Learn the game

Spades rules

Learn the Spades rules used in DeNiro Card: the deal, legal moves, scoring and how to win. House rules vary; these are the rules at DeNiro Card tables.

How to play Spades

1. You and the seat across from you are partners against the other two. Spades are always trump.
2. Everyone gets 13 cards. Starting left of the dealer, each player bids the number of tricks they expect to take, from 0 to 13. A bid of 0 is Nil. There is no Blind Nil.
3. The player left of the dealer leads the first trick. Follow the led suit if you can.
4. Spades can't be led until a spade has been played on another suit, unless spades are all you hold.
5. The highest spade wins the trick; if no spade was played, the highest card of the led suit wins. The winner leads next.
6. Team score each hand: make your combined bid for 10 points per trick bid, plus 1 for each extra trick (a bag). Miss it and you lose 10 per trick bid.
7. A made Nil scores +100. A failed Nil scores −100, and its tricks count as bags. Every time your team's bags reach 10, you lose 100.
8. The game ends after a hand in which a team has 500 or more and the teams are not tied. The higher score wins.
9. Your clock: at a coin table against the computer you get up to 90 seconds for each move, and the table header counts down the exact time left. If it runs out, the table plays that move for you on the merits. You are not forfeited, nothing extra is charged, and your stake and payout are unchanged. Each of your first three missed moves keeps the full clock; miss a third in a row and the rest of the hand runs at computer speed, about two thirds of a second a turn, which in practice finishes it for you. Making one move yourself puts the full clock back. An Online table against real people runs its own, separate clock; watch the same countdown there.

Common questions

Playing in DeNiro Card

Practice lets you play any game with no account and no coins. Coin tables use virtual play coins and need a DeNiro account; choose a coin stake before joining one. Leaving an active coin game forfeits the stake and adds a 10% leaving fee. Play coins have no cash value and cannot be cashed out.

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