Spades

Spades is a partnership trick-taking card game, in which the object is for each pair or partnership to take at least the number of tricks they bid on before play began. Spades is a descendant of the Whist family of card games, which also includes Bridge, Hearts, and Oh, Hell. Its major difference as compared to other whist variants is that, instead of trump being decided by the highest bidder or at random, the spade suit is always trump, hence the name.
Basic game play
Number of Players: Two or more; the game is most commonly played with four players in pairs ("Partnership spades")
The Deck: Standard 52 card deck, can also be played with one or two jokers and/or predetermined cards removed. With 6+ players, a second deck is often used.
Rank of Suit: Spades is always trump. Other suits have no intrinsic value during play, but a card of the suit led in the current trick will beat a card of any other suit except a Spade. If a tiebreaker is needed in a draw for deal, the most common suit order from low to high is Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades.
Rank of cards (descending): Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
Object of the game: Score the most points; points are accrued by winning at least the number of tricks (also known as "books") bid in each hand, and are lost by failing to take at least that many (or in some cases by taking too many).
Basic game play mechanics
The deal
The first dealer is chosen by a draw for high card, and thereafter the deal passes to the dealer's left (clockwise) after each hand. The dealer shuffles, and the player to the right is given the opportunity to "cut" the cards to prevent the dealer stacking the deck. The entire deck is then dealt face-down one card at a time in clockwise order (with four players, each player should receive 13 cards).
Blind bidding: Virtually all games include a variant that may happen at this point; one or more players, having not yet looked at their cards, may choose to bid on the number of tricks they will take. When bidding "blind", the player's bid, if made exactly by that player, is rewarded with bonus points (see Scoring below), while failing to make the bid results in the bonus being subtracted from the player's or team's score. Blind bidding is capped at a bid of seven. Thus, bidding a blind eight "8" or higher is contrary to standard game play, and is not allowed.
Blind Nil: The most common blind bid, the player bids that they will not take a single trick during play of the hand. Bidding nil offers an additional bonus on top of the blind bid. A failed nil bid, similar to a failed blind, results in the bonus being deducted from the score.
Double Blind Nil: It is possible for both players of a partnership to bid Blind Nil. If this is done successfully, the team wins the game outright or takes double the combined bonus. If either or both players take tricks, however, there is no penalty.
The players then pick up their cards and arrange them as desired (the most common arrangement is by suit, then rank).
Misdeal: A misdeal is a deal in which all players have not received the same number of cards. A misdeal may be discovered immediately by counting the cards after they are dealt, or it may be discovered during play of a hand. If a hand is misdealt, the hand is considered void and the deal passes to the next player.
Sometimes a misdeal is also called if a player is dealt 0 spades or no face cards. A player if he wishes must throw down his hand face-up, so other players may verify, and declare "misdeal" before he or his team has bid. This is optional; a player may try to bid "nil" if dealt such a hand.
Bidding
Each player decides how many tricks he/she will be able to take. The player to the left of the dealer starts the bidding and, in turn clockwise, each player states how many tricks he/she expects to win. There is only one round of bidding. Every player must make a bid; no player may pass and the minimum bid is one. As Spades are always trump, no trump suit is named during bidding as with some other variants. A common variant borrowed from the related game Oh Hell is that the sum of all bids must not equal the number of tricks to be played; this ensures that at least one player or team will be set or be forced to take an overtrick. Another game variation allows each player to optionally increase their bid by one point after all players have bid but before game play starts. A reduction in bid, once bids are made, is never allowed.
Nil: A player that has already looked at their cards can bid nil, but not blind nil. As with blind nil, the object of the bidder is to take no tricks during the hand. The player's partner may make a normal bid and then help them by attempting to take tricks the nil bidder would otherwise take. If successful, the bidder receives the nil bonus; if unsuccessful, the player or team subtracts that bonus.
Double Nil: If both players in a partnership decide that they will take no tricks and successfully do so, the team's nil bonuses are doubled. If either or both players fail to make their nil bid, there is no penalty.
