Spades Table Talk: Slang and Etiquette

Sit down at a spades table and you'll hear a language that makes perfect sense to the players and none to anyone walking past. "We're going board." "Don't get set." "Somebody reneged." "Run the Boston!" This page is your phrasebook, plus the unwritten rules that keep a game fun. For how the game itself works, see the spades rules.

The core vocabulary

Book. A trick. Four cards, one from each player, taken by the highest. There are 13 books in a hand. "How many books you got?" is the question every partner asks. See book.

Bid your books. Say how many tricks you'll take. Your bid plus your partner's is the team's contract.

Bags (sandbags). Books you take over your bid. Each one is a point, but 10 bags cost 100. "Sandbagging" is deliberately underbidding to collect them; do it too much and it bites. See bags.

Set. Missing your contract. "We set them" is the best sentence in the game; "we got set" is the worst. You lose 10 points for every book you bid. See set.

Board. The minimum team bid, usually 4. "Going board" means your team is bidding the minimum. At Spades Night a team contract under 4 is raised to 4 automatically. See board.

Cards and trump

Cut. Play a spade on a trick when you're out of the suit led. "I cut it" means "I trumped it." See trump.

Break spades. Play the first spade of the hand. Until spades are broken, nobody can lead one (unless they hold only spades). See breaking spades.

Big Joker, Little Joker. At tables that play with jokers, the two top trump cards. The Big Joker beats everything. See Big Joker vs Little Joker.

Deuces. The 2♦ (two of diamonds) and 2♠ when they're promoted to high trump. "Joker joker deuce deuce" is the whole top of the trump order. See deuces.

Void. Having no cards in a suit. "I'm void in hearts" means you can cut the next heart. See void.

Running. Leading your winners one after another. "Let me run these diamonds."

Bids and big plays

Nil. A bid of zero books. Make it for +100, take even one trick and lose 100. See nil.

Blind nil. Nil bid before looking at your cards, for ±200. At Spades Night it's offered only when your team is down 100 or more. See blind nil.

Cover. Protect your partner's nil by winning the tricks they're afraid of.

Boston. Taking all 13 books. "Running a Boston" is the loudest moment at any table. At Spades Night it's a 200-point bonus. See Boston.

10 for 200. A house rule where a team contract of 10 or more scores a flat 200. See 10 for 200.

Trouble

Renege. Failing to follow suit when you had the suit. At a live table, the other team calls it when they catch it, and the usual penalty is three books. Online the software won't let you, so nobody at Spades Night can renege. See renege.

Table talk. Hinting about your hand to your partner in words or looks. "I hope somebody's got a spade" is table talk. It's the fastest way to start an argument.

Cutthroat. Every player for themselves, no partners. Often played with three. See cutthroat.

Etiquette: the unwritten rules

Agree on house rules before the deal. Jokers or not, board or not, what bags cost, what wins. Our house rules guide is a good checklist.

Talk trash, not table talk. Talking about the other team is part of the culture. Talking to your partner about your hand is cheating. Know the difference.

Shuffle, cut and deal properly. The dealer shuffles, the player on the dealer's right cuts, and the cards go out one at a time, face down, starting on the dealer's left. The deal then moves one seat to the left each hand. Online, the shuffle and deal happen for you.

Don't touch your cards until the deal is done. Wait for all 13, then pick them up.

Play in turn and play promptly. A table full of people waiting on one player who's recounting their hand for the fourth time is how friendships end.

Count books out loud, fairly. Stack won tricks so everyone can count them, and don't bury one under another.

Call reneges on the table, not after. If you think someone reneged, say so when you see it. Relitigating last hand ten minutes later helps nobody.

Winners stay. When more people want to play than there are seats, the losing team gets up and the next pair sits in. At many tables that's the whole tournament system.

Respect the partner. Blaming your partner out loud after every hand is the worst habit in spades. Win together, lose together.

Table talk online

Online spades takes a few arguments off the table. At Spades Night:

• Reneges can't happen. Illegal cards are dimmed and can't be played.
• Bids are secret by default. Everyone bids at once and the numbers flip together, so nobody can signal with a slow or loud bid.
• The trash talk still happens. On Discord, Spades Night runs as an Activity inside your voice channel, so you can talk the whole game. The web version has no built-in voice, so bring your own call. See our Discord page.

And when someone runs a Boston, an announcer lets the whole table know.