Spades Scoring Rules (Including Variations)

In a game of Spades, each team earns 10 points per winning trick bid and one point per trick beyond that (also known as a “bag”) in each round. If a team gets 10 bags during a game, they receive a 100-point penalty for “sandbagging.”

A single player may also bid nil, meaning they don’t believe they’ll win any trick during the round. Successfully bidding nil after seeing their cards earns a single player 100 points, or 200 points on a blind nil bid (done before viewing their hand).

The game ends when the first team reaches 500 points (or another predetermined number of points). The team with the highest score wins, even if both teams surpass 500 in the last round.

Spades, a trick-taking card game, is a popular choice among many card game enthusiasts, and understanding the scoring rules is crucial to enjoying the game and enhancing your gameplay.

This quick list of all the scoring and penalties in a traditional game of Spades will help you get started:

Event	Points	Description
Winning a trick within your bid	10 per trick bid	Each trick a team wins that aligns with their bid is worth 10 points. For instance, if your team bids 5 tricks and wins exactly 5, your team earns 50 points.
Overtricks (up to 9; also called bags or overbooks)	1 per bag	Each trick won beyond the team's bid becomes a “bag” or “overtrick,” adding an extra point to the team's score for that round. For example, winning 6 tricks when you bid 5 earns your team 51 points.
Successful Nil Bid (single player)	100	If a player successfully bids “nil” after seeing their hand, meaning they win no tricks during a round, their team is awarded 100 bonus points.
Successful Blind Nil Bid (single player)	200	If a player bids “nil” before seeing their hand and wins no tricks during that round, their team gains 200 bonus points.
Successful Double Nil Bid (both players)	400	Both players on a team may bid “nil” in a single round after seeing their hands. If neither player wins a trick that round, the team gets 400 points. This rule variant is only allowed if agreed to by all players beforehand.
Successful Double Blind Nil Bid (both players)	800 (game)	Both players on a team may bid “nil” in a single round before seeing their hands. To gain 800 points (and win the game), neither player may win a single trick. This rule variant is only allowed if agreed to by all players beforehand.
Underbidding (Penalty)	-10 per trick bid	If a team fails to meet their bid, they lose 10 points for each trick they bid. For example, if a team bids 5 tricks but only wins 3, they lose 50 points.
Sandbag (10 overtricks/bags) (Penalty)	-100	Once a team collects 10 overtricks or “bags,” they get a 100-point penalty. This means you must be strategic in the number of tricks your team wins each round. This is sometimes called “bagging out,” and may occur multiple times in a single game.
Failure to Follow Suit (Penalty)	All round points awarded to the opposing team	If a player reneges by not following the lead suit even when they have a matching card and is caught, all points for that round are given to the other team.
Leading with a Spade Before Spades is Broken (Penalty)	All round points awarded to the opposing team	If a player reneges by leading a turn with a Spade suit before Spades has been broken, all points for that round are given to the other team.
Failed Nil Bid (Penalty)	-100	If a player bids “nil” but wins at least one trick, they subtract 100 points from their team's score.
Failed Blind Nil Bid (Penalty)	-200	If a player bids “blind nil” but wins a trick, a 200-point penalty is applied.
Failed Double Nil Bid (Penalty)	-400	If both players on a team bid “nil” but one of them wins a trick, the team receives a 400-point penalty.
Failed Blind Double Nil Bid (Penalty)	-800 (game loss)	In the rare case that two players on a team bid “nil” before seeing their cards but win at least a single trick, they get a penalty of 800 points and lose the game.

Here's a straightforward guide to the basic scoring rules for a standard 52-card deck Spades game with 4 people.

Basic Spades Scoring Rules

Tricks

The first step in learning how to play Spades is understanding the concept of a "trick." A trick (also called a “book”) refers to a turn where each player plays one card from their hand.

The player with the highest card of the suit led (or the highest spade, if a spade is played) wins the trick.

