How to Play Spades: BEGINNER'S GUIDE
How to Play SpadesBeginner's Guide Links: Download Spadester! :: How To Play
THE BASIC RULES
The basic rules for spades are simple. The game is played until someone reaches a certain number of points or a time limit has expired. A regular deck of 52 cards (without jokers) is used at all times. Ace is the highest card and 2 is the lowest. To begin the game, every card from the deck is dealt one at a time to each player, so every player will have the same amount.
There are a couple key terms to note:
BID When a player announces how many tricks they think they will take that round.
TRICK When a player wins a Spade hand by playing either the highest suited card OR the highest spade.
Once all cards are dealt, Spadester will ask you what you would like to BID. When you BID, you are predicting how many TRICKS you think you will have at the end of that round. Once all players have made their bid, the player to the left of the dealer will play their first card. Following the first card, the next player MUST lay a card of the same suit as the first card, unless they have none left. In that case, they may lay any card they want. The trick is won by the highest card of the original suit, UNLESS a spade was played. In this case, the highest spade wins the trick. This process is repeated each player has played all of their cards.
Bids are the most important part of the game. If you think you will win 5 tricks, you would make a bid of 5. Now you are trying to get 5 tricks during this round. As long as you get at least as many tricks as you bid, each bid is worth 10 points. For example, if you hit your bid of 5 you will have 50 points going into the next round. However, if you only make 4 tricks and your bid was 5, you will lose 50 points! It is very important to make a good bid based on the cards you have.
If you make more tricks than you bid, you will get BAGS:
BAG A bag is a trick that is won in addition to the initial bid. Example: if a player bids 4 tricks and makes 5, the additional trick is called a bag
Be careful not to get too many bags in the game. You are allowed up to 5 or 10, which are worth 1 point each. If you get more than the allowed amount of bags, you will lose 10 points for each additional bag. Also, note that your bags carry over in each round for the entire game.
BIDDING NIL
When placing your bid, you will see it is possible to bid NIL.
NIL Is when a player bids 0. In other words, the player will win ZERO tricks.
While this is difficult to do, it can be very rewarding. If you bid Nil and get zero tricks, you will get 100 Points! Be careful, though, if you bid Nil and get any tricks, you will lose 50 Points.
In some games, you will be allowed to bid DOUBLE BLIND if you are losing by more than 100 Points. You are required to accept or decline this DOUBLE BLIND bid before looking at your cards. If you accept, its the same as bidding NIL, but worth double! Obviously, this is very difficult to do because you have not seen your cards yet. However, you will get 200 Points if you get 0 Tricks that game!
Note: Make sure you check what Nil bids are worth and if you can do Double Blinds or not. This is shown in the lobby next to the game.
With a bit of practice, you will understand the basics in no time! Now, there are three types of Spades available in the Spadester software. All of them follow the Basic Rules from above, but have some slight differences between them.THREE TYPES OF SPADES
From the Spadester Lobby, you are able to choose which type of Spades you want to play and how long the game will last based on the Point Limit and Time Limit. If more than one player hits the Point Limit in the same hand, the player with the highest score wins.
INDIVIDUAL: Playing with four individual players
When you play Individual Spades, you are playing against three other players. Each player will be dealt 13 cards, and the game is played according to the Basic Rules above.
CUTTHROAT: playing with three individual players
When you play Cutthroat Spades, you are only playing against two other players. Each player will be dealt 17 cards, and the remaining card is discarded. The game is played according to the Basic Rules above.
PARTNERSHIP Playing with a teammate
When you play Partnership Spades, you will have one teammate sitting across from you at the table. You play the game according to the Basic Rules above, but your score is combined with your partners score. So, instead of winning by yourself, you team will win.
Links: Download Spadester! :: How To Play
Spadester Table Spadester Lobby
Posted May 9th 2007 5:32PM
