Spades Help

Standard Spades Rules

Spades is a 4-player partnership game played with a standard 52-card deck. You and the player sitting across from you form a team. Spades are always trump. Teams accumulate points from each hand until the game ends. When a team reaches 500 points or falls to −200 points, the game ends and the team with the higher score wins.

Each hand consists of four stages: dealing, bidding, playing, and scoring.

Dealing

At the start of the game, the dealer is chosen randomly. The deal then rotates clockwise after each hand. The entire 52-card deck is dealt face down, giving each player 13 cards.

Bidding

Bidding begins with the player to the dealer's left and continues clockwise until all four players have bid. After looking at their cards, each player estimates how many tricks they expect to take in the hand. A trick consists of 4 cards, one played by each player, as described in the Play section below. A player may bid any number from 0 through 13. A bid of 0 is called nil and is a promise to take no tricks.

In a special situation, a player may bid blind nil before looking at their cards. Under the default rules, blind nil is available when the player's team is behind by at least 100 points. Like an ordinary nil bidder, a blind-nil bidder promises to take no tricks. A successful nil earns a bonus, while a failed nil receives a penalty; blind nil has a larger bonus and penalty because it is more difficult.

Partners' non-nil bids are added together to form the team's contract. After every player has bid, the hand continues to the play stage.

Play

The hand consists of 13 tricks. Each trick contains 4 cards, one played by each player. Every trick has a leader, a suit led, and a winner. The leader plays the first card, and the suit of that card is the suit led. The highest spade wins a trick containing spades. Otherwise, the highest card played in the suit led wins.

Within each suit, cards rank from low to high as follows.

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A.

The player to the dealer's left leads the first trick. Play continues clockwise, with each player playing one card in turn. Players must follow the suit led when able. A player who cannot follow suit may play any card.

Spades cannot be led until they have been broken. Spades are broken when a player who cannot follow suit plays a spade. After that, spades may be led like any other suit. A player whose hand contains only spades may lead a spade even if they have not been broken.

The winner takes the four cards in the trick and sets them aside for scoring, then leads the next trick. Play continues until all 13 tricks have been played.

Scoring

After the hand, players count the tricks they have taken. Each team's score is calculated separately by comparing its bids with its tricks. When neither partner bids nil, the partners' bids and tricks are combined. A team that takes at least as many tricks as it bid scores 10 points for each trick bid, plus 1 point for each additional trick. A team that takes fewer tricks than it bid scores −10 points for each trick bid.

Additional tricks are called bags or overtricks. Bags accumulate from hand to hand and appear in the ones digit of the score. Each time a team accumulates 10 bags, it receives a 100-point penalty and the bag count starts again with the remaining bags.

For example, suppose you bid 3 and take 2 tricks while your partner bids 4 and takes 6. Your team's combined bid is 7 and it takes 8 tricks, so the team scores 71 points. It does not matter that you missed your individual bid because the team made its combined bid.

Nil and blind-nil bids are scored separately from the partner's non-nil bid. A player who takes no tricks after bidding nil earns a 100-point bonus; a failed nil loses 100 points. A successful blind nil earns 200 points; a failed blind nil loses 200 points. Under the standard rules, tricks taken by a nil bidder become bags and do not help the partner make their bid. The nil score and the partner's score are then combined.

For example, suppose you bid nil and your partner bids 5. You take no tricks and your partner takes 7. Your successful nil scores 100 points. Your partner scores 52 points for making the bid with 2 bags, so the team scores 152 points.

Now suppose you bid nil and your partner bids 5. You take 3 tricks and your partner takes 4. Your failed nil scores −100 points, and your 3 tricks add 3 bags, for −97. Your partner's 4 tricks do not make the bid of 5, so the partner scores −50. The team scores −147 points for the hand.

After scoring, the hand scores are added to the teams' total scores. If neither team has reached a game-ending score, the deal rotates and another hand begins.

Spades Variations

NeuralPlay Spades includes the following ready-to-play variations. See Rule Options to customize them further.

