♠ Spades Rules ♠

So You Want to Lose to Mason & Charlie?

Learn the rules before Mason and Charlie teach you the hard way. At least when they destroy you, you'll understand how it happened. The why is simple: they're better than you.

The Basics

  • Players & Setup: 4 players split into 2 teams, sitting across from their partner. Use a standard 52-card deck.
  • The Deal: The entire deck is dealt evenly — 13 cards per player, no leftovers, no excuses.
  • Objective: Be the first team to reach 500 points (or whatever target score your group agrees on).
  • Card Ranking: Within each suit, cards rank from Ace (highest) down to 2 (lowest): A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
  • Trump Suit: Spades are always trump. Always. No matter what. Spades beat every other suit when played.

The Bid

Before a hand is played, each player looks at their cards and bids the number of tricks they expect to win (minimum 1, maximum 13). Team bids are combined — if you bid 4 and your partner bids 3, your team needs to win at least 7 tricks.

  • Nil Bid: A player bids zero, declaring they will take no tricks at all. If successful, the team earns a 100-point bonus. If the nil bidder takes even one trick, the team suffers a 100-point penalty. The partner still plays for their own bid.
  • Blind Nil: For the truly daring (or truly foolish). A player bids nil before looking at their cards. The reward is doubled: +200 if successful, −200 if not. This is generally only attempted when your team is desperate and far behind.

Charlie always bids exactly right. It's unsettling.

Playing a Hand

  1. The player to the dealer's left leads the first trick by playing any card except a spade.
  2. Play continues clockwise. Each player must follow suit if they can — if hearts are led, you play a heart if you have one.
  3. If you cannot follow suit, you may play any card, including a spade. Playing a spade on another suit's trick is called trumping (or "cutting").
  4. The highest card of the led suit wins the trick — unless a spade was played, in which case the highest spade wins.
  5. Breaking spades: Spades cannot be led until they have been "broken" — meaning someone has played a spade on a previous trick because they couldn't follow suit. Once broken, spades can be led freely.

The Math

  • Making your bid: Your team earns 10 points for each trick you bid, plus 1 point for each overtrick (called a "bag"). Example: bid 5, win 7 = 52 points (50 + 2 bags).
  • Failing your bid (set): If your team wins fewer tricks than your combined bid, you lose 10 points for each trick you bid. Bid 6, win 5? That's −60 points.
  • Bag penalty: Bags accumulate across hands. Every time your team hits 10 accumulated bags, you lose 100 points. Overtricks are tempting, but they add up.
  • Nil success: +100 points to the team.
  • Nil failure: −100 points to the team.
  • Blind Nil success: +200 points.
  • Blind Nil failure: −200 points.

Mason & Charlie's Pro Tips

♠ Wisdom from the Undisputed King & Queen ♠

  • Tip #1: Always count your spades. Charlie counts yours too.
  • Tip #2: If Charlie bids Nil, she means it. If you bid Nil against Charlie, pray.
  • Tip #3: There's no shame in losing to Mason and Charlie. There IS shame in crying about it. But you'll cry anyway.
  • Tip #4: Watch what's been played. Or don't. Charlie already knows what's in your hand regardless.
  • Tip #5: Mason doesn't count cards. He counts your regrets.

Now that you know the rules, you have no excuse. Not that an excuse would save you from Mason and Charlie.

♠ Now go read about what happens when people sit across from them ♠