Spades Plus Rules: The Complete Unofficial Guide
How Spades Plus actually works — deal, bid, Nil, Blind Nil, bags and scoring — plus where its numbers differ from the rules most players learn first.
Unofficial guide. Spades Plus is a trademark of its respective owner. This page is written by players, is not affiliated with or endorsed by the app's publisher, and uses no artwork or text copied from the app.
Spades Plus is the most-played mobile Spades app, with millions of downloads and a rating built on a very large player base. Underneath the coins, levels and tournaments it is a completely standard game of partnership Spades: four players, two teams, thirteen tricks, spades always trump. What surprises most new players is not the rules — it is that the app scores a few things more severely than the version they learned at home. This guide covers the rules end to end and flags every one of those differences. The standard, app-free version of the same game is written up in the complete Spades rules .
- Four players, two partnerships. You and the player sitting opposite you are a team. The other two players are the opposing team. Play and the deal both run clockwise.
- 52 cards, 13 each. A standard deck, no jokers. Cards rank A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 within each suit.
- Spades are permanent trump. There is no auction for trump and no way to change it. Any spade beats any card of any other suit.
- Partners' bids are combined. If you bid 3 and your partner bids 4, your team has contracted for 7 of the 13 tricks. You are judged on the total, not on your individual number.
Bidding starts with the player to the dealer's left and proceeds clockwise. Each player bids the number of tricks they personally expect to win, from 0 to 13. There is no rule that a bid must beat the previous one — you bid your hand, not against the other players. The only reliable way to land on the right number is to count winners rather than guess; the Spades bidding guide walks through that count trick by trick.
Normal bid: 1–13 tricks. Scored as bid × 10 if the team reaches its combined total.. Nil (0): Win no tricks at all. +100 if it holds, −100 if you take even one trick.. Blind Nil: Declared before you look at your cards. +200 if it holds, −200 if it fails.
A Nil is scored as its own line, separate from your partner's bid. If your partner bids 4 and makes it for +40 while your Nil succeeds, the team scores 140. If your Nil fails, the team loses 100 but still keeps the +40 your partner earned.
- The player to the dealer's left leads first, and may not lead a spade .
- Every other player must follow the led suit if they can. If they cannot, they may play any card — including a spade, which is called trumping.
- A trick containing a spade is won by the highest spade played. If no spade was played, the highest card of the led suit wins.
- Spades must be broken. You cannot lead a spade until either someone has already played a spade on another suit, or you hold nothing but spades.
- The winner of each trick leads the next one. All 13 tricks are played out.
Two consequences of these rules drive most intermediate play. First, because you must follow suit, a void in a suit is a weapon: the second time that suit is led you can trump it. Second, because spades cannot be led until broken, a player holding a long spade suit cannot simply run it — they have to wait for someone else to break spades, or for their hand to be nothing but spades. Both consequences are worked through in leading and following and breaking spades .
Team makes its combined bid: bid × 10, plus 1 point per overtrick . Team falls short of its bid: −(bid × 10) — no partial credit. Nil succeeds / fails: +100 / −100. Blind Nil succeeds / fails: +200 / −200. Team reaches 10 overtricks (bags): −100 , bag counter resets to 0
The overtrick rule is the one that catches people. Every trick you win above your team's contract is a bag worth 1 point immediately — which feels free — but the tenth bag costs 100 points at once. Deliberately underbidding to collect bags is known as sandbagging, and the −100 penalty exists specifically to punish it. Bags above ten carry over: take 12 overtricks in one hand and you pay 100 and start the next cycle with 2. The long-run arithmetic behind that penalty is in bag management , and every worked number is collected in Spades Plus scoring .
The first team to reach the table's final point target wins. Public rooms typically run to 300, 400 or 500 points depending on the room, and if you create your own table you can set the target yourself. Because failed bids and bag penalties stack, a losing team very often finishes on a negative score.
If you learned Spades at a kitchen table, three numbers will be different here. Learn them before you bid.
Nil bonus / penalty: 100 / 100: Often 50 or 75. Blind Nil: 200 / 200: Often not played at all. 10 bags penalty: −100: Often −50. Match target: 300–500 by room: Often 200 or 500
The practical effect: Nil is worth more here, so it is correct to bid Nil on hands you would normally pass on; and bags are twice as punishing, so the aggressive "bid low and collect overtricks" style that works in friendly games will quietly bleed 100 points every few hands. Which hands actually qualify for the extra Nil value is the subject of Nil and Blind Nil .
Count sure winners, then round down — a bag costs less than a set, but ten bags cost 100.. Bid Nil with a genuinely weak hand: no ace, no high spade, several cards below 6.. When your partner bids Nil, switch to covering mode and take tricks they cannot duck.. Track spades out loud in your head. Whoever controls the last spades controls the hand. Don't bid Blind Nil to "catch up" from a modest deficit — −200 usually ends the match.. Don't lead spades early just because you hold a long suit; you must wait for spades to break.. Don't count a bare king as a winner. A king with two small cards is a winner; a king alone is a hope.. Don't drop an ace on a trick your partner already controls.
Spades Plus has no offline practice mode, so the fastest way to drill these rules is a table that does. Play a free Partnership hand against AI on Spedes — same deal, same trick rules, no coins and no waiting for a seat.
Frequently asked questions
Is Spades Plus the same as regular Spades?
The core game is identical: four players in two partnerships, 13 tricks, spades always trump. The differences are all in the scoring — Nil pays 100 instead of the usual 50–75, Blind Nil pays 200, and ten bags costs 100 instead of 50. Those three numbers change which bids are correct.
What is a bag in Spades Plus?
A bag (also called a sandbag) is any trick your team wins above its combined bid. Each bag is worth 1 point immediately, but when your team reaches ten bags it loses 100 points and the counter resets. Bags beyond ten carry over into the next cycle.
What happens if my Nil fails but my partner makes their bid?
The two are scored separately. Your failed Nil costs the team 100 points. Your partner's made bid still scores normally, and any tricks you took do not count towards your partner's contract.
Can you lead a spade on the first trick?
No. Spades cannot be led until they are broken — either a player who could not follow suit played a spade, or the leader holds nothing but spades. The first spade played on another suit's lead breaks spades for the rest of the hand.
What score do you play to in Spades Plus?
It depends on the room. Public rooms commonly finish at 300, 400 or 500 points, and private tables let the host set the final point target. Check the table before you sit down — it changes how aggressively you should bid.
Does Spades Plus involve real money?
No. The app is free to download, uses virtual coins with no cash value, and does not offer real-money gambling or the chance to win real money or prizes. It is rated for an adult audience.
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