A partnership trick-taking game for 4 players. Spades are always trump.
Setup
- Partners sit across from each other. Deal all 52 cards, 13 each.
Bidding
- Each player says how many tricks they expect to take. Partners' bids add together into one team bid.
- Nil means you bet you'll take no tricks at all. Blind nil is the same bet made before you look at your cards, and is worth double.
Play
- The player left of the dealer leads. You can't lead a spade until spades are broken (someone has played one on another suit).
- Follow the suit led if you can. If you can't, play anything, including a spade.
- The highest spade takes the trick. If no spade was played, the highest card of the led suit does.
Scoring
| Make your bid | 10 per trick bid |
| Each extra trick (a bag) | +1 |
| Miss your bid (set) | −10 per trick bid |
| Every 10 bags | −100 |
| Nil made / missed | +100 / −100 |
| Blind nil made / missed | +200 / −200 |
Winning
The first team to 500 wins. Many tables also end the game when a team falls to −200.
Entering scores
For each team, enter the combined bid of the players who did not bid nil, and the total tricks the team took. Mark any nil bids and whether they were made.