How to keep Spades score here
- Name the two partnerships and their players, choose the game target (500 is the default), and press Start game.
- After each hand, enter every player’s bid and the tricks they took. Tick Nil or Blind for a player who bid it; their own bid box turns off.
- Watch the Tricks entered counter. A hand must add up to exactly 13 before it can be scored.
- Press Score hand. The table shows each team’s bid, tricks, points, bags, and running total. Bags and the 10-bag penalty carry from hand to hand.
- Typed something wrong? Edit last hand reopens it with the numbers filled in, and Undo last hand removes it. The game is saved in your browser, so a refresh won’t lose it.
The scoring this page uses
These are the standard partnership rules, and each default is labeled on the page:
- Making the bid: 10 points for each trick bid, plus 1 point for each overtrick. Each overtrick is also a bag.
- Set (fewer tricks than bid): minus 10 points for each trick bid.
- Nil: plus 100 if the bidder takes no tricks, minus 100 if they do. Blind Nil: plus or minus 200.
- Bags: every 10 bags costs 100 points, and the bag count goes down by 10.
- Winning: the first team to reach the target (500 by default) wins. If both teams pass it in the same hand, the higher score wins. A tie means another hand.
Where these rules come from
The US Playing Card Company’s Spades rules state the core scoring: 10 points per trick bid, 1 point per overtrick, a 100-point deduction for every 10 bags, and a 500-point game (200 for a short one). That page describes Spades with each player scoring alone and does not cover partnerships, Nil, or Blind Nil. It also scores a missed bid as zero, while partnership games, including this page, normally subtract 10 points per trick bid. The partnership, Nil, Blind Nil, and −200 rules here are the common house standard rather than something that page states, which is why the failed-Nil tricks rule and the −200 rule are options you can change.
Playing Hearts tonight instead? Try the Hearts Score Keeper.
Printable spades score sheet
No screen at the table? Download a blank spades score sheet (PDF) and print it on letter paper. It is a plain table with a column for each thing this keeper asks for, so you can switch between paper and the online keeper at any point.
Frequently asked questions
How are bags counted?
Each trick over a team’s bid is an overtrick, worth 1 point and counted as a bag. Every time a team’s bags reach 10, it loses 100 points and the bag count drops by 10. The counter under each score shows where you stand.
What do Nil and Blind Nil score?
A Nil bid that takes no tricks scores +100, and a Blind Nil (bid before looking at your cards) scores +200. If the bidder takes any trick, the team loses the same amount. Nil is scored separately from the partner’s bid, which is scored as usual.
What happens to tricks taken by a player who failed a Nil?
By default they count toward the partner’s bid, so they can help make it or turn into bags. Houses differ, so the setup has an option that never lets them count toward the bid and instead counts each as a bag.
Can I play to something other than 500?
Yes. Choose 300, 250, or a custom target. You can also turn off the rule that a team at −200 loses the game.
Does this work for three or four players playing for themselves?
No. This page scores two partnerships. For individual or cutthroat games, use the general Score Keeper.
Can other people follow the score live?
Yes, when a Share live button shows above the tool. It gives you a viewer link and a QR code that follow the game and update every few seconds, and a separate scorekeeper link so a helper can enter scores. Viewers cannot change anything. The scores and names on screen are stored on our server until the link expires 14 days after the last change, or until you press Stop sharing. If you don’t see the button, live sharing isn’t switched on and everything else works as before in your browser.