Spades and hearts use the same 52-card deck, four players and the follow-suit rule, and both stop one suit from being led until it's broken. The difference is the goal. In hearts you avoid tricks with hearts and the queen of spades, with no trumps, playing for yourself, and the lowest score wins. In spades you bid the number of tricks you'll take, spades are always trumps, you play with a partner, and the first team to 500 wins.
If you play hearts, you already know half of spades: four players, one 52-card deck, follow suit if you can, and a suit that can’t be led until it’s been broken. What changes is everything about the goal. This page goes through what carries over and what’s new. The rules here follow Pagat’s descriptions of both games and this site’s spades rules.
At a glance
| Hearts | Spades | |
|---|---|---|
| Players | 4, each for themselves | 4, two teams of two, partners opposite |
| Goal | Avoid penalty cards | Take exactly the tricks you bid |
| Trumps | None | Spades, always |
| Before play | Pass three cards (left, right, across, then hold) | Bid the number of tricks you’ll take |
| First lead | The 2 of clubs | The player to the dealer’s left, any card except a spade |
| Can’t be led until broken | Hearts | Spades |
| Scoring | 1 point per heart, 13 for the queen of spades | 10 a trick bid if you make it, minus 10 a trick if you don’t; bags for overtricks |
| Big swing | Shooting the moon: take all 26 points | Nil: bid to take no tricks at all, for 100 points |
| Game end | Someone reaches 100; the lowest score wins | A team reaches 500; the highest score wins |
What carries over
- Following suit. The same rule: follow the suit led if you can; if you can’t, play anything.
- Breaking a suit. In hearts, you can’t lead a heart until one has been played on another suit’s trick (unless you hold only hearts). In spades it’s the same rule for spades.
- Counting cards. Tracking which high cards are out, and who is void in a suit, is just as useful.
- Watching the queen of spades. In hearts she’s the card to avoid. In spades she’s simply the third-highest trump, but you still care where the ace and king are.
What’s new
Trumps
Hearts has no trumps: the highest card of the suit led always wins. In spades, any spade beats any card of another suit. If you can’t follow suit, you can win the trick with a spade (or throw something else). That changes how you count winners: a void in a side suit is worth tricks.
Bidding instead of passing
In hearts, you start each hand by passing three cards. In spades there’s no passing in the standard game. Instead, each player bids the number of tricks they expect to take, and partners’ bids add up to a team contract.
A partner
Hearts is usually every player for themselves. Spades is a partnership game: partners sit opposite and score together. You’ll help your partner make the contract, cover their weak suits, and protect them if they bid nil. (If you’d rather play alone, cutthroat spades has no partners.)
Taking tricks, exactly
In hearts you want as few penalty cards as possible. In spades you want to make your bid: take at least as many tricks as you bid. Fail and you lose 10 points for every trick bid. Take too many and the extra tricks are bags: each is worth a point, but ten of them cost 100 points.
Nil instead of the moon
Hearts’ big gamble is shooting the moon: taking every heart and the queen of spades, so your score drops by 26 or everyone else’s rises by 26. Spades’ gamble goes the other way. A nil bid promises to take no tricks at all, for 100 points if you succeed and minus 100 if you take even one.
Winning
Hearts ends when someone reaches 100, and the lowest score wins. Spades is usually played to 500, and the highest score wins.
Tips for hearts players learning spades
- Count trumps. Your instinct from hearts is to get rid of high cards. In spades, high spades are winners you can count on in your bid.
- Bid what you can take, not what you hope for. Count aces, high spades and voids; a king without protection may not win.
- Mind the bags. Taking extra tricks isn’t safe in spades. Ten bags cost 100 points.
- Talk only through your bids. In standard spades, partners can’t discuss their hands or signal; your bid is how you tell your partner what you hold.
Play both
Ready to try spades? Play spades against the computer or with friends, and keep the rules open in another tab. To keep playing hearts, Rare Pike has a free hearts game, and its list of games like spades covers other trick-taking games.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is spades like hearts?
They feel alike at first: same deck, four players, follow suit, and a suit that can't be led until it's broken. But the goal is opposite. In hearts you avoid taking hearts and the queen of spades; in spades you bid how many tricks you'll take and try to take exactly that many, with spades as trumps and a partner.
Is spades harder than hearts?
Spades adds bidding and a partner, so there's more to learn at the start. Hearts has its own depth in passing and in shooting the moon. Hearts players usually pick up spades quickly, because following suit and counting cards carry over.
Do you play with a partner in hearts?
Not usually: standard hearts is every player for themselves, though Pagat describes two partnership versions. Spades is normally a partnership game, with partners sitting opposite.