World of AI Games

Spades: understand bids, bags and Nil

Worked scoring examples and a practical way to assess your hand in our partnership Spades game.

By World of AI Games · Updated October 28, 2026

Estimate tricks before choosing a bid

In this version of Spades you sit south, with Vega opposite you as your partner. Your non-Nil bids combine into a team contract. Start by identifying likely winners, then consider how other players could beat them. An ace in a side suit can win when everyone follows suit, but a player who has no cards in that suit may play a spade and trump it.

Look at your whole suit distribution. Several spades can give you control later in the round; short side suits can create opportunities to trump. Avoid treating every king or queen as a certain trick. A king with smaller cards in its suit is different from a lone king that may have to be played under an ace.

Use the bid coach as an estimate

The built-in coach uses a heuristic based on high cards, spade length and short suits. For example, the algorithm values a king of spades more highly when another spade accompanies it. It also adds an allowance for spades beyond the first three.

The coach does not know the other hands and cannot promise a result. Compare its suggestion with the risks in your hand. After each round, revisit which expected winners actually won. That is more informative than judging a bid only by whether your team happened to make its contract.

Understand the contract before chasing extra tricks

Making a contract earns 10 points per trick bid, plus 1 point for each extra trick. Those extra tricks also add bags. Missing the contract loses 10 points per trick bid. Every time accumulated bags reach 10, the team loses 100 points and 10 bags are removed from the bag total.

Once your team has enough tricks, taking more is a tradeoff. Extra tricks can help deny the other team its contract, but they also move you toward a bag penalty. Check the scoreboard rather than trying to win every available trick automatically.

Nil changes your job for the round

A bid of zero is Nil: you must win no tricks. Success earns 100 points; taking even one trick loses 100. In this implementation, tricks taken by a Nil bidder do not fulfill the partner’s non-Nil contract and are added to bags. A hand with few obvious winners can still be dangerous if one suit forces you to play a relatively high card.

When your partner bids Nil, consider whether you can cover their exposed cards with higher ones. When you bid Nil yourself, look for ways to dispose of risky cards without winning. You must still follow the led suit when you can; you cannot discard a dangerous card from another suit just because it would be convenient.

Rules specific to this table

Spades are always trump. You cannot lead them until they are broken, unless your remaining hand contains only spades. The target score is 300, and a team dropping to −200 can also end the game. If both scores are equal at an ending threshold, play continues until there is a winner.

During play, remember that a team contract does not require each non-Nil player to take exactly their own bid: the team’s qualifying tricks are combined. Use that flexibility to support your partner, while tracking Nil separately.

Try it in the game

Open Spades and focus on one decision from this guide. The game instructions provide a quick reference for controls and rules.

More guides

Found a rule or example that needs correcting? Contact World of AI Games.