Spade Lover Spade

Play a game of a customised type of spades on your palm.

SpadeLover Spades by Britt Yenne

Table of Contents:

I. Introduction -- What Is All This?

II. Spades Variations Support

III. Game Interface / Options

IV. Other Spades Resources and Links

V. Who do I thank/blame/contact for all this?

VI. License / Source Code

I. ----- Introduction -- What Is All This? -----

At one level, Spades is a card game usually played with four players.

At a higher level, Spades is the most addicting game I've encountered

in the past year, especially considering the growing number of Internet

sites where Spades can be played on-line (see section IV below for

links). Its utter simplicity belies a high degree of tricky finesse.

Spades also happens to be one of the more customizable card games --

new variations seem to get born all the time, especially when some

creative soul has it in his or her mind to start a new and unique sort

of tournament on-line. Since this is part of the fun, my Spades game

has significant customization capability, but hopefully subtle enough

not to thwart a first-time Spader.

Before I describe game play, I should comment that most of the rules

governing play are configurable. Hence, I will describe basic game

play and then move on to some special variation rules. If you already

know how to play Spades, feel free to skip down to section II.

Game play is pretty simple. The dealer deals a standard deck of cards

to the four players, which gives each player 13 cards. Starting from

the dealer's left and proceeding clockwise, each player bids how many

"tricks" he thinks he can take during play. A trick is comprised of

one card from each player (we'll come to this in a minute), so there

are a total of 13 tricks the players may bid for. The sum of the bids

does *not* need to equal 13.

When all four players have bid, the player to the dealer's left then

leads one of his cards by placing it face up on the table. By the

normal rules he may lead any card but a spade, unless his hand is all

spades by some miracle. Proceeding clockwise, each of the other

players must play a card of the same suit. If a player does not have a

card of the led suit, then he may play any card. When all four players

have played, this "trick" is won by the highest card in suit unless any

spades were played, at which point the trick is won by the highest

spade. The winning player must then lead the next trick. This

continues until all 13 tricks are played.

When all tricks have played out, the hand is scored. If a player takes

at least as many tricks as he bid, then he gets 10 points times his bid

plus one additional point for each trick he made over his bid. These

extra tricks are called "bags." If a player fails to take as many

tricks as he bid, then he loses 10 points times his bid.

A bid of zero, also known as "nil," is special. A player bidding zero

is announcing that he will take *no* tricks. If he successfully takes

zero tricks, then he gets 100 points. If he takes one or more tricks

then he loses 100 points.

A player may also bid a "blind nil," meaning that he bids nil before

looking at his cards. A blind nil is worth 200 points if successful

and -100 points if unsuccessful. A blind nil is typically a

desperation move by a losing player, but some people make it their

lifelong ambition.

One additional scoring item concerns bags (tricks taken over your bid).

For every 10 bags accumulated, a player loses 100 points.

II. ----- Spades Variations Support -----

My Spades game plays four basic variations of spades, each with several

configurable rules. The game also allows two additional "custom" Spades

variations, definable via a comprehensive list of configuration

parameters. I will explain the four basic variations in this section,

and will go on to explain the customizable rules in the next section.

Variation 1: Partner Spades

In Partner Spades, the players sitting opposite the table are

partners and work together to make their combined bids. This makes

two opposing teams of two players each. Players still bid

individually, but a team need only make the combined bid of the two

partners. For instance, if you bid 3 and your partner bids 4, then

you need to take seven tricks between the two of you (ie. one can

take 2 and the other 5). Score and bags are kept for the team rather

than for each individual.

If a player bids nil, then that player must still take zero tricks.

A partner should help the other make his nil bid. If a nil bidder

takes any tricks, then those tricks DO NOT COUNT toward completing

his partner's bid.

A total of 500 points wins the game. Any team that scores -300

points or less automatically loses the game.

The default (but configurable) rules for Partner Spades are:

1. Spades must be broken before they can be led.

2. Blind nil bids are allowed at any time.

The optional rules for Partner Spades are (see next section):

1. A player must beat the highest card played so far.

2. A player may declare a misdeal under certain conditions.

3. The first trick must be each player's lowest club.

4. 10-for-200: a team bid of 10 or more gets a bonus 100 points.

