Royal Spades is a simplified version of Spades played with fewer cards. The goal is still the same — win tricks and reach the target score before your opponent or opposing team.
Deck & Setup
The game uses a 32-card deck (only cards 7 through Ace; cards 2–6 are removed).
Each player gets 8 cards.
Card strength (highest to lowest): A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7.
Spades always beat cards from any other suit, even the lowest ♠7.
How Bidding Works
Before the round starts, each player bids the number of tricks (rounds) they think they’ll win — from 0 to 8.
In partner games, both players’ bids are added together to form the team’s total bid.
Example: One player bids 3, the other bids 2 → team bid = 5.
The team must win exactly that many tricks to score positively.
Special Bids
Solo Mode:
Nil Bid: You promise to win no tricks.
Success = +25 points.
Fail (if you win even one trick) = –25 points.
Blind Nil: Not allowed in Solo games.
Partners Mode:
Nil Bid: +50 points if successful, –50 if failed.
Blind Nil: +100 points if successful, –100 if failed.
Blind Nil means declaring Nil before seeing your cards.
Winning the Game
The match ends when:
A team reaches the target score
The opposing team drops below the losing threshold.
In short -
fewer cards, faster rounds, and higher stakes make Royal Spades a quick and exciting version of classic Spades.