

The first trick is led by the player left of the dealer, and subsequent tricks are played by the player claiming the previous trick. Bids are made in a partnership, requiring the team to combine bids and trick totals. Trick-Taking Card Game: The aim of the game is to take as many tricks as you bid at the start of a round, underbidding results in no points, and overbidding giving the potential of a scoring penalty.Tiebreaker Round: If both teams reach the target score on the same hand and end with a tied score, one last hand is played, following standard rules, to determine the overall winner.Pyrrhic Victory: If a duo wins more tricks than they bid on, they may win the hand, but taking enough bags for the penalty to kick in will make the pair worse off.One-Word Title: Spades gets its name from the suit, which trumps any other cards played regardless of value or suit led.Do you automatically get them if you go into negative points? Standard scoring for failed blind or double-points? Is the highest card the Ace of Spades, 2 of Spades, or a Joker? How these all work usually depends on who you play with.

Whether you can call for one at any time or only after you're down X points. No Unified Ruleset: How Blinds (bidding X books before the cards are dealt) are supposed to work, or even if said gambit is available, varies between rulesets.This usually occurs in the endgame, where, if the other team takes the exact number of tricks they bid on, they would win the game. Failure Gambit: Occasionally, a team will intentionally fail to take the promised number of tricks so the other team takes enough bags to incur a penalty.

Succeeding on a blind is worth double points, but failing is equally costly.

Desperation Attack: Rulesets allowing for blinds usually only allow them for teams down by 100 points and/or holding a negative score.A Blind Nil (betting you win zero tricks) is +/-200 points, but is particularly hard to pull off, especially since there is one unbeatable card (Ace of Spades, Deuce of Spades or Big Joker, depending on what rules variant you're using) and its presence in your hand will instantly sink your attempt. (Blind 7 and Blind Nil being the most common variants.) Pulling it off gives you double points (a Blind 7 gives you 140 points). Blinds are a move where you bid a set amount without looking at your cards to gauge potential scoring.
#HIGHEST CARD IN SPADES PLUS#
Since games are usually played to 500 points, plus or minus 100 is a really big swing. If successful, the partners gain a large sum of points (usually 100), but if the player bidding nil takes a single trick, their team loses that sum of points instead.