5. A player must be losing by 200 points to bid blind nil.

6. A blind nil bidder may exchange 1 or 2 cards with his partner.

Variation 2: Solo Spades

Solo Spades is every player for himself. Each player is responsible

for making his individual bid. A total of 300 points wins the game.

The default (but configurable) rules for Solo Spades are:

1. A player must beat the highest card played so far.

2. Spades must be broken before they can be led.

3. The first trick must be each player's lowest club.

4. Blind nil bids are allowed at any time.

The optional rules for Solo Spades are (see next section):

1. A player may declare a misdeal under certain conditions.

2. 7-for-140: a bid of 7 or more gets a bonus 70 points.

3. A player must be losing by 200 points to bid blind nil.

Variation 3: Suicide Spades

Suicide Spades is the same as Partner Spades, except that one player

from each team must bid nil and the other partner must bid four or

more.

When Suicide Spades is played in real life, the partners normally are

allowed to discuss out loud which of them should bid zero and which

should bid four or more. This, of course, must be done without

revealing any specifics of cards held in their hands. To simulate

this environment, my Spades game allows a player to "override" his

partner's bid when the rules call for one of them to bid nil. If

player X bids four and his partner bids four, then player X's bid is

changed to nil. Conversely, if player X bids nil and his partner

bids nil then player X's bid is changed to the minimum (in this case,

four).

Blind nil bids are meaningless in Suicide Spades and are therefore

not allowed.

A total of 300 points wins the game. Any team that scores -300

points or less automatically loses the game.

The default (but configurable) rules for Suicide Spades are:

1. Spades must be broken before they can be led.

The optional rules for Suicide Spades are (see next section):

1. A player may declare a misdeal under certain conditions.

Variation 4: Mirrors Spades

I don't know where Mirrors Spades originated, but I've heard that

it came from some player on WON (see the links section below). If

anybody knows, please let me know! :-)

Mirrors Spades has one simple rule: each player's bid must be

equal to the number of spades he is dealt. The hand is played

normally.

Blind nil bids are meaningless in Mirrors Spades and are therefore

not allowed.

A total of 500 points wins the game. Any team that scores -300

points or less automatically loses the game.

The default (but configurable) rules for Mirror Spades are:

1. Partners.

2. Spades must be broken before they can be led.

The optional rules for Mirror Spades are (see next section):

1. A player must beat the highest card played so far.

2. A player may declare a misdeal under certain conditions.

3. The first trick must be each player's lowest club.

Custom Variations

My Spades Game allows for two custom spades games. All aspects of

the game, including the winning or losing scores, minimum and maximum

individual or team bids, etc., are configurable. In fact, all of the

variations supported by my Spades game were defined using this set of

customizable parameters.

The custom game screen can be a little overwhelming at first, but

don't panic -- you don't need to know how this works to play any of

the four supported variations.

Descriptions of each customizable parameter are given in the next

section. The game also has help buttons explaining each parameter.

III. ----- Game Interface / Options -----

Game Play

The standard game window is an overhead view of the table, with you

sitting in the lower (South) position. Clockwise from your left sit

the computer players named West, North, and East, labeled "W", "N",

and "E". For partner games, North is your partner, and East and West

are partners.

Each player has a bid and taken indicator which show how many tricks

that player has bid (or blank if he hasn't bid yet) and how many tricks

he has taken so far in play. The bid indicator is labeled "B:" and

the taken indicator is labeled "T:". A nil bid is displayed as a

zero ("0") and a blind nil is displayed as "b0".

When it is your turn to bid, a bidding screen will pop up in the

center of the table. The bidding screen is positioned so that you

can see the bids any computer players may have made so far. If you

are allowed to bid blind nil then you will be prompted whether you

wish to bid blind nil or view your cards instead. When your cards

are visible you are prompted to select your bid and hit the "OK"

button.

