The objective is to score points by winning books (also known as tricks).
Spades is a partnership trick-taking card game, played with a single deck. The player opposite you at the table is your partner. Your opponents are seated at your left and right.
The objective of the game is to win as many books (also known as tricks) as you and your partner bid. Spades are always trump (the highest ranking suit).
Bidding
At the beginning of each hand, you and the other players are each dealt thirteen cards face down. Bidding begins with the player to the left of the dealer.
On your turn, you must bid on the number of books you expect to win. Before looking at your cards, you may choose to bid Blind Nil, which means you will try to take no books during the hand and earn a scoring bonus for your blind bid (or a penalty if unsuccessful). After looking at your cards, you may bid from 0 (Nil) to 13 books.
If you or your partner bid nil, each of you are responsible for making your own bid independently. Otherwise, your bids and books are counted together.
Taking books
The player to the left of the dealer leads the hand by playing any card except a spade. On your turn, you must play a card of the same suit as the first card led. This is known as following suit.
If your card is the highest spade of the 4 cards played, you collect all the cards, known as a book or trick. If no spade was played, you collect the book if you played the highest card of the suit led. Your collected books are placed beside your hand to determine your score. Cards are ranked from Ace (high) to 2 (low).
If you have no cards of the suit led, you may play any card. However, you may not play a spade on the first trick unless you have no other playable cards in your hand. Playing the first spade in the hand when no other spades have been played is known as breaking spades.
If you win a book, you are responsible for leading the next trick. When all 13 books have been taken, the hand ends and scores are updated. If neither partnership has won the match, the player to the left of the previous dealer becomes the dealer, and a new hand begins.
