Spades: how to play

Spades, the classic partnership card game. You play as Mogi with Kip across the table, against Bruno and Byte. Each level is one hand of 13 tricks and adds one rule, from plain tricks to bids, bags and nil, until the Glitch Zone makes hearts trumps.

How to play

• All 52 cards are dealt, 13 each. Follow the suit led if you can, or play any card. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick, but spades are trumps: the highest spade played wins.
• Spades can't be led until one has been played, unless you hold nothing else.
• Tap a card to play it, or use ← → and Enter.
• From the Rooftops on, bid first: how many tricks you'll take. Use BID − and BID + (or the arrow keys), then OK. Your bid plus Kip's is your team's bid.
• Make your team's bid for 10 points a trick bid, plus 1 per extra trick; fall short and lose 10 a trick bid.
• Win the hand to clear the level: 7 of the 13 tricks in Neon City, then outscore the other team (a tie isn't enough). A lost hand costs one of your three hearts and deals again.

The five levels

1. Neon City: no bidding: your team needs 7 tricks
2. Rooftops: bid your tricks, then make them
3. Sewer: bags: every trick over your bid now costs 5 points
4. Robot Factory: nil: bid 0 and take no tricks for 100 points
5. Glitch Zone: hearts are trumps instead of spades

Clear the Glitch Zone and the levels loop again with Bruno and Byte making a quarter fewer careless plays. You have three hearts for the whole run, and the game is the same for everyone each day, so you can compare scores. Press M to turn the sound off or on.

Tips

• Count the high trumps as they fall: once the ace and king are gone, your queen is boss.
• Bid what your hand can really take: missing costs 10 a trick, an extra trick at most 5.
• Bid nil with a hand of low cards and few trumps, and let Kip take the tricks.

Questions

Who is my partner?

Kip, across the table: your tricks count together. Bruno and Byte play loosely at first and sharpen level by level.

What are bags?

Tricks over your team's bid. In the full game ten bags cost 100 points; here, from the Sewer on, each bag costs 5 points straight away.

What is a nil bid?

A bid of 0, from the Robot Factory on. Take no tricks and your team gets 100 points; take even one and it loses 100. Kip's bid is scored on its own.

Is it free?

Yes. Spades is free in your browser on phones, tablets and computers, with no download.