If the misdeal option is enabled (see below), then a "Misdeal" button

is available on the bidding screen for you to declare a misdeal. The

misdeal button is always visible if the option is enabled -- it does

not necessarily mean that your hand is a *valid* misdeal. Just as in

real life, you have to think to recognize a potential misdeal and

declare it.

During bidding, informational dialogs may also pop up if any of the

computer players declare a misdeal or override each others' bids (see

the description of Suicide Spades above).

Your cards are displayed across the bottom of the screen. When it is

your turn to play, a "Your Play" label will appear above your cards.

Tap on a card to play it. If you select an invalid play, the computer

will explain any rule you break.

When play is complete, a score screen will pop up and show the points

earned in the hand, and a total score and bags so far for each team

or player.

Menu Options

A menu is available by tapping on the palm pilot menu button at any

time during play or bidding. Menu options include:

New Game -- start a new game (you are prompted to confirm)

Score -- display the current score

Last Trick -- show the last trick played (comes up blank if none)

Preferences -- show the preferences screen

How To Play -- show an abbreviated set of game play rules

About -- show information about this version of Spades

Preferences Screen

The preferences screen allows you to select which of the six

variations of spades you wish to play (ie. Partner, Solo, Suicide,

Mirror, or either of the two Custom games). Each game button has an

information button which, when tapped, displays the specific rules

for that variation.

I have attempted to place these information buttons beside each game

configuration item should you forget what any of the rules mean. I

am not aware of any standard Palm Pilot information button icon that

can be displayed anywhere on the screen, so I "rolled my own," as it

were. It looks like an "i" in a circle.

The "Game Options" button allows you to view and/or modify the

game-specific options for the variation you currently have selected.

Each variation's options are different -- see the variation

descriptions in section II above. I will describe the various

game options below.

The "Level" selector allows you to choose whether the computer

players will play at a Normal or Expert level. I use the term

"Expert" rather loosely -- in as much as a computer can be expert at

anything requiring a great deal of finesse. Suffice to say that the

Expert level is aware of certain tricks that make it a tougher

opponent (and a better partner).

The final two selectors, "Sort Spades" and "Sort Aces" allow you to

control how the cards in your hand are sorted on the screen. You

may choose to sort the spades suit first or last in your hand, and

you may choose to sort the ace of each suit to the left (first) or

right (last). Hey, I know how you serious Spades addicts can get.

The "Restore Defaults" button at the bottom of the screen will

restore all original user and game preferences. It prompts you for

confirmation first.

Game Options Screens

My Spades game supports a large number of game options, however each

variation will only support the options that make sense for that

variation. I will describe each of the options individually, but all

of these options may not be available for each variation.

Again, each option is always followed by an information button which

will give a detailed description of that option. I've tried to keep

things well documented in the game so that you don't need to keep

this document handy.

Option: Must Beat Highest

This option requires a player to beat the highest card played so

far if he can. This includes playing a spade if he is out of the

suit led.

Option: Allow Misdeals

This option allows any player to declare a misdeal, at his option,

if his hand has:

1. One or zero spades, or

2. A 7-card suit, or

3. No face cards

Option: Spades Must Be Broken

When enabled, no player may lead a spade until somebody 'breaks'

spades by playing a spade when a different suit was led.

Option: First Trick Low Clubs

When enabled, the first trick is always each player's lowest club.

If a player has no clubs then he may play any card.

Option: 10-for-200

When selected, any team making a combined bid of 10 or more gets a

bonus 100 points.

Option: 7-for-140

When selected, any player making a bid of 7 or more gets a bonus 70

points.

Option: Allow Blind Nils

Blind nil bids are not allowed unless this option is selected.

Option: Must Be 200 Down to Bid Blind Nil (or "200Down")

When selected, a player must be losing by 200 points to bid blind

nil. This prevents blind nils from being abused. Note that this

option is meaningless unless you select the "allow blind nils"

option as well.

Option: Blind Nil Exchange (or "Bnil Exch")

This is the number of cards a blind nil bidder may exchange with

his partner after the bidding is complete but before play begins.

