SPADES HELP CONTENTS

GAME TYPES

OBJECTIVE

GAME PLAY

SCORING

BIDDING

BAGS

MENU OPTIONS


GAME TYPES

CutThroat

CutThroat spades is played against three competitors.  Each player attempts to make his own bid while preventing his opponents from making theirs.

Partners

Partners is a spades game that is played as a team with the player seated opposite you, that is, East teams up with West, North teams up with South. When playing partners, each team attempts to make their combined bid.


OBJECTIVE

The objective of the game is to be the first player (or team) to reach the winning score for the game at the end of a round of play.  The default winning score is 250 for CutThroat, 500 for Partners.  The winning score for either type of game can be changed by selecting 250 Wins or 500 Wins under Options.  If more than one player (or team) reaches the winning score, the highest score wins.


BIDDING

At the beginning of each round of play, each player must submit a bid.  The player whose turn it is to lead will bid first and bidding will proceed clockwise.  A players  bid is an estimate of the number of  tricks he will win.  The bid can be any number between 1 and 13 or NIL.  A NIL bid indicates that the player will not win any tricks.


BAGS

Bags are the amount of tricks you win past your bid.  For example, if you bid 4 and make 5 tricks, you will have earned 1 bag.  You do not, however, accumulate bags while attempting a NIL bid. Bags will be scored 1 point each. Your bags will accumulate throughout the game. If at any point during the game you accumulate 10 bags, your bag count will be set back to 0 and 100 will be subtracted from your score.


MENU OPTIONS

Game

New Game	Starts a new game

Restart Saved Game	Restarts previously saved game

Save Game	Saves the current game and all settings for later restart

Quit Game	Quits the current game without exiting

Exit	Exits Spades

Options

Cut Throat	Sets the type of game to Cut Throat

Partners	Sets the type of game to Partners

250 Wins	Sets the winning score for the game to 250

500 Wins	Sets the winning score for the game to 500

View

Last Trick	Shows the last trick played

Score	Shows the score from after the latest round of play

Help

About	Shows product information

Rules	Shows instructions for Spades


GAME PLAY

To play a card you must click on it using the left mouse button. Game play proceeds clockwise with the lead player for the start of each round of play rotating.  After the first trick has been played, the winner of the previous trick will lead off.  Each player following the lead played must follow suit if they are able to.  For example, if player 1 leads a diamond, player 2 must throw a diamond if he has one.  If a player cannot follow suit,  that player may throw any card he wishes to, including a  spade.  Throwing a spade is called trumping.  The highest spade in a trick automatically wins that trick.  Spades cannot be lead until  they have been broken.  Spades are broken when a player trumps a trick, as described above.  The only exception to this rule is if spades have not been broken but the lead player has no other suit.  If a trick has not been trumped, the high card of the suit lead wins the trick.


SCORING

If you make your bid, 10 times your bid will be added to your score plus 1 point for each bag you earned during this round of play.  If you do not make your bid, 10 times your bid will be subtracted from your score.  For example, after the first round of play:

 	- if you bid 4 and win 4 tricks your score will be 40.

  	- if you bid 4 and win 3 tricks your score will be -40.

  	- if you bid 4 and win 5 tricks your score will be 41.

A NIL bid is worth 100 points. If you bid a NIL and do not win any tricks, 100 points will be added to your score. If you do win a trick, 100 will be subtracted from your score .  If at any time during play you accumulate 10 bags, 100 will be subtracted from your score and your bag count will be set back to 0.