If a partnership does not meet its bid, it scores 10 negative points for each bid not made. When playing in partnerships, the players may either bid individually (the bids are then summed), giving no information other than their bid to their partner, or they may discuss their hands (without mentioning specific cards) and make a single partnership bid. The bids are recorded by a designated scorer, and if passing will not occur, play of the hand commences.
Passing
Passing, or the exchanging of cards between players, is optional and rare in Spades. However, one more common exception relates to Nil bids, which are generally considered difficult to make (especially when the bid was blindly made). To offset this difficulty slightly, a partnership in which one player has bid Nil or Blind Nil can choose to pass up to 3 cards between players; the most common arrangement is one card for regular nil and two cards for blind nil. When passing, the partners agree on a number of cards to pass, then select that number of cards and place them face down in front of their partner. Neither partner should look at the cards passed to them before they have passed their own cards. In passing this way, the idea is for the partner who bid Nil to offload their highest trumps or other face cards in return for low cards from their partner, which both decreases the likelihood that the nil bidder can be forced to take a trick, and increases the likelihood that his/her partner will be able to "cover", or overplay high cards the nil bidder still holds that would otherwise take a trick.
Passing does not have to be limited to this one case; players may agree that both partnerships may choose to, or must, exchange cards before beginning a trick under any circumstances. Players can then attempt to void suits or balance their hands. However, the requirement to pass cards can be counterproductive, as regardless of whether the passing is done before or after bidding it can interfere with contracting and, unless a player has bid Nil, the object of passing is usually unclear as the players have little information about which cards would benefit their partner.
Game play
Each hand consists of a number of tricks or "books" (the 4-handed game contains 13 tricks using all 52 cards). The player on the dealer's left makes the opening lead by playing a single card of their choice. Players in clockwise fashion then play a card of their choice; they must follow suit, if they can, otherwise they may play any card, including a trump Spade. Once a card has left the hand of a player, it stands and cannot be retrieved without the penalty of losing three tricks.
A common rule, borrowed from Hearts, is that a player may not lead Spades until a Spade has been played to trump another trick. This prevents a player who is "long" in Spades (having a large number of them) from leading Spades one after the other towards the beginning of the game to deplete them and thus prevent other players using them as trumps. The act of playing the first Spade in a hand is known as "breaking Spades".

A typical Spades trick. South leads J♦ and no-one else can follow suit. West sloughs a Heart, North attempts to trump with 10♠ and East takes the trick with K♠
The trick is won or taken by the player who played the highest value card; if one or more trumps were played the highest Trump wins, otherwise the highest card of the suit led wins. The player who wins the trick gathers the cards up into a face-down arrangement that allows players to count the number of tricks taken. The contents of each trick can NOT be viewed after this point except to determine whether a player failed to follow suit when it later becomes apparent that they could have. The number of tricks a player has won cannot be disguised, if asked each player must count out their tricks until everyone has agreed on their "trick count". The player who wins any given trick leads the next one. Play continues until all players have exhausted their hands, which should occur on the same (last) trick (it is a misdeal otherwise).
Reneging
A partnership reneges on their contract if they violate the rules of play; most often this happens when a player plays off-suit when they could have, and therefore should have, followed suit. The penalty for reneging varies; in most cases it nullifies that team's contract (the team cannot make their contract and their score is reduced by 10 points for each bid trick), while sometimes reneging results in a three-trick penalty, meaning the team may still make contract but must take three additional tricks to do so.
"The Rest Are Mine" (TRAM)
It is accepted in most games for a player who knows that they will definitely take all remaining tricks in a hand to simply lay down their hand and declare "the rest are mine". A valid scenario in which this could happen may be that a player holds KQJ9♠ with four tricks to go, and the Ace and Ten have already been played. In this case the player cannot help but take all remaining tricks as no other player can beat any card he chooses to play from his hand. "TRAMing" speeds up the play of a game, but most situations require players to pay careful attention to the cards played during the hand.
Scoring
Once the final trick is played, the hand is then scored. Many variants for scoring exist; what follows is the basic method.
Contract score
Once a hand is completed, the players count the number of tricks they took and, in the case of partnerships or teams, the members' trick counts are summed to form a team count.