• Standard. The partnership game described above.
• Mirror. Partnership Spades in which each player's bid must equal the number of spades in that player's hand.
• Suicide. Exactly one player on each team must bid nil. The other partner must make a non-nil bid of at least 4. If the first partner does not bid nil, the second partner must do so.
• Whiz. Each player must bid either nil or the number of spades in that player's hand.
• Solo. Also known as Cutthroat. There are no partnerships; each player bids, takes tricks, and scores individually.

Learning Features

NeuralPlay Spades offers many features to help you learn and improve your play. These features may be enabled, disabled, or adjusted in Settings. The features include the following.

• Hints. By default, the AI shows a hint when you ask for one. In Settings, you may ask the AI to always show a hint, or ask the AI to check your bid, pass, or play and show a hint only when its choice differs from yours.
• AI points estimate. When enabled, the AI shows the estimated number of points that will be scored for each legal play. This is an expected value averaged across many simulations. The AI-suggested play may differ from the play with the highest estimate because of strategy or simulation noise.
• Card counter. When enabled, a counter shows which cards have been played.
• Analyze bid. When enabled, an "Analyze" button appears during bidding. Tap it and enter a proposed bid to estimate the chance of making that bid.
• Competitive mode. Enable competitive mode to play without assistance. Hints, undo, viewing all hands, analyze bid, and other learning aids are disabled.

Rule Options

Play Spades the way you like! NeuralPlay Spades offers many rule options so you can customize the game to your liking. Options include the following.

Players

• Partnership. Play in teams with partners sitting across from one another, or play individually with each player keeping a separate score. Nil passing and the team-minimum-bid rule apply only to partnership games.

Deck

• Trump. Choose one of the following 52-card deck and trump arrangements. The cards are listed from lower to higher trump.
  • Standard. Spades rank from 2♠ through A♠.
  • Jokers. Spades rank from 2♠ through A♠, followed by the black joker and red joker. The 2♣ and 2♥ are removed.
  • Deuces. Spades rank from 3♠ through A♠, followed by 2♠, 2♦, 2♣, and 2♥. All four deuces are trump.
  • Jokers with 2♠. Spades rank from 3♠ through A♠, followed by 2♠, the black joker, and the red joker. The 2♣ and 2♥ are removed.
  • Jokers with 2s. Spades rank from 3♠ through A♠, followed by 2♠, 2♦, the black joker, and the red joker. The 2♣ and 2♥ are removed.

Bidding

• Bidding style. Choose from the following.
  • Standard. Each player chooses a bid from the available choices.
  • Suicide—exactly one nil. Exactly one partner must bid nil.
  • Suicide—at least one nil. At least one partner must bid nil; both partners may do so.
  • Mirror. Each player bids the number of spades in hand.
  • Whiz. Each player bids either nil or the number of spades in hand.
• Nil/Zero bids. Allow nil bids with their special bonus and penalty, allow an ordinary bid of zero without nil scoring, or require every bid to be at least 1.
• Blind nil. Allow a player to bid nil before seeing their cards. Choose to permit blind nil always, only when the player or team is behind by at least 100, 200, or 250 points, or never.
• Nil passing. After a nil bid, partners exchange 0 through 4 cards. Each partner passes the selected number of cards to the other.
• Blind nil passing. After a blind-nil bid, partners exchange 0 through 4 cards. This may be configured separately from ordinary nil passing.
• Blind bids. Allow non-nil bids before the player sees their cards. Choose to permit them always, only when behind by at least 100, 200, or 250 points, or never. Blind non-nil bids are available with Standard bidding. Making a blind bid exactly earns a bonus; taking too few tricks receives the same-size penalty. Taking overtricks receives neither the blind bonus nor its penalty. The bonus is 100 or 50 points, according to the Nil/blind nil bonus setting.
• Team minimum bid. Set no minimum or require each team's combined bid to be at least 2, 3, 4, or 5. The last partner to bid must either bid nil or make the combined bid meet the minimum. If that player bids nil and the first partner made a non-nil bid, the first partner's bid is increased as needed to meet the minimum.
• Bids cannot sum to 13. Prevent the dealer, who bids last, from making the sum of all four bids equal the 13 available tricks.

