Help for Spades

Introduction

Welcome to the network Spades server. The rules of Spades are below. The challenge and move commands for Spades are described here. Other commands are the same for all pbmserv games.

Spades Command Summary

spades challenge [ parameters ] userid1 userid2 userid3 userid4

Start a new game. Three to six players may play.

parameters:

-teams
-noteams

Players seating opposite each other are partners on a team for scoring. The default is -noteams.

-hook
-nohook

Turning the hook on prevents the dealer from making an even bid, equal to the number of tricks. The default is -nohook.

spades move board userid password move

Make a move on the specified board (if it is your turn). There are two different types of move that can be made depending on the current phase of the game.

bidding

During a bidding phase, players must bid the number of tricks they think they will take this hand. Bids are an integer from 0 to X, where X is the number of tricks in the hand.

Examples:

spades move 123 foo bar 0
spades move 123 foo bar 7

card playing

During the card playing phase, players must play a card from their hand. Specify cards using their rank and suit abbreviation.

Examples:

spades move 123 foo bar AD
spades move 123 foo bar 10C
spades move 123 foo bar KH
spades move 123 foo bar 2S

Most rules for trick card games apply. Player must follow suit if possible. Spades are always trump. Spades may not be led until they are broken.

After each round, it is scored. Players (or teams) who take at least as many tricks as they bid score 10 points times their bid plus 1 point (called a bag) for each trick taken in excess of their bid. If they failed to make their bid the earn -10 points times their bid. If 10 bags are accumulated, a penalty of -100 points is given.

If a player bid zero tricks, they earn 100 points if they succeeded in not taking any tricks, and -100 points if they did take a trick.