Each player's or team's trick count is then compared to their contract. If the player or team made at least the number of tricks bid, 10 points for each bid trick are awarded (a bid of 5 would earn 50 points if made). If a player/team did not make their contract, 10 points for each bid trick are deducted (a bid of six when the team only made 5 loses 60 points). If a player or team took MORE tricks than they bid, a single point for each overtrick, called a "bag", is counted (a bid of 5 with six tricks taken results in a score of 51).
Bonuses or penalties
To this contract score, players add bonuses earned and subtract penalties assessed based on whether the player successfully did or failed to do any of the more specific things they said they would in the bidding phase. Many variants exist that award or penalize according to certain behaviors; they are covered below. For the basic nil and blind bids, points are awarded as follows:
Bid made
If bid met exactly
If player took fewer
If player took more
Nil
100
N/A
-100
Blind
100
-100
0
Blind Nil
200
N/A
-200
Double Nil
400 or Game
N/A
0 or -200
Double Blind Nil
800 or Game
N/A
0 or -400
Though some variant bonuses or penalties are based on the contract score, normally a bonus or penalty does not affect and is not affected by any other bonus or penalty, or the contract score. As a result, a partnership can have a net positive score even if they failed to make their contract. For instance, if one player successfully made a Nil bid, but their partner bid 5 and only took 4 tricks, the partnership still gets the bonus so the net score is -50 + 100 = 50. Conversely, a partnership can have a net negative score in much the same way; if a player failed a nil bid but the partnership bid and took 5 tricks, the net score is -50.
Bags and bagging out
An extremely common feature is designed to penalize players for underestimating the number of tricks they will take, while at the same time not removing the possible strategy of intentionally taking overtricks, or "bags", in order to "set" the other team. This is accomplished by keeping track of bags in the ones place on the scorecard, and assessing a 100-point penalty when 10 bags are accumulated and the ones place rolls over.
For example, if a team's bid is five and they take eight tricks, the score for the hand is 53. If the team's total score before this hand had a ones place of 7 or more, for instance 108, the team has "bagged out" or been "sandbagged"; the hand's score is added to the total and then 100 points are deducted. In the example, the score would be 61 after the penalty. The 10 bags could be considered to make the penalty 90 points; a common way around this is to deduct 110 points, to not carry the 10, or to simply count bags separately. The resulting score would be 51 in any of these cases. Any bags over 10 are retained in the ones place and count towards future overtricks; a player or team can bag out multiple times in a game.
Keeping score
One of the players is the scorer and has written the bids down, so that during the play and for the scoring afterward, this information will be available to all the players. When a hand is over, the scores should be recorded next to the bids. Alternately, the scorer can turn the bid into the contract score by writing in the number of bags (zero if there were none) behind the bid, and a minus sign before it if the team was set, then add bonuses and subtract penalties beneath. A running score should be kept so that players can readily see each other's total points.
Winning
The conditions for winning should be agreed on before play of the first hand. The most common condition is the first to reach 500 points, but any point limit, such as 250, 800, 1000, etc. can be specified. Alternately, the game could be played for a fixed number of hands or a fixed time limit; with four players, eight hands can generally be played in about an hour. If there is a tie, then all players participate in (at least) one more round of play until a winner is decided. Bags, while dangerous, do count as single points, so a team may win a game 507 to 503 through the judicious taking of overtricks.
Game variations
As with any widely played game of such flexible nature, there are any number of ways to change and tweak the game play to an individual or household liking. These are some of the different ways a person can play Spades. It should be noted these are not considered the standard rules, although some of these are widely employed in friendly social games.
Dealing variants
Face-up Deal: In this variant, the dealer can lay out up to four cards per player face up as long as the same number is revealed for each player. Revealing the cards can also set up the psychological warfare of bidding and later playing, and are known in this respect as "power checks", but face-up deals are sometimes done by dealers who 'set the deck' to determine if the cut has disrupted their preparations. When a face-up deal is made, "blind nil" can still be bid if the player has not viewed any face-down cards.
