Spades: Free Online Card Game

Spades: Card Game is our own single-player take on the classic partnership trick-taking game. You sit at the bottom of the table, your computer partner Maya sits across from you, and two computer opponents sit at your sides. Spades are always trumps, and every deal is a small contest of judgment: say how many tricks you will take, then take exactly that many.

Each deal starts with the bid. Starting left of the dealer, every player bids once, from Nil to 13, and you and your partner's bids add up to your side's contract. The bid panel shows what everyone has bid so far and what your choice would mean for your side before you confirm it. Bid nil to promise you won't win a single trick: it is worth 100 points if you pull it off and costs 100 if you don't.

Then the cards are played. Follow suit if you can; if you can't, any card goes, and a spade beats everything else. No spade may be played on the first trick, and nobody may lead spades until one has been played on another suit. Cards you can't play are dimmed, every name plate shows tricks taken against tricks bid, and the toolbar keeps your side's running total in view. When every card you hold is sure to win, a button appears that takes all the remaining tricks at once.

Scoring is the standard game. Make your contract and score 10 points per trick bid, plus 1 for each extra trick; fall short and lose 10 per trick bid. Extra tricks are also bags, and every 10 bags cost 100 points, so a good side ducks the tricks it doesn't need. A nil bidder's tricks never help the partner's bid. The first side to 500 wins, and a side that falls to −200 loses. After every deal a summary card lists bids, tricks, contract points, nils, bags and penalties for both sides.

Choose Easy, Normal or Hard opponents. Easy players are relaxed and slip now and then; Normal players count tricks, chase sets, cover a partner's nil and try to break yours; Hard players deal out the unseen cards many times and play every option through to the end before they choose. Your partner always plays its best. You can also play to 300 instead of 500, switch the bag penalty off, or allow blind nil, a 200-point nil bid before you look at your cards when your side is 100 or more behind.

The daily deal gives everyone the same cards and the same computer players. Your score is your side's points on that one deal, out of a best possible 230 (a nil made plus a 13-trick bid made), and it goes on the leaderboard. Undo is free in normal games and switched off in the daily deal. The only paid item is a hint for 10 gems: during the bid it suggests a number and shows how it counted your tricks, and during play it marks the card the computer would choose from your seat. Hints never lower your score. Spades: Card Game is free to play in your browser with no download or sign-up, and its cards, sound effects and music are all made for the game.