Do not confuse a spade card (a card of the spades suit) with the card game Spades, a trick-taking game where spades are always trumps.
Card Games
Spade card in 52 cards
A spade card is a playing card that belongs to the spades suit, one of the four suits in a standard 52-card French-suited deck.
- Suits in deck
- 4
- Ranks per suit
- 13
- Ace of spades nickname
- Old Frizzle or Spadille 2
Key points
- A standard 52-card deck has four suits; spades is one of them, with 13 ranks from Ace to King.1
- In French-suited cards, the suit is also called piques (French) or pique.3
- The ace of spades is sometimes nicknamed Old Frizzle or Spadille, but it is still a spade card.2
Not the same as
- Spades — a trick-taking game in which spades are always trumps, not a single card of the suit
Related terms
Card games
Spades
Rules and strategy for the trick-taking card game Spades.
Card games
Ace of spades
The highest-ranking spade card, with nicknames and cultural significance.
Card games
Hearts card game
A trick-taking game where hearts are penalty cards and the queen of spades is the Black Lady.
Card games
Jack of spades
One of the 13 spade cards, often called the knave of spades.
Card games
Card game terms
Glossary of common terms used in card games.
Card games
Whist vs spades
Comparison between the classic game Whist and its descendant Spades.
Sources
- Spades (suit) - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org Defines the spades suit in a standard deck.
- Ace of spades - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org Provides the nicknames Old Frizzle and Spadille for the ace of spades.
- French-suited playing cards - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org Gives the French names piques and pique for the spades suit.
Sources are drawn from regulators, universities and published research, and each one is labelled with what it actually is — a preprint is not called a paper. Bookmaker and affiliate pages are never cited here, because a page that sells betting is not a neutral authority on it.