The order of cards from high to low for scoring each trick is as follows: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2. The Spade suit is always trump, meaning any Spade will outrank cards from other suits in a trick.

Bidding

Before the first trick, each player bids (predicts) the number of tricks they believe they can win in that round. These player bids, also known as “contracts,” are essential, as they determine how scores are allocated.

For each trick a player bids and wins, their receive 10 points at the end of the round as long as the team meets their contracts for their combined bids.

Example Scoring: If a player bids four and their partner bids two, they score 60 points if they win exactly 6 tricks. After the initial bid, the combined bid (contract) is all that matters — the partner who bid four doesn’t need to win that many tricks if their partner can win them instead.

It’s easy to make a contract when you have the high cards in your hand. For example, if you hold the Ace, King, and Queen of Spades, you have a guaranteed 3-trick hand — no one can win a turn on which you play any of those cards.

Failing to win the number of tricks you predicted results in a penalty. If a team does not win as many tricks as they bid together, they lose 10 points for each trick they bid. This is why it’s very important that you and your partner’s bid are reasonably based on the cards in your hand.

Example Scoring: If a team bids five and only wins four tricks, they would lose 50 points. This is still the case if they win one trick — the penalty is always -10 per trick bid for a failed contract.

Bags (Overtricks)

Any extra tricks won beyond the initial bid are referred to as overtricks or "bags," which are worth an extra point each.

Example Scoring: If a team bids five tricks but wins six, they score 51 points — 50 for the tricks bid and one extra point for the additional trick won.

Sandbagging (10 Bags)

Once a team accumulates 10 bags, they get a sandbag penalty of -100 points. This penalty is added to any points won that round.

Example Scoring: If a team bids 4 but wins 6, they get 42 points. If those two bags add up the running total of bags to 10, they also get a -100 penalty for sandbagging. In total, the team gets -58 points that round.

Nil and Blind Nil Bids

The game of Spades also includes special bids known as nil and blind nil bids. When a player bids nil, they are predicting they will win no tricks during the round.

Can your partner win a trick if you bid nil in spades? Yes, your partner’s bid (contract) must still be met even if you bid nil.

Successfully achieving a nil bid earns the player 100 points, but failing to do so costs them 100 points. In shorter games with a game top score of only 250, this penalty or bonus is only 50 points.

Example Scoring: Say Player A on a team bids nil after seeing their cards, and Player B, their partner, bids four. If Player A wins zero tricks and Player B wins four tricks, their team gets a combined 140 points for that round (100 for the successful nil bid and 40 for Player B’s successful contract).

A blind nil bid is a more high-stakes version of the nil bid. In this case, the player makes a nil bid without looking at their cards, which if successful earns them 200 points, and if failed, costs them 200 points.

Again, this bonus or penalty is halved in a game of Spades played to only 250 total points.

If agreed to ahead of time, some games allow for “double nil” or “double blind nil” bids. In these cases, both members of a team may make a bid of nil in a single round.

Bonus points and penalties for double nil bids are 400 in a standard game, and 800 if the double nil is blind.

Penalties

The penalties in standard Spades include:

Underbidding: 10-point penalty per trick bid when a team fails to win the number of tricks they bid
Sandbagging: 100-point penalty for getting 10 bags (overtricks) during gameplay; overbidding to a sandbag can happen more than once in a single game
Nil failure: 100-point penalty for bidding nil, then winning a trick during a round (only the nil bidder must win no tricks)
Blind nil failure: 200-point penalty for a blind bid of nil, then winning a trick during a round (only the nil bidder must win no tricks)
Reneging: All of the rounds’ points go to the opponent when a player fails to follow suit when they are able or if a player leads with a Spade suit card before Spades has been “broken”

And yes, while it’s a little confusing, “overbidding” means bidding fewer tricks than you actually win. “Underbidding” means bidding too many tricks and failing to meet your contract.

