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Spades Scoring: Four-Player Bids, Bags and Nil

A four-player partnership reference with three worked examples.

By Luma Game Hub EditorialVerified against source

Quick answer

Quick scoring reference

There are two teams and thirteen tricks in a hand. The first two rules below cover ordinary positive bids without Nil. Add the partners’ bids to get the team contract; do not score each partner’s ordinary bid as a separate contract. Keep the bid written down until the hand is settled. Counting what happened afterward is easier than reconstructing what everyone originally promised.

  • Made positive bid: ten times the team bid, plus one point and one bag per extra trick.
  • Missed positive bid: subtract ten times the team bid; this missed contract adds no bags.
  • Every complete group of ten accumulated bags: subtract 100, remove ten bags and retain the remainder.
Read the guide

For four-player partnership Spades, start with the two partners’ bids and the tricks they actually took. Keep that hand’s points separate from the running game score and bag count. Writing all three down makes a surprising score easier to check.

This guide uses the partnership convention described by Pagat: a made contract scores ten times the bid, with one point for each overtrick; a missed contract loses ten times the bid. Every ten accumulated bags costs 100 points. Check the agreement before the first deal, because published rules differ.

1. Bid 6, take 8: 62 points and 2 bags

Mira and Owen bid 4 and 2. Their contract is 6. Together they take 8 tricks, so the contract earns 60 points and the 2 extras add 2 points: 60 + 2 = 62. Record 2 new bags as well. Add 62 to their previous score, then check whether the bag total triggers a deduction.

2. Bid 8, take 5: minus 80 points

The same team bids 5 and 3 but takes only 5 tricks. Under this guide’s agreement, the hand is −80. Do not award 50 for the 5 tricks or subtract only the 3-trick shortfall. If their previous score was 160, write 160 − 80 = 80. Existing bags remain on the record.

3. 7 old bags, 4 new bags: carry 1 forward

The team begins at 237 points with 7 bags. It bids 4 and takes 8, adding 44 hand points and 4 bags. 11 bags cross the ten-bag threshold once: 237 + 44 − 100 = 181. Keep 1 bag for the next hand. The 44 already includes the overtrick points; adding those 4 points again would count them twice. For larger totals, apply the deduction for every complete group of ten bags.

Keep Nil separate from the partner’s bid

An ordinary Nil is a player’s promise to take no tricks. In the convention used here, success adds 100 points and failure subtracts 100; the partner’s contract is still settled. Failed-Nil tricks do not rescue that partner’s contract and count toward the team’s bags under Pagat’s usual rule. Agree how your table records those tricks before play. Blind Nil is optional, not automatically enabled by these examples. If your group uses it, confirm eligibility, card exchanges and scoring first. Published Nil and bag options vary; do not insert a new bonus halfway through a game.

Use a record you can audit

For each team, keep columns for previous score, previous bags, bid, tricks, hand points, bag deduction, new score and carried bags. Mark any Nil beside the player who declared it. Count all thirteen tricks across both teams before accepting the totals. Read the finished row aloud, resolve a discrepancy while the hand is still understandable, then start a new row.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does another guide give zero for a missed bid?
Bicycle’s explanation uses zero for a broken contract. This page uses the negative-contract convention above. Choose one before dealing; neither instruction should silently replace the other.
Do bags disappear after a penalty?
Remove only the ten that caused that deduction. Example three carries one forward.
Is this the three-player game?
This is four-player partnership scoring. For the separate solo, seventeen-trick setup, use the three-player Spades guide. Keep its declared house rules separate.
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The related three-player guide is a separate solo setup. Euchre is another partnership card game with different bidding and scoring; do not apply these Spades scores to it.

Related Guides

Official & Reference Links

Use these external links to verify the game source and creator context; they do not imply a commercial partnership with Luma.