Spades may not be led until either some player has played a spade (on the lead of another suit, of course), or the leader has nothing but spades left in hand. Playing the first spade is known as …

If you play a Spade and no one else does, you win the trick. So Spades are trump cards. In this case the highest Spade wins. The game does not allow ties for first place. In the case of a tie …

In a traditional four-player, two-team game of Spades, each play is 4 cards, with the highest card in each suit winning – provided it isn't trumped by a Spade.

Until Spades are broken, players are not allowed to lead with a Spade, Spades are considered broken when they have been played in a previous trick because a player could not follow suit.

Cards should be facedown. When playing with a real deck, the dealer can be selected by drawing for the highest card or first spade. When playing a video game version, the deal happens …

Your opponents will need to use a Spade to keep up, which means they have fewer left to beat your other cards during the next hand. The secret to winning at Spades is to take calculated …

Players in clockwise fashion then play a card of their choice; they must follow suit if they can, otherwise they may play any card including a trump spade. A player may not lead spades until …