What does it mean to cover and duck?Ĭovering is playing a higher-ranking card to protect a partner who bid nil from taking a trick, while ducking is playing a lower-ranking card to avoid taking a trick when you have a higher card of the same suit. If a team collects 10 bags, it leads to a loss of 100 points, which is called rolling. What is a bag, and what happens when a team rolls in Spades?Ī bag is an extra trick taken above the team's initial bid. The person who plays the first card in a trick is said to lead the trick. It also refers to a discrete phase in the game when each player plays one card. When the highest card in a suit is played, that is usually a good time to get rid of your middle cards (8, 9, 10).įrequently asked questions What is a trick, and what does it mean to lead a trick?Ī trick is the pile of 4 cards collected by the player who placed the highest card in the pile.More often than not, it's not the Spades that cause a team to be "set" but rather the cards that are played after the Spades.In this situation, it is usually useful to lead Spades as soon as possible. If the bids are more than 13, then one team is guaranteed not to make their bid.Thus it is good to continue leading Heart cards so your partner can get rid of the high cards they have from other suits. If your partner bids nil, make sure you play lots of high cards to cover them! If you play an Ace of Hearts, for example, and they only play a 2 of Hearts, then they likely don't have any more Hearts.In general, if you are the last person to play and your partner is already winning the trick, it's best not to steal the trick from them by playing a higher card or a trump.If your partner already bid, and they bid nil, you may want to bid a little higher than you normally would, as you may be taking more tricks than usual as part of your duty to cover your partner.Do not bid nil if your partner has already bid nil.If you are close to winning, you may want to be more conservative in your final bid to ensure you will meet your bid and still win.If your opponents have a lot of bags, you may wish to underbid and then force them to take tricks they do not want.
This allows you to cover for your opponent if needed, and you can always throw away cards.
A suit of Spades can be played once they've been "broken" and have become the "trump" suit.Īfter each hand, scores are calculated. If they don't have that suit on hand, they can play any card, except a suit of Spades, on the first trick. Players must follow the suit of the card that has been laid down before their turn. Each team combines their bids to determine how many tricks they have to take to avoid negative points. In each round, players bid on how many tricks they can take. At the start of the game, each player is dealt 13 cards, and the player to the left of the dealer goes first. Cards are ranked from Ace being the highest value to 2 being the lowest. The goal of the game is to get your team to 500 points. If you're just looking for a brush-up on the rules, look no further! For people who haven't played the game before, we suggest looking through our thorough guide on how to play Spades, where you'll also find a helpful interactive tutorial that'll lead you through a game.