Kitty: In games with players where the cards cannot be dealt evenly, there is a variation in which no cards are removed from the deck, but instead a "kitty" composed of the leftover cards (or one trick's worth of cards plus the leftovers) is placed at center. Whoever is dealt the 2 of clubs picks up the kitty before bidding begins, integrates it into their hand and then discards the same amount of cards. If a round of cards in addition to the leftovers is placed in the kitty, the discard by the player who picked up the kitty counts as a trick. This introduces more uncertainty in bids because usually the person with the kitty tries to void one suit and trump earlier in the game.
Deuce Starts: In this variant, regardless of which player dealt, the player with the 2 of Clubs leads it to begin the game, similar to Hearts.
Bidding variations
Auction Spades: This variant combines Spades gameplay with the auction-based bidding of Bridge; Each player bids the number of tricks, given a minimum 6, that the partnership must win. Subsequent bidders must raise the bid or pass; once they pass, they cannot bid further. Once all other players have passed, the winning partnership must make their contract, while their opponents have two choices; "set" the bidding team by taking enough tricks that the contract cannot be made (resulting in the contracting team losing ten points per bid trick), or force them to take overtricks. The team who made the winning bid gains 10 points per trick bid if they make their contract, and lose 10 points per trick if they are set. The bidding team gets no points for overtricks. The "defending" team gets one point per trick that they win, and 10 points for each overtrick the bidding team takes. This variant allows for a lot of strategy for the defending team; it is possible, given a conservative winning bid, for the defending team to earn as many or even more points than the bidding team if the defenders can force the bidding team to take most or all of the tricks.
No Trump Bids: This variant's name is misleading as it is not the same as the equivalent bid in Contract Bridge; Spades are still trumps, but a player who bids some number of tricks with "no trump" promises not to win any tricks with spades, except when spades are led. A player may only bid "No Trump" if that player holds at least one spade in their hand, and their partner agrees to let them bid NT. A player who successfully makes a No Trump bid counts each trick taken by that player as double (normally 20 points).
10-for-200 (also known as bidding a "flight" or "wheels"): Bidding 10-for-200 commits a side to win at least 10 tricks; if successful, the team scores 200 points. If the side wins less than 10 tricks, they lose 200 points. Some play a lost bid only loses 100, not 200. In some variations, to make a 10-for-200 bid, the side must win exactly 10 tricks. Some play that any bid of 10 is automatically a 10-for-200 bid. In some places the 10 for 200 bid is called 10 for 2 (which is written on the score sheet as 10-4-2). Another way of writing the 200 score is with the two zeros linked together at the top; this is called "wheels", as the zeroes are supposed to look like train wheels.
Big and Little Moe: Big and Little Moe are bids where the partnership states their intention to take, respectively, eight or six tricks consecutively. Any capture of a trick by opponents "resets" the count. A partnership bidding Big Moe and capturing eight tricks in a row gains 300 points; one bidding Little Moe and capturing six tricks in a row gains 150 points. Bags or overtricks, if applicable, are not counted.
Bemo: A specialization of "Moe" bidding, bidding Little Bemo commits the team to win all of the first six tricks. It is additional to the normal bid; the team scores an extra bonus of 60 if successful and loses 60 if not. Big Bemo similarly commits the team that bids it to win the first nine tricks; they score a 90 point bonus if successful and lose 90 if not.
Blind 6: This must be declared by a side before either partner looks at their cards. It scores 120 points if the side takes exactly 6 tricks. If they take some other number of tricks they lose 120. It is also commonly played that the side must win at least six tricks and overtricks are not counted, or that failing to make six tricks only loses 60.
Trailing blind bids: In this version, played with or without the jokers, only a player or partnership that is 100 points behind the leader may make blind bids of any kind, and they are scored at 20 points per bid trick, with no overtricks scored. Failing a blind contract is penalized at the normal 10 points per trick bid.
Boston/Shooting the Moon: Related to but opposite of a Double Nil bid, if a team bids to take all the tricks in a hand, and does so, that team wins the game outright regardless of the score before the hand. A team cannot bid to Shoot the Moon if the other team bids Double Nil, and vice versa.
Boston on Fire/Blind Moon: This is a blind bid to take all tricks in a hand, made before either partner has looked at their cards. Again, the first team to bid either Double Blind Nil or Blind Moon has precedence.
