About Play Spades

Play Spades is a free way to play classic partnership Spades in your browser. Open the page and you are dealt in: no account, no download, no waiting for a table to fill.

Why we built it

Most places to play Spades online ask you to register, sit through ads between tricks, or put up with a partner who bids at random. We wanted the opposite: a fast table that works on any phone, large cards that are easy to read, and computer players that bid and play like people who know the game.

How the computer plays

The computer counts its hand the way experienced players do: aces, protected kings, high spades, long spades and short side suits. During play it tracks every card played and who has run out of which suit, protects a partner's nil, tries to break yours, and stops taking tricks when extra ones would only be bags. On Hard, it plays out dozens of possible versions of the rest of the hand before choosing each card.

The rules

We use the most common rules in the United States: spades always trump, no leading spades until they are broken, nil for 100, a 100-point penalty for every 10 bags, and games to 500. Read them in full on thehow to play Spades page.