Spades score keeper
A trick-taking game for four in partnerships, or three to six alone.
Free · nothing to install · 4 players
What it works out for you
Each hand you enter bidding and tricks; it does the arithmetic and keeps the running totals. It runs to 500 — first there wins. You enter what happened; the arithmetic, the running totals and the standings are the app's problem, not yours.
- The deck — A standard 52 cards, 13 tricks a hand. Spades are always trump — there is no card to turn.
- The goal — Bid the number of tricks you will take and then take at least that many. In partnerships the two bids combine into one contract, so you are playing your partner's hand as much as your own.
- Scoring — Make the contract: 10 points per trick bid. Miss it: lose 10 per trick bid, however close you came.
- Bags — Every trick over the contract is a 'bag' — worth one point now and trouble later. Collect ten and you lose 100. This is why a good table bids close and does not grab spare tricks.
- Nil — Bidding zero promises you will take no tricks at all: 100 points if you keep it, −100 if you break it. Your partner still plays their own bid.
- Ending — First to the target — 500 by default. In partnerships the target belongs to the pair, not to either player.
The bit that goes wrong on paper
The scoring people get wrong in Spades is not the tricks. It is the bags. Every overtrick is worth one point now and a hundred points against you later, and the count carries across hands — so the penalty lands three deals after the hand that caused it, by which time nobody can remember who took what.
Keeping that on paper means maintaining a second running total that only matters occasionally, which is exactly the sort of bookkeeping that quietly stops happening. Casetta Cards counts the bags, applies the hundred when it is due, and shows how close each side is to the next one.
What you enter each hand
- Bidding — Say how many tricks you will take. In partnerships the two bids combine into one contract, so you are playing your partner's hand as much as your own. Bidding zero is a nil: a promise to take none at all.
- Tricks — Enter what each player actually won. They must add up to thirteen. Anything over the contract is a bag, and ten bags cost a hundred.
Only your own number, and only when it is your turn to give it — the app passes the turn round the table so nobody has to remember whose go it is.
The ways your table plays it
Nobody plays a card game exactly as the book has it, so the settings are on the setup screen rather than assumed:
- Partners or solo — Partnerships, Every player for themselves
- Game ends at — 200 points, 300 points, 500 points
- Allow nil bids — Bidding zero is a promise to take no tricks at all: 100 points for keeping it, −100 for breaking it.
One phone, or a phone each
Score Keeper — one person keeps score for everybody, the way a pad of paper works. Nobody else needs a phone, or an account, or to do anything at all.
Group Scoring — everyone joins from their own phone with a four-character code, and each person enters their own. Every screen stays in step, so nobody is asking what the score is.
You can mix the two at one table: some people on their own phones, the rest entered by whoever is keeping score.
What it remembers
Every hand of every game, so you can look back at what happened rather than taking somebody's word for it. For Spades that includes contracts, hands and bags, alongside the scores themselves — and a leaderboard across everybody you have played with.
Questions people ask
Is this Spades score keeper free?
Yes. It is free to use, there are no adverts, and there is nothing to pay for later. You do not need an account either — you can start a game of Spades and keep score straight away.
Do I need to install an app?
No. It runs in the browser you already have, on a phone, a tablet or a laptop. Add it to your home screen if you like and it behaves like an app, but there is nothing to download and nothing to update.
Does everyone need a phone to play Spades?
No. One person can keep score for the whole table, the way a pad of paper works — everybody else just plays. If you would rather each keep your own, everyone joins with a four-character code and every screen stays in step. You can mix the two at one table.
How many people can play Spades?
4 players. The app deals the right number of cards for the count and rotates the deal for you.
Does it know how Spades is scored?
Yes — that is the whole point of it. Each hand you enter bidding and tricks; it does the arithmetic and keeps the running totals. It runs to 500 — first there wins. It also handles the ways tables differ: partners or solo, game ends at, allow nil bids.
Does it keep our scores after the game?
Yes. Every hand of every game is kept, so you can look back at what actually happened, and there is a leaderboard across everybody you have played with. Playing as a guest keeps the history on that device; making an account keeps it anywhere you sign in.
Does it work without a connection?
Not at the moment — it needs a connection to keep the scoreboard in step across devices and to save the game. Worth knowing if you are playing somewhere with no signal.
Not sure of the rules? How Spades is scored, explained plainly · score keepers for every game