How to play Spades

Learn the rules to the playing card game Spades quickly and concisely – This video has no distractions, just the rules. While there are many variations to Spades, this video covers the original base rules.

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RULES:

The object of this 4 player card game is to be the first player to 500 points. The object of each hand is to win at least as many “tricks” as you bid. Setup. Using a standard deck of playing cards, with Aces high, 2s low, and Spades trumping all, each player is given a card from a shuffled deck and who ever receives the highest card becomes the first dealer. If there is a tie, try again. The dealer shuffles and the player to their right cuts the deck. The dealer then deals 13 cards one at a time clockwise to each player. Players look at their own cards but keep them hidden from their opponents.

After everybody receives their cards, bids are made. A bid refers to the players’ expectation of “tricks” they will make in the round. Normally, all players must make a minimum of 1 bid. A trick is given to the player with the highest card in each round.

After the bids are made, the dealer lays one card from their hand face up in the center of the table as a lead. Continuing clockwise from the lead, each player places a card down matching the same suit as the lead card. If they do not possess cards of the same suit, they may play any of their cards. The card with the highest rank in the suit that was led, wins the round, winning the trick. Spades are trump, and always rand higher than the other suits. For example, A 3 of spades beats a King of diamonds. The winner of the trick, collects the cards facedown and pouts them to the side, keeping each tricks separate, then leads the next card. This process repeats until all the cards for the hand are played.

At the end of the hand, points are rewarded to players who made their number of bids. You receive 10 points for each trick made that you bid and 1 bonus point for each trick made over your initial bid. For example, if you big 5 tricks at the start of the round and ended up taking 6 tricks, you would get 50 points for meeting the initial 5 tricks and 1 point for the additional trick. Giving you 51 points for the hand. 0 points are given to players who fail to win the number of tricks they bid.

If no player has 500 or more points, then role of dealer rotates clockwise by one and another hand is dealt. Keep playing until someone has 500 or more points, then they are the winner.