Overview
Spades in Cardems is a four-player partnership trick-taking game. North and South are partners, as are East and West. Every round has 13 tricks; teams bid their contract before play and score together.
Objective
Reach 500 points with a uniquely higher team score. If both partnerships are tied at or above 500 after a round, play continues until one team leads.
Setup
Cardems deals one 52-card deck one card at a time, beginning with the player left of the dealer, until each player has 13 cards. Bidding begins with that same player and continues clockwise. Each player chooses Nil or a bid from 1 through 13; there is no zero trick-number bid other than Nil.
After all four bids, the first bidder leads the first trick. The dealer advances one seat clockwise for the next round.
How to Play
- Add your bid to your partner's ordinary bid to make the partnership contract. Nil contributes 0 tricks to that contract.
- On each trick, follow the suit led whenever you can.
- If you are void in the led suit, you may discard another suit or play a Spade to trump the trick.
- The highest Spade wins a trick containing Spades; otherwise the highest card in the suit led wins. The trick winner leads next.
- Spades may not be led until a Spade has been played, unless the leader has only Spades left.
Nil
A Nil bidder promises to take no tricks. Nil is a permitted bid in Cardems, but Blind Nil is not implemented. A successful Nil adds 100 points to the partnership; a Nil bidder who takes one or more tricks costs the partnership 100 points.
Nil does not change the partnership's ordinary contract. For example, a team bidding Nil and 5 still needs five total tricks to make its contract, while the Nil player must personally take none.
Important Rules
- You must follow suit if you hold the led suit. You cannot discard or trump while a card of the led suit remains in your hand.
- Before Spades are broken, leading a Spade is illegal unless your entire hand is Spades. Playing a Spade while void in the led suit breaks Spades.
- There is no special forced opening card. The first bidder leads after bidding completes.
- Each round always plays all 13 tricks, then the app scores both teams and either begins another round or completes the match.
- Bids are submitted in turn and cannot be changed after acceptance.
Scoring and Winning
If a partnership takes at least its combined ordinary contract, it scores 10 points per bid trick plus 1 point per overtrick. Each overtrick is a bag. If it falls short, it loses 10 points per bid trick. Nil success or failure adds its separate +100 or -100.
Every ten accumulated bags deducts 100 points, and the bag count keeps the remainder. The bag penalty applies in the round that reaches ten.
| Example | Result |
|---|---|
| Bid 6, take 8 | +62 points and 2 bags |
| Bid 6, take 5 | -60 points and no new bags |
| Bid Nil + 5, take 5, Nil takes 0 | +150 points: +50 contract and +100 Nil |
| Team enters with 9 bags, makes bid 4 with 5 tricks | +41 contract points, then -100 bag penalty; 0 bags remain |
The first team with a unique highest score of at least 500 wins the Cardems match.
Strategy
Nil is a team decision: a safe-looking Nil can still fail when the bidder is forced to win a trick. Track which high cards remain and use leads that give a Nil partner safe discards when possible. Also watch the bag count; an unnecessary overtrick can turn a made contract into a sharp net loss when it completes ten bags.
FAQ
What bids can I make?
Cardems accepts Nil or 1 through 13 tricks. It does not implement Blind Nil or an ordinary zero bid.
Can I lead a Spade on the first trick?
Only if your hand contains only Spades. Otherwise, Spades cannot be led until they have been broken on a later trick.
What are bags?
They are overtricks taken after making the team contract. Each is worth 1 point, but every ten cumulative bags trigger a 100-point penalty.
Does a successful Nil help make the contract?
No. Nil contributes zero to the ordinary contract and is scored separately. The Nil bidder's partner's numbered bid supplies the team’s contract in a Nil partnership.
What happens if both teams reach 500 tied?
The match continues. Cardems completes only when one partnership has the unique highest score at or above 500.
