How to Play

Overview
Spades is a card game played with a standard deck of 52 cards in which spades are the highest cards, also called trumps. Though the number of players can vary, Spades is most commonly played with 4 players split into two teams. In this version of Spades, you play with three computer players. In the Options Menu, you can choose to play with teams or as individual players. In either case, the object is the same, be the first to reach 250 or 500 points (whichever you select in the Options Menu) through bidding and taking tricks.

Game Play
After the cards are dealt, players bid how many tricks they expect to take based on their hands. The cards rank from highest to lowest in their usual way. Spades are trumps, and as such, beat all other cards. A player with several high cards and spades would make a higher bid than a player with hardly any spades and mostly low cards. Each player bids in turn. If teams are playing, the bids of teammates are combined. A player may bid any number of tricks from 1 to 13, or may bid 0, also known as "nil," which means the player will try not to take tricks. Once the bids are made, the player to the dealer's left leads the first trick. The winner of each trick leads the next trick. Players must play a card of the suit that led if they can. Because spades are trumps, the highest spade played on a trick wins. If no spades are played, the highest card of the suit that led wins. A player cannot lead with spades until spades are broken, that is, until a spade has been played as a trump.

Scoring
The winner of Spades is the first team (or player if no teams) to reach either 250 or 500 points, depending on what option is selected. Points are earned by taking the number of tricks bid. If a team takes at least as many tricks as its bid, it earns 10 points for each trick bid. The team also gets 1 extra point for each additional trick taken over what they bid. These additional tricks are called "bags." A team wants to avoid getting bags, however. If, through the course of the game, a team accumulates 10 bags, they lose 100 points. A team that does not take at least the number of tricks bid loses 10 points for each trick bid. If a player who bid nil takes no tricks, his or her team earns a bonus of 100 points. If that player takes even one trick, his or her team loses 100 points. A hand where a player bids nil is otherwise scored normally with each team earning or losing points based on their bid and the number of tricks taken.

Controls
Keys	Action
"5" or OK	Selects or deselects cards, or selects bid.
"6" or	Moves the cursor right.
"4" or	Moves the cursor left.
"2" or	Raises the value of bid.
"8" or	Lowers the value of bid
OK	Advances from screen to screen.
CLR	Returns to Main Menu and exits game.