how many books you think you can win. A book is a win of one round of four cards, in which either you or your teammate have the highest cards. Set a number, such as four or six, that you tjink you can win.
The first player is the one to the left of the dealer. You can't play a spade ( a spade suit, or any of the five cards mentioned before) in the first round. Your goal is to get the highest card of the suit that the first player has played. If you do not have a card in that suit, you can play any other suit. But beware, if you play another suit with a card of the right suit in your hand and you are caught, you lose three books.
If you play another suit and you play a spade, you automatically win, unless someone else plays a higher spade. But be careful. If your partner has the highest card in the suit, don't play your highest, play your lowest, because it won't matter as long as one of you wins.
After everyone has played all of their cards, the team with the most books wins. Now go beat your friends!

Answer 3

Play Spades , on line , on yahoo. There are rules posted to teach you there. get some experience and go from there.

Answer 4

Spades - Card Game Rules
From Erik Arneson,
Your Guide to Board / Card Games.
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The complete rules for the card game Spades
Spades is a very popular trick-taking game played by two partnerships.
Players

4 players in two partnerships.

Deck

Standard 52-card deck. Ace is high; 2 is low.

Goal

To be the first partnership to reach 500 points.

Setup

Partners sit across the table from each other. Choose a dealer. Shuffle the deck and deal each player 13 cards.

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 to pass. Bids do not have to increase with each player. There's only one round of bidding.

EXAMPLE: Alex bids 4.

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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.
Bidding Nil

A player who bids Nil (zero) is claiming that he won't win any tricks during the hand. If he's successful, his partnership earns a 100-point bonus. However, if he wins one or more tricks, 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.

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, his partnership earns a 200-point bonus. However, if he fails, 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.

Gameplay

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.

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.

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.

Sandbagging

A partnership should avoid winning too many tricks above its bid. Each time a partnership wins 10 bags (cumulative through a game), that 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.

Continuing Play

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

Winning

The first partnership to reach 500 points is the winner. If both partnerships reach 500 in the same hand, the partnership with the highest score is the winner. If there's a tie, play another hand.