Gambling terms, explained straight

Card Games

Spades bidding rules

Each player in Spades announces how many tricks they think they will take that hand, and the two partners' bids are added together to set their team's target.

Bid range
0–13 tricks per player; minimum bid is 1, with nil as the zero bid.32
Scoring
10 points per bid trick if contract is made, −10 per bid trick if not; extra tricks worth 1 point each.14

Key points

  • Bidding starts to the dealer's left and proceeds clockwise, with each player making one bid in a single round.12
  • Players do not name a trump suit because spades are always trump; bids are not required to outbid earlier bids.12
  • The final bids determine the contract or team target for scoring; nil is a special bid for zero tricks.12

Where this term is used

Not the same as

  • Spades — the card game itself; spades bidding is only the auction phase within the game
  • Ace of spades — a specific card, not a bidding rule
Card games Nil bid in spades Explains the nil bid, a special zero-trick bid in Spades. Card games Spades Overview of the trick-taking card game Spades. Card games Ace of spades Information about the ace of spades card in card games. Card games Rummy rules Rules for the card game Rummy. Card games Cribbage rules Rules for the card game Cribbage. Card games Euchre rules Rules for the card game Euchre.

Sources

  1. Spades (card game) en.wikipedia.org Provides the standard bidding process, scoring, and nil bid definition.
  2. Spades - card game rules pagat.com Details the bid range, minimum bid, and scoring for extra tricks.
  3. Spades bicyclecards.com Confirms the minimum bid of 1 and nil as the zero bid.
  4. Bidding in Spades ar5iv.labs.arxiv.org Supports the bid range and scoring for contract and extra tricks.

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.

Written and maintained by Ellis Warrender, writer and maintainer.

Last updated 28 July 2026. Spotted an error? Tell me and it gets fixed and logged on the corrections page.