Playing

• Initial leader. Choose the player to the dealer's left, the player holding the lowest club, the highest bidder, or have every player play their lowest club on the first trick. When the highest bidder leads, a tie is won by the tied bidder closest to the dealer's left.
• Lead spades. Allow spades to be led only after they are broken, after the first trick, or anytime.
• Can trump first trick. Choose whether a player who cannot follow suit may play a spade on the first trick.
• Must beat. Require a player to beat the card currently winning the trick when able.

Scoring

• Bag penalty. Choose 10 bags for −100 points, 7 for −70, 5 for −50, 2 for −20, 1 for −10, or no bag penalty.
• Bag value. Score each bag as 1, 0, −1, or −10 points. Bags are still accumulated for any selected bag penalty.
• Nil/blind nil bonus. Score nil and blind nil as 100/200 points or 50/100 points. The same amount is subtracted when the bid fails.
• Failed bid penalty. Subtract 10 times the bid, subtract 10 times the number of tricks short, or apply no penalty.
• Failed nil overtricks. Choose whether tricks taken on a failed nil become bags, do not become bags and do not help the partner, or count toward the partner's bid.
• 10-for-200 bonus. Disable the bonus; make a combined bid of exactly 10 receive an additional 100 points when made and an additional −100 points when failed; or apply that additional bonus or penalty to any combined bid of 10 or more. With the standard failed-bid penalty, an exact bid of 10 is therefore worth 200 points when made and −200 when failed, before any bags are scored.

Game Over

• Game over at. End the game when a team or player reaches a selected score, or after a selected number of hands.
• Positive points to game over. Choose the positive score at which the game ends.
• Negative points to game over. Choose the negative score at which the game ends.
• Hands to game over. Choose the number of hands to play.

Computer Players

NeuralPlay computer players offer 6 levels of play. Level 1 is reasonably easy and good for beginners. Level 3 should be fun for most players. Level 6 is the most challenging.

The computer players use different AI methods depending on the level. Levels 1 and 2 use simple methods designed for beginners.

Level 3 uses a rule-based AI. Its rules include examples such as "In third seat, do not trump partner's high card" and "In fourth seat, play just high enough to take the trick when an opponent is winning." These rules provide consistent, logical play.

Levels 4 through 6 use Monte Carlo simulation to determine the best play. The AI deals the unknown cards randomly, tries each legal play, and plays the hand to the end to get a result. This is repeated for many possible deals. The average result for each legal play is computed, and the play with the best average result is chosen.

Levels 4 through 6 differ in how many possible deals they simulate. In general, more simulations produce more accurate estimates and better play. The tradeoff is that more simulations take more time, so level 6 may play more slowly than level 4, depending on the device.

Because levels 4 through 6 do not follow a fixed set of rules, you may observe either surprisingly good plays or odd mistakes that do not appear logical. Overall, our tests show that these levels play better than the rule-based level 3. The randomness also makes the computer players feel more human and less predictable.

If you prefer more consistent, logical, and predictable computer partners or opponents, level 3 may be best.

Whichever level you choose, you may adjust bidding aggressiveness and nil bidding aggressiveness. For individual control, choose Custom, which provides separate settings for North, East, South, and West. For each seat, you may adjust play thinking, bid thinking, bidding aggressiveness, and nil bidding aggressiveness. South's custom settings control the strength of the hints you receive.

We are continuing to research and develop improvements to the computer players.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I change the hand sorting?

See Settings → Hand Sorting. You can change the rank order and suit order, and choose to alternate red and black suits.

How do I reset my game settings to the defaults?

Go to the main screen and choose Menu → Reset.

What are North, South, East, and West (and N, S, E, and W)?

These are the player positions around the table. You are always South. In partnership games, North is your partner and West and East are your opponents.

What does "claim" mean?

Claiming means that you or your team expect to take all the remaining tricks. When your hand is clearly high, you may claim to speed up play. The AI checks the claim; if it succeeds, the remaining tricks are awarded and the hand ends.

How do I contact NeuralPlay with suggestions and feedback?

Please contact us at support@neuralplay.com.