Spades
General Rules
There can be two, three, or four players.
All Spades are trump.
Ace is the high card of any suit.
The Sandbagging rule isn’t in play. That’s when a team accumulates ten overbid tricks during the course of a game, it is penalized 100 points.
In four player games there are two teams with every other player on the same team.
In two and three player games there are no teams.
Bidding starts with the person to the left of the dealer. Each player states how many tricks they want to take. Skip over anyone going nilo.
Play starts with the two of clubs unless noted below.
Players can not trump on the very first turn. So, if they do not have any Clubs, they must throw off a Diamond or a Heart.
High card of the leading suit wins unless trump is played. In that case the highest trump card wins.
Subsequent rounds are started by the player who won the trick.
Nilo and Blind Nilo
Nilo and Blind Nilo mean a player does not want to take any tricks. Actually, they are not allowed to take any tricks.
Players declare before the deal whether or not they will be going Blind Nilo. If they look at their hand before declaring going Blind Nilo then they can only go regular Nilo.
Once a member of a team looks at their hand the team can not change who will go Blind Nilo.
A player successfully going Nilo gets 100 points. A player successfully going Blind Nilo gets 200 points.
For just Nilo, each player looks at their cards and determine with their partner whether or not to go Nilo.
The team going Blind exchanges three cards. The team going regular Nilo exchange two cards.
In short, a team going Blind Nilo must decide which member will do so before either one looks at their cards. For regular Nilo the team members decide after they look at their cards.
Scoring
Score by team and not by individual for four player games.
Players/teams get points for the number of tricks they take.
A player wins the exact number of tricks they bid for: multiply the bid number by ten. Example, bid six tricks that’s sixty points.
A player under bids, that is didn’t get the number of tricks bid on: multiply the bid number by ten and subtract that. They are set. For example, a player bids four but only wins three tricks, then minus forty points.
A player wins more tricks than bid for, multiply the number bid on by ten and add one point for any extra bid. For example, they bid five but take six tricks, then that’s fifty-one points.
If a player takes more than twice as many tricks as bid, then they are set and lose as if they didn’t take as many tricks as bid. For example, four tricks are bid but they take nine. They then lose forty points.
A player who went Blind Nilo and makes it gets 200 points. If they do not make it then they lose 200 points.
For a regular Nilo the player gets 100 points. If they do not make it then they lose 100 points.
A player who does not successfully go Nilo or Blind Nilo does not get any points except for any tricks they made. The tricks won by the player are included in the teams total number of tricks won for scoring purposes. Just calculate their points for the tricks won as above then add to the teams total.
The game ends at 1000 points for a four player game. Five hundred points for two and three player games.
Four Player Game
Each team decides if someone will go Blind Nilo. They do this before looking at their cards.
Deal thirteen cards to each player.
The team that doesn’t go blind decides if someone will go nilo. They can look at their cards first.
Exchange any cards. The team going blind exchanges three cards. The team going regular nilo exchanges two cards.
Play starts with the two of clubs regardless of who has it. Then go around to the left.
Three Player Game
Deal out all of the cards. There will be one left. Just set it aside face down.
Bid as with a four player game. Keep in mind that there's seventeen tricks instead of thirteen.
Play starts with the two of clubs or the three if the extra card happens to be the two of clubs.
Score as with a four player game.
Two Player Game
The deal is much different than the other two games. Place the deck face down between them.
Player 1 takes the card off the top of the deck and decides to keep it or not. If they keep it then the next top card of the deck is discarded. If it is decided not to keep the first card then discard that and take the next card. They must keep that one.
Player 2 does the same thing.
So each player gets two cards each round. They have a choice with the first card but must either discard or keep the second card depending on what they did with the first card. They can not go back and keep the first card if they don't like the second card.
Once done, each player will have thirteen cards and there will be twenty-six cards discarded and not used in this game round.
The player who drew first bids first and also plays first.
The first played card can be any card except trump.
Scoring is a little different. If a player goes set, they don't get any points but they do not lose anything either. So if a player bids five and doesn't make it they get zero points. They are not subtracted fifty points. Otherwise score as with a four player game.