Lexington: Similar to a Boston but 12 tricks are made. Variations include automatically scoring 240 points regardless the bid.
Half Tricks: In this variation, the first partner of a team to bid may, if he chooses, bid tricks in increment of one-half instead of one. (i.e. "I bid three-and-one-half"). His partner is then required to bid such that the team bid rounds out to a whole number. (i.e. "I'll bid two-and-one-half" for a team bid of six tricks). This gives some information between partners; a player is bidding that they will take three tricks and might take a fourth. Their partner can then use this fact in determining the other half of the partnership's bid.
Suicide: Suicide is played by four players, playing as partners. The bidding is as follows: each player must bid either Nil, or at least four tricks. The second player to bid in each partnership may either bid the opposite (i.e., nil if partner bid four or more and vice versa) or may bid what their partner bid, thus forcing their partner to take the opposite bid.
Another version of suicide spades is played by four players, playing as partners. The bidding is the same as normal, except that one person in each team is forced to bid nil, so if the leading partner does not bid nil they must do so. This limits the hands which the first and second person want to bid a non-nil amount, as if they do not have the ace of spades, they cannot place it and therefore risk having it in their partner's hand.
Whiz: In this variant, each player must bid the exact number of spades in their hand or go nil. There is no minimum amount for teams to bid. Blind bidding is not allowed, however bags are counted as usual.
Mirrors: Related to Whiz, Each player must bid the number of spades in their hand. Players do not have the option to go nil unless they have no Spades, and MUST bid nil if this is the case. Bags are counted as normal.

Trump variants
Deuces High: All 2s count as the highest spades. The order becomes 2 of Spades (highest card), 2 of Diamonds, 2 of Clubs, 2 of Hearts, then all the rest of the spades, Ace through 3. There is another variation, when playing with the Jokers, that the 2 of diamonds and the 2 of spades are high trumps, then Ace, King, and so on. There is a variation where the Aces can be called high (14) or low (1).
Jokers High: Both Jokers are used and count as the highest Spade. If both jokers are played in one trick, the "big Joker" (the Joker whose image is in color, or is larger than the other, or is otherwise marked as preferential) beats the "little Joker". With 3 players, the Jokers are added and no cards are removed; with 4 players, the 2 of clubs and hearts are taken out (or, similar to their use in Euchre, can replace the Jacks of Spades and Clubs) when adding the two Jokers, maintaining 52 cards in the deck.
Bauer Trumps: Adapted from 500 and Euchre, highest trump is the Jack of Spades (known as the right bauer). Second highest trump is Jack of Clubs (being the same color and known as the left Bauer). The rest of the cards follow normal order. Alternately, and similar to the above, these two Jacks can be replaced with the two Jokers, making them more distinctive.
Differentiated Trump Values: Suits are given special trump value, with Spades being the highest trump. General order is Spades, Clubs, Diamonds, and Hearts. When played this way, there is no off-suit; the suit is either more or less valuable than the led suit, and if more valuable it trumps any card played in that suit.
Gameplay variations
Passing Cards: Each team passes one card with their partner each hand. This rule can be applied only to nil bids and it can also be used to allow players to exchange 2 cards if a blind nil bid is made.
First Trick Clubs: This rule is borrowed from a common variation of Hearts rules. Whoever has the lowest clubs (usually 2, 3 if deuces are high) must open the play. Other players can play any card except spades on the first trick, unless the player has nothing but Spades (rare, as the player would have to have been dealt every Spade in the deck).
Speed-Spades: Also called "Philadelphia" or "Quakers." The players agree to play each trick within a certain time frame, with each player required to make a play on a one- or two- second count. This is a game of pressure designed to induce mistakes, to increase the pace of a slow game, or both. Often the players will shout "Speed Spades!!" as the start of each trick.
Play to Beat, or Must Trump: A Pinochle-based variant, if a player can beat a Spade played as trump (when a Spade was not led), s/he must. Sometimes this rule extends this to even having to beat a player’s partner, but this generally only applies to beating the other team’s trump. If this a player is caught breaking this rule, all points that the team who broke the rule won during the around is awarded to the opposing team.
