Spades

Spades is based on the 4-player card game with the same name which gained
popularity in the middle of the 20th century. It uses a standard 52-card deck,
from 2 to Ace. This adaptation can be played both with other people from
around the world or against the computer. Spades features two teams with two
players each competing to reach 500 points first. These points are earned by
winning tricks. At the beginning of every round, 13 cards are dealt to each
player. After looking at their cards they decide on how many tricks they will
win and bid on that number. It doesn’t matter which member of a team takes the
tricks, as long as the total number of tricks the team bid for is won.

Starting from the player left to the dealer everyone plays a card when their
turn comes in a clockwise fashion. They must play a card of the same suit as
the first one, if possible. If there is none, any can be placed on the table.
The player with the highest-ranking card wins the trick. As the title
suggests, Spade is the only trump suit. Other suits cannot beat the suit of
the first card or the trump suit.

If the team succeeds in winning the number of tricks they bid for, they will
be awarded a number of points equal to the bid multiplied by ten, plus one
point for every overbook (extra trick won). If they fail, they lose the same
amount. When the initial cards are too weak, the player can choose to bid nil,
or in other words to declare that he will not take a single trick. If he
finishes the round with zero tricks won, his team receives 100 points in
addition to the regular amount. After the difference in points between the two
teams’ scores exceeds 100, the losing team can bid blind: decide on the number
of tricks they will win before actually seeing the cards. If successful, they
will win double the regular amount of points. Finally, it’s also possible to
bid blind nil – accomplishing this feat adds 200 points to the team’s score.