Spades glossary
The words you will meet in spades, in alphabetical order.
- Bag
- A trick won above your contract. Worth 1 point; every 10 bags cost 100. Also called an overtrick or sandbag.
- Bid
- The number of tricks a player expects to win, from 0 (nil) to 13.
- Blind nil
- A nil bid made before looking at your cards, worth ±200. Usually allowed only when your side is 100 or more behind.
- Boston
- Winning all 13 tricks. In some house rules it wins the game.
- Break spades
- Playing the first spade of the hand on another suit. After that, spades may be led.
- Contract
- The total of both partners’ bids (not counting nil bids). The side must take at least this many tricks.
- Cover
- Playing high to protect your partner’s nil bid.
- Cutthroat
- Spades with no partners: every player bids and scores alone. Also called solo spades.
- Follow suit
- Playing a card of the suit that was led. Required whenever you can.
- Lead
- The first card played to a trick.
- Nil
- A bid of zero: a promise to win no tricks. Worth ±100.
- Overtrick
- Another word for a bag.
- Sandbag
- Deliberately taking extra tricks, or the bags themselves.
- Set
- Failing to make your contract. The side loses 10 points per trick bid.
- Trick
- One card from each player. The highest spade, or the highest card of the suit led, wins it.
- Trump
- A card of the suit that beats all others. In spades, spades are always trump.
- Void
- Having no cards in a suit. A void lets you trump when that suit is led.
Learn the game step by step in how to play.