End Winning Streak: If one player wins last three tricks of the round, it is worth either 3 points or 30. Some varieties include awarding points for winning the last four or five tricks with same point gauge. If this rule is enforced, and an opposing player/team ends a possible streak by taking the last trick, the points may be awarded to that team instead of the team who had the streak.
Dix: If the nine of Spades wins a trick, it is worth 1 point. If the 9 wins a trick with at least one other spade in play, worth 5 points. If the 9 wins a spade-led trick, it is worth 10 points. This is borrowed from Pinochle where in the melding phase, a nine of trumps is worth 10 points.
Last Trick Ace Victory: Bonus points (1 or 10) are awarded for winning the last round with any Ace. 20 points for winning with the Ace of Spades.
Last Trick Ace on Nil: Bonus points (one-fifth of agreed nil value) are awarded for making a nil bid and playing an ace on the last trick.
Last Trick Deuce Victory: Bonus points (30) are awarded for winning the last round with a non-trump two.
Last Trick High Spade Victory: A player who takes the very last trick with a high spade (nine or above), and with that trick exactly makes their bid, receives a 10 point bonus. There is no bonus if the player bags or is short.
Nil in the Dark: A player who bids nil in the dark shuffles their cards and puts them face down in front of them in a stack. When it is their play, they take the top card and throw it into the pile. The scoring counts the same as blind nil. A player may also go "Blind Nil in the Dark" where they never even look at their cards. This is scored the same as double blind. "Nil In the Dark" is usually only bid if they have no trump cards.
Scoring variations
No Overs: One game variation does not count overtricks. In this case the player or team receives only 10 points for each trick that was bid and no points for overtricks. This changes the bidding strategy; it is only possible to lose points by being "set" on a bid, as there is no penalty for "bagging out", so players will attempt to "set" the leading player or team in order to gain ground. Similarly, players or teams will bid lower to avoid being set as there is no penalty for taking too many overtricks.
Double Over, Double Back: Instead of, or perhaps in addition to, penalizing players who "bag out", a common variant is for players or teams who take at least double the number of bid tricks will be penalized by subtracting double the value of their contract. A team who bids 2 and takes 4 or more will lose 40 points. This is often combined with the "No Overs" scoring style to discourage small bids.
Oh Hell Variation: Like Oh Hell, partnerships must take exactly the number of tricks bid. If they have overtricks, the team is penalized and the contract is broken. Some play where if the team bids 5 and wins exactly 5, the contract is honored no matter which player made how many tricks, while others force each player to exactly meet their contract.
Quicksand: A variation of penalizing overtricks, a team who exactly makes their contract gets full value. Overtricks subtract 10 points each from that value, and teams who do not make their contract subtract 10 points for each missed trick. For instance, consider a bid of seven tricks. If the team made exactly seven, they would earn the full 70 points. If they only took 5 tricks, they would lose 20 points. If the team made 9 tricks, they would earn the 70 points minus 20 points for the two overtricks, resulting in a score of 50.
Broken Contract Gives Points to Opposing Team: This is an additional variant taken from Bridge and used with an auction-style bidding. If the declarer (the player or partner with the winning bid) fails to meet the contract, the defending pair receives 10 points for each undertrick – the number of tricks by which declarer fell short of the goal. Instead of the declaring team losing points, they should receive zero.
Deficient Ends the Game: Some play that if a side's cumulative score is less than the negative of the winning score, that side loses the game (and of course the other side wins). So, for a winning score of 500 points, if a team manages to net a score of -500 or worse, the other team wins.
Highlander Scoring: The points awarded function slightly differently than in conventional Spades. Highlander Scoring merges partnership playing with individual team effort. Sandbagging does not apply with this type of game play, although sandbagging could be included. Each partner makes a bid of the tricks they think they can win. Each partner must win the total they individually bid; if not, that player's bid value is deducted from the team's score even if their partner took enough trick to make up the difference. For example, if player A bids 5 and wins 4, and player B, their partner, bids 3 and wins 4, 80 points is deducted from the partnership's total score even though the team won their promised 8 tricks, because player A did not make their bid. However, B is awarded five points per overtrick, so they are -75 instead of -80. If the contract is broken and no overtricks were taken, the team is down the full amount of the bid. If both made their contract and have won overtricks, they are awarded five extra points per overtrick. Team that wins seven or more tricks per round is given 10 points the first time, 20 the second, and each time thereafter the points increase by 10. This encourages race-style play where players set out to take as many tricks as they can as long as they do not steal tricks their partner needs.
