Spades glossary
What Does Nil Mean in Spades?
Nil is a bid of zero: you promise to win no tricks at all. Make it and your team scores +100; take even one trick and it is −100. Your partner's bid is scored separately as the team contract. At Spades Night, tricks from a failed nil count as bags.
Nil is a bid to win zero tricks in the hand. It is the most exciting bid in spades: a 100-point swing either way, decided one card at a time. The complete spades rules cover every bid; this page is all about going nil.
How it works
- You bid nil instead of a number. You are promising to take no tricks.
- Make it: +100. Take even one trick: −100.
- Your partner still bids normally. Their bid becomes the team contract and is scored as usual, separately from your nil.
- Your partner's job is to "cover" you: win the tricks you might otherwise be forced to take.
A good nil hand is short on high cards and has few or low spades. Voids and singletons in side suits help too, because they let you throw away dangerous cards when a suit is led that you don't have.
Example
You hold: 5♠ 3♠ · J♥ 7♥ 4♥ 2♥ · 9♦ 6♦ 3♦ · 8♣ 6♣ 4♣ 3♣ (Classic deck).
No card above a jack, two tiny spades, and plenty of low cards to follow suit under anyone. That is a fine nil. The J♥ is the risk: you want to dump it the first time someone else is already winning a heart trick, or when you are void in the suit led.
Your partner bids 5. The team needs 5 tricks from your partner, and you need zero. If you both succeed: 50 + 100 = 150 for the hand.
How Spades Night handles it
- Nil is on by default. You can switch it off at a private table.
- Nil is scored ±100 on its own. Your partner's number is the team contract.
- Board still applies to the team: if your partner bids 2 while you go nil, their contract is raised to 4.
- Tricks taken by a failed nil count as bags. They do not count toward your partner's bid.
- If your team trails by 100 or more, you may be offered blind nil for ±200.
- If both partners bid nil, see double nil.
Variations at other tables
Some tables let a failed nil's tricks count toward the partner's bid ("help team"). Some allow the nil bidder and partner to pass one or two cards to each other. A few score nil at 50 instead of 100, or don't allow nil at all. Ask before the first deal.
For when to bid it and how to protect your partner's nil, read the nil strategy guide.
Related terms
- Blind nil: nil bid before you see your cards, worth ±200.
- Double nil: both partners go nil.
- Bags: where a failed nil's tricks end up.
- Board: the minimum team contract.
- Set: missing your team's contract.
Questions people ask
How many points is nil worth in spades?
A made nil is worth +100 points. A failed nil costs 100 points. Blind nil, bid before looking at your cards, doubles both numbers to +200 and −200.
Can you bid zero in spades?
Yes, and that bid is called nil. There is no separate zero bid: if you want to take no tricks, you bid nil and score it on its own.
What happens to your partner's bid when you go nil?
It stands on its own as the team contract. If your partner bid 4, the team still needs 4 tricks from your partner, scored as usual, while your nil is scored separately.
What happens if you go nil and take a trick?
Your team loses 100 points for the failed nil. At Spades Night the tricks you took become bags and do not help your partner's contract.