The short version of Spades scoring is 10 points for every trick you bid, plus 1 point for every extra trick, provided you make the contract. Bid 5 and take 7, and the hand is worth 52 points: 50 for the bid and 2 for the overtricks.
Those two extra tricks are also bags. Bags look harmless one at a time, but every tenth bag brings a 100-point penalty under the standard rule used on our table. Nil and Blind Nil sit alongside the normal contract and can add or subtract another 100 or 200 points.
If you need the turn order, follow-suit rule, or an explanation of breaking Spades, start with the complete Spades rules. This guide stays with the score sheet.
The video starts at its scoring chapter. It covers common Spades rules; for the exact bag, failed Nil, and Blind Nil settings used on this site, follow the examples below.
How Standard Spades Scoring Works
In four-player partnership Spades, the two partners’ number bids are added together. If South bids 3 and North bids 4, North-South has a team contract of 7. The team must win at least seven contract tricks.
| Result | Score |
|---|---|
| Make a bid of 7 exactly | +70 |
| Bid 7 and take 8 | +71 and 1 bag |
| Bid 7 and take 10 | +73 and 3 bags |
| Bid 7 and take only 6 | -70 |
Extra tricks do not increase the contract itself. They score one point each and move the team’s bag counter. If the team misses its bid, it loses 10 times the bid and receives no points for ordinary tricks won.
In two-player Spades, the same calculation is made for each player rather than a partnership. A player who bids 4 and takes 5 scores 41 and adds one bag.
What Happens When a Bid Is Missed?
A team that falls short is set. The penalty is 10 points for every trick in the original bid, regardless of how close the team came.
Suppose West bids 4 and East bids 3. Their team bid is 7:
- Taking 7 tricks makes the contract and scores 70.
- Taking 6 tricks misses the contract and scores -70.
- Taking 2 tricks still scores -70, not -20.
The tricks won while missing an ordinary contract do not become bags. This matters because a set can be painful without also pushing the bag counter toward another penalty.
What Are Bags in Spades?
A bag, also called an overtrick or sandbag, is an ordinary contract trick taken beyond the bid. Bid 6 and take 8, and the team receives 62 points and two bags.
The one-point reward is useful early in a game. The cumulative bag count is the cost. Players who repeatedly bid low may make every contract and still lose a large block of points later.
How the 100-Point Bag Penalty Works
When the cumulative count reaches 10 bags, the team loses 100 points and 10 bags are removed from the counter. Any excess carries forward.
For example, a team starts a hand with 8 bags, bids 5, and takes 8 tricks:
- The made contract is worth 50 points.
- The three overtricks are worth 3 points.
- The bag total moves from 8 to 11.
- Reaching 10 bags applies a -100 penalty.
- One bag carries into the next hand.
The net result is 50 + 3 - 100 = -47 points, with 1 bag remaining. A made contract can therefore produce a negative round when it crosses the penalty line.
Trick Card Games lets you disable the bag penalty in the game options. When it is disabled, overtricks still score one point, but reaching 10 does not subtract 100.
How Nil Is Scored
A Nil bidder promises to take zero tricks. A successful Nil adds 100 points; taking even one trick fails the Nil and subtracts 100 points.
The partner’s number bid is still scored separately. On our table, tricks taken by a failed Nil bidder become bags and do not help satisfy the partner’s contract.
Consider this North-South hand:
- South bids 4 and wins exactly 4 tricks.
- North bids Nil and wins 0 tricks.
- The partnership scores 40 for South’s contract and 100 for North’s Nil: +140.
Now change the result:
- South bids 4 but wins only 3 tricks.
- North bids Nil and accidentally wins 1 trick.
- South’s contract is short, so the contract score is -40.
- North’s Nil fails for -100, and the unwanted trick adds 1 bag.
- The round is -140, with 1 bag added.
That unwanted Nil trick does not turn South’s three contract tricks into four. This detail varies at some tables, so agree on it before playing elsewhere.
How Blind Nil Is Scored
Blind Nil is declared before the bidder looks at the hand. It uses the same zero-trick goal with twice the swing: +200 for success and -200 for failure under the rules used here.
The normal partner contract is still evaluated, and tricks taken on a failed Blind Nil become bags. Because a 400-point difference separates success from failure, Blind Nil is usually a catch-up play rather than a routine opening bid.
Complete Four-Player Scoring Example
North-South begins the hand at 184 points with 6 bags. East-West has 210 points with 2 bags.
| Player | Bid | Tricks won |
|---|---|---|
| South | 4 | 5 |
| North | 3 | 3 |
| West | 3 | 3 |
| East | 3 | 2 |
North-South bid 7 and took 8. They score 70 for the contract plus 1 for the overtrick. Their new total is 255, and their bag count rises from 6 to 7.
East-West bid 6 but took only 5. They are set for -60. Their new total is 150, and their bag count remains at 2 because ordinary tricks from a failed contract do not count as bags.
The 13 tricks also provide a useful check: 5 + 3 + 3 + 2 = 13. If a score example does not account for all 13 tricks, something has been copied incorrectly.
Complete Multi-Round Bag Example
Here is how a quiet run of overtricks turns into a penalty:
| Hand | Starting bags | Bid and result | Hand score | Ending bags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Bid 6, take 8 | +62 | 6 |
| 2 | 6 | Bid 5, take 7 | +52 | 8 |
| 3 | 8 | Bid 4, take 6 | +42, then -100 | 0 |
Across the three hands, the contracts produce 156 points before the bag penalty. The tenth accumulated bag then removes 100, leaving a net gain of 56 points. That is why accurate bidding matters even when a team rarely gets set.
Common Spades Scoring Mistakes
Giving 10 points for every trick taken
The 10-point value applies to bid tricks, not every trick on the table. Overtricks are normally worth one point.
Counting a failed contract’s tricks as bags
Ordinary tricks do not become bags when the team is set. The team receives the contract penalty instead. Failed Nil tricks are the exception in this implementation.
Resetting bags after every hand
Bags are cumulative. They carry into later hands until a 10-bag penalty removes ten of them.
Letting a failed Nil trick complete the partner’s bid
On this table, the Nil bidder’s tricks become bags. They are not contract tricks for the partner.
Treating Blind Nil as a universal rule
It is a common optional rule, not a requirement of every Spades game. The value and eligibility conditions can change from one group to another.