Individual Team Players: If both teammates get their exact individual bid, they are given a bonus equal to half the total bid (rounded down to the nearest 10 to avoid interference with bags). For example, A bids 3, B bids 4. If A wins 3 and B wins 4, 30 bonus points are awarded to that team (added to the 70 points for contract for a total of 100 points on the hand).
Sandbags 0 Till 10: Some players use the units' digit of the score to count sandbags, but do not regard it as being part of the score - so sandbags are in effect worth nothing until accumulates 10 of them, when they trigger the 100 point deduction. Bags are thus kept separate from the score and cannot be used as a tiebreaker.
Sandbag Cancellation: Some people play that there is a special card which cancels one bag on that hand for the side that takes it in their tricks. If the side which wins the special card makes no overtricks, or loses their bid, the special card has no effect. The special card may be either a fixed card - for example the three of spades - or may be determined afresh by cutting a card before each deal.
Sandbags Negative Value: Tricks in excess of the contract (overtricks or sandbags) may be worth minus 1 point each rather than plus 1. In this case the penalty for accumulating 10 overtricks generally does not apply.
Seven Tricks or Higher!: For successful bids of seven or more, players get an extra 10 points for each trick bid above six. So if 7 tricks are bid by a player and that contract is made exactly, 80 bonus points are awarded. Eight tricks exactly gains 100, 9 gains 120, and so on. This rewards those who are more daring.
Seven Tricks or Higher Part Deux!: Team that bids and then wins seven tricks per round is given 10 points the first time, 20 the second, and each time thereafter the points increase by 10. Overtricks do not count.
Win the last trick!: taken from Bela and Pinochle, the winner of last trick wins 10 bonus points. Generally this variation is not recommended if one is playing with Bonus Tricks.
Total number of players
Traditionally Spades is played with four players in two partnerships. However, there are variations that allow for more, or less, players. Partnerships are optional even with four players. All other rules must be agreed upon beforehand by the players.
Solo Spades: Solo Spades is like regular Spades, just without the partnership. This is also known as "Cut Throat Spades".
Spades for Two Players: In this variation, there are no cards dealt. The deck is placed face down, and the two players take turns drawing two cards at a time. Once drawn, the player must discard one of the pair and keep the other; they cannot keep both or discard both. This continues until there are no more cards left. Each player will have discarded 13 cards and have 13 cards. The game then proceeds normally.
Spades for Three Players: There are no partnerships - players play for themselves. A standard 52 card deck is used, and each player is dealt 17 cards with a predetermined card thrown out (generally the two of clubs) or the last undealt card thrown out. Some play with the big and little joker included as the highest trumps, with each person getting 18 cards.
Spades for Five Players: There are no partnerships - players play for themselves. Both red 2s are removed from the deck and each player is dealt 10 cards. Alternately, three jokers, if available, can be added as either highest trump or as junk cards and each player will be dealt 11.
Spades for Six Players: This can be played either solo, three partnerships, or two teams of three. Two standard 52 card decks are combined, with either both Twos of Clubs discarded (102 cards, 17 each), two cards discarded or kept as a "kitty", or all four Jokers added (108 cards, 18 each). Prior to the beginning of play, players agree on the protocol when identical cards are played. Some play that the first such played card wins the trick while others play that the last played card wins the trick.
Alternately, 6-handed play can be done with a 48 card deck, having removed all the 2s. It can also be done with a 54-card deck (both Jokers) similar to three-handed but with half the cards per player.
Beyond this, the game becomes either very complex to maintain with multiple decks, or very short as the number of cards held by each player is reduced and high trump is more and more likely to take the trick. Seven players should normally be split into a group of four and three, eight into two groups of four, nine into either four and five or three threes, etc.