Don’t Waste Your Trump Cards; Spades Explained
Spades is a lot like Bridge, only simplified enough to travel the world and thrive as a game in the middle of a war.
Spades is a trick-taking card game which originated in the United States in the 1930s. And while yes, Spades is very similar to some other card games, it’s also its own thing… mostly.
The History of Spades
Spades originated in the Midwest sometime in the late 1930s. George Coffin—expert on and writer of books about bridge and other card games—thought that Spades was more specifically first played in Cincinnati between 1937 and 1939. The game resembles and is likely closely related to already-existing card games like Pinochle, Euchre, and Bridge. And it even appears to be a somewhat simplified version of Bridge. Meaning that Spades players can learn the rest of the necessary rules and pick up Bridge very quickly.
This simplicity helped Spades rise to popularity during World War II as soldiers helped it travel throughout the world. The relation to Bridge and Euchre made it easy teach and learn, a comparative simplicity and pared-down rules made it a much more interruptible game than Poker.
After the war, veterans brought the game home. Thanks to the GI Bill, many would go on to attend college, where Spades would continue to be a popular game. It remained popular in countries where American troops were stationed both throughout WWII and since.
READ MORE: Making Bad Choices One Playing Card At A Time; King’s Cup Explained
How to Play
Spades is played with two or more players, but most typically it is played with four players in pairs.
The first dealer is chosen by seeing who draws the first spade or highest card, and after that, deal is passed around to the left. The dealer shuffles, has the player to their right cut the cards, and deals the entire deck, one card at a time, face-down to every player in a clockwise order. Players pick up and look at their cards and arrange them as they wish. Each player now bids on the number of “tricks” they expect to take.
The player to the left of the dealer players a single card of their choice, and players play their own cards in clockwise order, cards played much follow suit if at all possible and a spade cannot be played in the first round. These rounds are called “tricks” and a trick is won by the player who played the highest card in the suit- or played a trump spade.
When a trick is won, the winner collects the cards and arranges their winning tricks face-down so that the cards cannot be seen, but the number of won tricks per player can be counted. Once the final trick is played, the game is scored.
Each won trick is compared to what the player had bid at the beginning of the game. Each bid trick is worth ten points. For example, if a player bid five tricks and won at least that many, they would earn fifty points.
If a player doesn’t earn their bid tricks, they loose ten points for each bid trick.
A player who bids fewer tricks than they won, will get a single additional point. For example, if a player bid five tricks and won six, they would earn fifty-one points.
Generally, the first player to 500 points or to force the other player to -200 points wins.
Game Variants
As always, there are a number of variant rules for Spades. Some include:
Deuce Starts: Regardless of dealer, the player with the two of clubs card begins the game.
Kitty: When cards cannot be dealt evenly, a ‘kitty’ is composed of leftover cards placed at the center. Whoever is dealt the two of clubs picks up the kitty before bidding, adds those cards to their hand, and discards an equal number of cards.
There are also bidding variations.
Sum of Bids: The sum of tricks bid cannot equal the number of tricks that will be played.
Nil: The object of the bidder here is to take no tricks during their hand.
No-Trump Bids: Players agree not to win any tricks by trumping with spades.
There are also trump variations:
Deuces High: 2s are highest and the two of spades is the best card in the game.
Joke trumps: Jokers are in the deck, and on their own, they have no value. But when played on another card, they change it to trump status. For example, a joker played on a five of diamonds will change it into a five of spades.
This is a pretty small list of examples of variations, but there are too many variations in Spades to list all of them here.
How Do You Win in Spades?
The winner is the first to reach 500 points. Points are most commonly collected by winning tricks, and tricks are most commonly won by laying the highest suited card or the highest trump card (spade).
Which Card is the Most Important in Spades?
The Ace of Spades is the highest value and most powerful card in the deck. Being the highest-value trump card, it can beat any other card.
Which Suits Can Beat Each Other?
Generally you’ll want to keep tricks within the same suit, but when this isn’t possible, spades beat anything, hearts beat diamonds, and diamonds beat clubs.
Happy playing!
