How to score Spades

How the scoring works, hand by hand

Spades is scored one hand at a time. You play the whole hand, then enter each team’s bid and books, and the app tallies it.

There’s nothing to tap during play — just come back and enter the result after each hand.

What you need

A regular deck of cards and four players.

You play in two teams of two. Partners sit across from each other. Your job is to work together.

The big idea

The game is played in rounds called “hands.” In each hand, the cards are dealt out and you play them one at a time.

Before playing, your team promises how many little battles (called “books”) you think you can win. Guessing right is how you score.

What is a book?

A “book” (some people call it a “trick”) is one small battle. Each player puts down one card, and the best card wins the pile.

You must play the same suit that was led (hearts on hearts, and so on) if you can. If you can’t, you may play anything — including a spade.

Spades are “trump,” which means the highest spade beats every other card. If no spade is played, the highest card of the led suit wins.

Making your bid

Look at your cards and guess how many books you can win. That guess is your “bid.”

In this app you enter your team’s total bid together (both partners added up).

Try to be honest with your guess — bidding too high or too low can both cost you points.

How points work

If your team wins at least as many books as you bid, you score 10 points for each book you bid.

If you win fewer than you bid, you get “set” — you lose 10 points for each book you bid.

Example: you bid 4 and win 4 or more → +40 points. You bid 4 but only win 3 → −40 points.

Bags (the extra-books rule)

Every book you win over your bid is called a “bag.” Each bag is worth just 1 point, so extra books barely help.

Bags add up round after round. When you collect 10 of them, you get hit with a big penalty (usually −100). This is why you don’t want to grab books you didn’t promise.

Going Nil

A “Nil” is a bold bid of zero — you promise to win NO books at all that hand.

Pull it off and your team gets a bonus. Win even one book and the Nil is busted: you lose the same amount instead — a flat penalty, however many books you accidentally took.

Your partner still bids and scores normally. If your Nil busts, the books you took usually still count toward your partner’s bid.

“Blind Nil” is the daring version: you call it before even looking at your cards, for an even bigger bonus and bigger risk.

How the game ends

You keep playing hands and adding up scores. The first team to reach the target score (usually 500) wins.

If both teams pass the target in the same hand, most families play one more hand to break the tie.

Popular house rules

Boston (a “sweep”): win every book in one hand for a big bonus. You can turn this on and set the bonus in Settings.

No bidding on the first hand: some families skip bidding on hand 1 — you just score points for the books you take.

10 for 200: bid 10 or more and make it for a huge 200 points (or lose 200 if you miss).

Every one of these is optional — pick a preset or flip it on under “Customize.”

How you’ll score in the app

Spades is scored at the end of each hand. Play the whole hand, then tap “New round” and enter each team’s bid and how many books they won.

The app does all the math — points, bags, Nil bonuses, and penalties — and keeps the running score for you.

The deck and the order of play

Words you will hear at the table

If it is your first time

• You don’t need to memorize anything — the app does the math. Just play the hand and enter what happened.
• Bidding a little low is safer than bidding too high. Missing your bid hurts more than a couple of bags.
• Watch your bag count. Ten bags means a big penalty, so don’t grab books you didn’t promise.