Game instructions
How to play
- 4 players
- ranked
Goal and deal
Four players form two opposite partnerships. Each receives 13 cards. Spades are always trump, beating other suits. Score by fulfilling your promised number of tricks and aim to reach 250 or 500 points.
Bidding
Before play, each player declares how many tricks they expect to win. Partners' positive bids combine into one team target. Zero, called nil, separately promises to take no tricks. Count strong spades and high cards, without treating every possible trick as certain.
Tricks
Each player plays one card. Follow the led suit if possible; otherwise play any card, including a spade. The highest spade wins, or the highest card of the led suit if no spade appears. Cards rank A, K, Q, J, 10 down to 2. The winner leads next. Spades cannot be led until broken by being played on another suit's trick, unless the player holds only spades.
Contract and nil scoring
Making the team target scores 10 per bid trick plus 1 per overtrick. Missing it loses 10 times the bid. A successful nil adds 100 and a failed nil subtracts 100. In this version, a nil bidder's tricks do not help fulfil the partner's positive contract and do not count as their overtricks.
Bags and finish
Overtricks accumulate as bags. With bag penalties enabled, every ten bags subtract 100 points, carrying any remainder forward. The match ends after a deal in which a partnership reaches the target or falls to minus 200. The higher partnership total wins and equal totals draw. Bids and trick counts reset for each new deal.
You know the rules — time for a game.
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