How to play Spades at Pull Up & Deal

The table, the deal, and the goal

The player across from you is your partner. Each player receives thirteen cards. You and your partner combine the books you win and work toward the table’s score target; the default target is 500 points.

A book, also called a trick, consists of one card from each player. Winning a single book does not win the game. Your team’s score depends on the bid, the books taken, and the selected scoring rules.

Read the deck before you bid

The default deck is Joker–Joker–Deuce–Deuce. Its trump order, strongest first, is Big Joker, Little Joker, 2♦, 2♠, A♠, K♠, Q♠, J♠, then the remaining spades in descending order. The 2♦ belongs to trump at this table; do not treat it as a diamond when following suit.

The joker decks replace 2♣ and 2♥ with the two jokers, keeping fifty-two cards. Hosts can instead choose Ace High, Joker–Joker–Ace, or Joker–Joker–Deuce–Ace. A card that is powerful in one deck may have a different role in another.

Bid together, then play your own hand

Look at your likely winners and bid the number of books you expect to take. Your partner’s bid is added to yours. With the default board minimum of four, the combined team bid must be at least four.

A zero bid is a normal zero by default: it is not a promise to take no books, and it earns no separate Nil bonus. Hosts may enable Nil and its eligibility rules. Check those settings before assuming a zero bid means Nil.

For a beginner, high trump and strong cards in a long suit are useful clues, but they are not guarantees. A king may lose to an ace; an ace in another suit may be cut by trump when a player cannot follow suit.

Follow suit and win books

The first card played sets the led suit. If you hold that suit, you must play it. If you do not, you may play any card, including trump. The highest trump wins; if nobody plays trump, the highest card in the led suit wins.

For example, clubs are led and you have a club and A♠. You must play your club. If you have no clubs, you may play A♠ to cut—but another player can still beat it with a higher trump in the selected deck.

The book winner leads the next book. By default, trump cannot be led until spades are broken, unless the leader holds only trump. An off-suit ace cannot win a book merely because it is an ace.

Score a hand: a worked example

Making your combined bid normally earns ten points per bid book. Extra books are bags. Under the default bag rule, each extra book adds one point and one bag; ten accumulated bags deduct 100 points, with leftover bags carried forward.

If you bid three and your partner bids three, the team target is six. Taking seven books scores 61 points and adds one bag before accumulated-bag penalties. Taking five books sets your team and, under the default full set deduction, loses 60 points.

An exact team bid of ten uses a special default rule: make it for 200 points, or lose 200 if set. Hosts can change this rule, bag penalties, and set deductions. Never carry a scoring assumption from one table to the next.

Finish the game and improve your partnership

Scores are compared after the hand. When a team reaches the target, the higher-scoring team wins. A Boston—one team winning all thirteen books—wins the game immediately. In 7 Out mode there is no bidding: a team taking seven books scores one point, eight scores two, and the first team to seven points wins.

Count the books already won, remember suits players have run out of, and watch what your partner has shown. Avoid wasting high trump on a book your partner already controls. Practice with bots before choosing unfamiliar house rules.

Timed tables may automatically bid or play a legal card when time expires. Use the table menu to check the deck, timer, and rules, and tap the score to review the scoreboard and hand history.