The classic partnership trick-taking card game, bid the tricks you'll win, cover for your partner, dodge the bags and chase 500 points.
Spades is a four-player game in two partnerships, sitting across from each other. You partner the seat opposite you against the other two. Each hand begins with every player bidding how many of the 13 tricks they expect to take; a bid of zero is Nil, a risky promise to take none.
Spades are always trump but can't be led until the suit is 'broken' by a discard. Follow the led suit if you can; otherwise play anything. The highest spade wins the trick, or the highest card of the led suit if no spades are played.
Spades is young and American. It was devised in the Midwest in the late 1930s, and the bridge writer George Coffin placed its origin more precisely still: Cincinnati, somewhere between 1937 and 1939.
It descends from whist and sits close to bridge, which it resembles with the hard parts removed — no auction, no dummy, and a trump suit that never changes. That is a fair description of its design: a player who is good at spades can pick up bridge quickly.
The war made it. Spades spread worldwide through the armed forces during the Second World War, for reasons that are practical rather than aesthetic: it was simpler than bridge or euchre, and unlike poker a game could be abandoned halfway through without anyone losing anything.
Spades is a traditional American trick-taking game built around bidding and partnership play. This is an original, free browser version with capable CPU opponents, daily deals, and live online matches, no download or sign-up.