Spades

Spades is played by four players in two teams with one 52-card deck. You sit South with North as your partner; West and East play against you. Here all three are computer players. Each player gets 13 cards; aces are high.

Before play everyone bids how many tricks they expect to take, from 1 to 13, or Nil for none at all. Bidding starts left of the dealer and goes clockwise; the deal moves one seat each round. Your team's contract is your bid plus North's.

• The player left of the dealer leads the first trick. Everyone follows suit if they can; if not, they may play any card.
• Spades are trumps: the highest spade in a trick wins it. With no spade in the trick, the highest card of the suit led wins. The winner leads the next trick.
• Spades can't be led until a spade has been played on an earlier trick ("spades are broken"), unless the leader holds nothing but spades.
• Making the contract scores 10 points per trick bid, plus 1 point for each extra trick (a "bag"). Taking fewer tricks than the contract loses 10 points per trick bid.
• Bags add up across rounds: every time a team reaches 10, it loses 100 points.
• Nil scores 100 points if the bidder takes no trick, and loses 100 if they take one. Here a Nil bidder's tricks don't count toward the partner's bid; they count as bags.
• The game ends after a round in which a team reaches 500 points with the higher score, or a team falls to −200.

When it is your turn to bid, tap a number, or Nil. Then tap a card to play it: the cards you may play stand up, the others are dimmed, and a tap on a dimmed card tells you why it can't be played. The computer players bid and play on their own, and a full trick stays on the table for a moment so you can see who took it.

Each seat shows its bid and the tricks it has taken; under your hand you see how many tricks your team has toward its contract. After each round a table shows the tricks, the round's points and the totals.

Pick how strong the computer players are; your partner plays at the same level. Easy bids roughly and plays any legal card, normal counts its tricks and plays like a careful partner, hard also thinks ahead through many possible deals. They never see your cards or each other's. Your game is saved as you play, and Daily gives everyone the same cards today.

Good Spades is careful counting: bid what your hand can really take, then take exactly that.

• Count your sure tricks: aces, kings with another card of the suit, high spades, and every spade past your third. A short side suit with spare spades is worth about a trick, because you can trump it.
• Listen to your partner's bid. If North bids high, a modest bid from you keeps the contract safe.
• Once your team has made its contract, play low cards and let tricks go: every extra trick is a bag, and ten bags cost 100 points.
• Bid Nil only with no spade higher than about the 10, few spades, and no aces. Play your highest card that still loses, and keep low cards for the end.
• When your partner bids Nil, lead high cards and play over their cards so they can stay under.
• Setting the other team (keeping them short of their contract) costs them 10 points per trick bid: near the end of a round, take the tricks they need.