What is the penalty for underbidding in Spades? If a player fails to win as many tricks as they predicted, they lose 10 points for each trick they bid. For example, if a player bids for four tricks but only wins three, they would incur a penalty of 40 points.

The most common rule violations that cause penalties for reneging are failing to follow suit when possible and leading with a Spade before Spades were broken. In both cases, all points for the round (completed contracts plus bags) are awarded to the opposing team.

All players must follow the suit of the card played first in each turn unless they have no cards left in that suit. A player may play a Spade (the trump suit) if they have no more of the lead suit and want to try winning the trick — this is called “breaking Spades.” Until Spades have been broken, no player may lead a trick with a Spade.

Penalties are also assigned for specific actions in certain variations of Spades, such as the Joker's variation, where using the Joker card incorrectly can result in penalties. These penalties differ based on the rules of the specific game variation being played.

Some games are also played with house rules that carry harsher penalties for repeated failed nil bids.

Scoring for Spades Game Variations

Just like the standard game of Spades, its variations also come with unique scoring rules that add a twist to the gameplay. Let's explore a few popular variations of Spades, namely Whist, Euchre, and Joker's, and how scoring works in each of these.

Whist

Whist, a predecessor to Spades, uses fairly simple scoring rules.

The team that wins the most tricks in each round earns a point. The first team to reach a predetermined score — often 5 or 7 points — wins the game. There's no concept of bidding in Whist, making it a simpler trick-taking game than Spades.

Euchre

Next is Euchre, another trick-taking game that uses a smaller deck of 24, 28, or 32 cards, unlike the standard 52 card deck used in Spades.

In Euchre, each trick won scores one point, with an extra point awarded for winning all five tricks in a round — a feat known as a "march." The game typically ends when a team reaches 10 points.

Joker’s

In this Spades variation, the two Joker cards — one regarded as the Big Joker (the highest card) and the other as the Little Joker — are added to the deck.

Scoring follows standard Spades rules with some additions: capturing the Big Joker earns the team an additional 2 points, while capturing the Little Joker awards 1 point.

However, failing to win a trick with a Joker results in a 2-point penalty.

Joker-Joker-Deuce-Deuce

Building on the Joker’s variation, one of the black ways to play Spades is Joker-Joker-Deuce-Deuce. To begin, add both Jokers and remove the two of Hearts and two of Clubs for an even 52 cards.

This variant demotes the Ace of Spades from its top score value and insteads assigns four cards as higher scores, in this order:

Big Joker (highest card)
Little Joker
Two (deuce) of Diamonds
Two (deuce) of Spades

All four of these cards count as Spades for the purposes of following suit.

From there, other playing cards are ranked the same.

New York Style

This version, made popular by Christian A. Baxter, builds on Joker-Joker-Deuce-Deuce with a few additional scoring rules.

Partnership bidding is used, with the minimum bid being 4 and the maximum being 10. However, there are no nil bids.

If a team is trailing by at least 100 points, they may choose to bid "blind" without looking at their cards. A successful blind bid scores double, but a failed one scores only singly. In this case, players aren’t bidding nil — they’re making a blind guess as to the number of tricks they win.

For a standard (non-blind) bid between 4 and 9, the team must win the number of tricks bid, and can have one or two overtricks, but not more.

A successful standard bid scores 10 times the number bid, but if a team falls short or wins three or more sandbags, they lose 10 points per trick bid.

A distinctive feature of the New York Style Spades is the concept of a "Boston" — a team that takes all 13 tricks. This achievement even gives the team "bragging rights" (but no extra points).

For a non-blind bid of 10, the team scores 200 points if they take 10, 11 or 12 tricks. If they bid 10 and win all 13 tricks, they win the whole game. In contrast, if they take fewer than 10 tricks, they lose 200.

The first hand of a new game is usually played without bidding and teams aim to win as many tricks as possible, scoring 10 points per trick. The game concludes either with a Boston, a team losing twice in a row, or when a team reaches or exceeds a score of 500.