Gameplay tips

In Spades Masters you need to coordinate with your partner and trick your opponents, all without talking and looking at each other. 

That's why we have decided to share some tips with you!

♠️When is it safe to play NIL?

Playing NIL is very risky. That's because your opponents will play only the lowest cards they have, in order to make you win a trick.

You need to carefully check your cards before playing NIL and make sure you have:

•  A limited number of spades (3 max. 4 cards) and lower than 8; if you have: 9, 10, J, Q, K, and A of spades do not play NIL as they are the cards with the highest value.
•  Only cards with numbers, so you shouldn't have any A, K, Q. If you have a J (not of spades) you can still win a NIL round.

Make sure you get rid of the highest cards you have in your hand as soon as possible!

♠️How can you coordinate with your partner?

Coordinating with your partner requires strong attention to details, and a very good knowledge of the game.

As you know, in Spades Masters you can't communicate with your partner, therefore you have to pay close attention to their moves:

• Their bid can tell you already if they have a good hand or not. If their bid is NIL or a pretty low number, it probably means their hand will not grant them an easy victory.
• If they play a J, Q, or a K before the A has been played, it probably means they don't have any more cards of that specific suit. Try to help them by either winning that trick (if the opponent played a higher card) or by letting them win the trick (so, if your partner plays a Q and you have a 9, K, and A, play the 9). If you decide to win the trick, play the same suit again so your partner can break spades. 
• If they keep playing the same suit (e.g. hearts) when the table is playing a totally different suit, it probably means they have some winning cards of that specific suit (e.g. a K of hearts). Help them by trying to switch suit.

Don't forget to use the emojis to communicate with your partner!

♠️How can you avoid accumulating bags?

And here you are, your bid was too low and now you still have a couple of winning cards that will make you accumulate bags and lose points.

Try not to think about winning more tricks and just "throw away" the winning cards and make your opponents win the trick. For example, if you still have a Q of hearts and your opponents still need to play a K of hearts, don't be afraid and throw the Q on the table. Your main goal is not to win as many tricks as possible, but to gain as many points as possible!

Alternatively, wait for one of your opponents to play any cards of spades, and then throw away your cards with the highest value.

The most important tip we can give you is to learn the ins and outs of the game, players have different strategies, some of them gives pretty good results and some others are just based on luck. 

We will update this page if more relevant tips come out of if you want to share some of your tricks with the world. ♠️