Spades

Starting a Game

At the start of the game, all 52 cards are dealt out. Each partnership then bids the number of tricks they expect to take during the hand. Each player makes their bid in turn.

A player may bid any number of tricks from 1 to 13, or may bid "nil," which means they undertake not to win any tricks during that hand. The bid made by the partner of the nil bidder becomes the total bid for the partnership.

Cards Ranking

In each suit, cards rank from highest to lowest: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Spades are always trump, meaning any spade will beat any non-spade card, regardless of rank.

Playing

The dealer leads the first trick. The winner of each trick leads to the next trick. Spades cannot be led until they are "broken" by someone playing a spade on a trick. However, a player who only has spades may lead with them.

Since spades are trump, the highest spade played on any trick wins. If no spades are played, the highest card of the suit led wins the trick.