You may specify "0", "1", or "2", but keep in mind that blind nils

can be pretty easy to make when you can trade away a couple of

high cards. Normally you would also enable the rule where a team

must be 200 points down to bid blind nil.

Option: Partners

Selecting this option enables partners -- partners sit opposite

each other and work together to take their combined bids.

Option: Winning Score (or "Win")

This is the number of points required to win the game.

Option: Losing Score (or "Lose")

This is the number of points required to lose the game. If this

score is greater than the winning score, then a team must attempt

to score between the winning and losing scores.

Option: Bonus Bid (or "2xBid")

This is the bid (or combined bid for partners) that, if made,

counts for double the points. Disabled if zero.

Option: Minimum Individual Bid (or "Min.Ind")

This is the minimum bid any individual player must make.

Option: Maximum Individual Bid (or "Max.Ind")

This is the maximum bid any individual player may make.

Option: Minimum Team Bid (or "Min.Tm")

This is the minimum combined bid any team must make.

Option: Maximum Team Bid (or "Max.Tm")

This is the maximum combined bid any team may make.

Option: One Partner Must Bid Nil (or "One Nil")

This option requires one partner of each team to bid nil.

Option: Must Bid Your Spade Count (or "Bid Spades")

This option requires each player's to bid to be equal to the number

of spades he was dealt.

IV. ----- Other Spades Resources and Links -----

World Opponent Network (WON) http://www.won.net/

WON provides an on-line gaming community for many software titles like

our friend Hoyle Classic Card Games, which includes Spades. You can do

a game search for Hoyle Classic Card Games and then download a demo

version which allows you to play Spades on the Internet. I hang out on

WON all the time -- come join us.

Sierra's Home Page http://www.sierra.com/

Sierra is the company which brought us Hoyle Classic Card Games.

Everything they sell is great -- buy their software and support this great

games company.

SpadeLovers Anonymous http://www.spadelovers.com/

An association of Spades lovers like you and me. This site is a great way

to link up with on-line Spades gamers, tournaments, and information.

Crossbow's Page http://www.crossbow.net/

This page is the home of Crossbow and Panda's "Party Time" Spades

tournament. The tourney is held every Friday night on WON, and is highly

recommended.

MPlayer http://www.mplayer.com/

MPlayer is another online gaming community. This one is really on the

edge, with cool graphics and real voice chat features. I believe that you

can still play on-line Spades for free on MPlayer, but prepare for one

serious software download. It's worth it.

V. ----- Who do I thank/blame/contact for all this? -----

My name is Britt Yenne, and I work for a consulting firm named The

Kernel Group (TKG) in Austin, Texas. TKG tends to focus more on AIX

and system management solutions than the Palm Pilot (darn it), so

consequently this project has been on my own time. Fortunately, I

love Spades.

As of this writing, my e-mail address is "[email protected]". Please feel

free to send me questions, comments, complaints, etc. I'm setting up

a web page for my favorite Palm Pilot links and resources, as well as

any current contact information:

http://www.jump.net/~syenne/pilot

If you prefer, you may send a letter to:

Britt Yenne

3008 Pioneer Way

Round Rock, TX 78664

Writing a computer Spades player has been enjoyable and often quite

frustrating. I've discovered that Spades has more to do with tricks

and experience than with thresholds and alpha-beta searches. There's

no good way that I've found to score a hand or a card -- it would be

easy if the goal were to take as many tricks as possible, but instead

you want to take *enough* tricks but not too many. By the way, set

the nil bidder. By the way, don't set your own nil bidder. By the

way, pull your hair out and run naked down the street screaming.

I hope you enjoy playing this game. If the computer players tend to

play in a way that annoys you, let me know the details and maybe I can

work something out. I will say that they play better than many of the

people I meet on-line, which isn't saying much but is still

encouraging.

If you also have a real job and need system management solutions (Tivoli,

AIX, SP2, custom solutions) please check out my company's web site,

because that's what we do:

http://www.tkg.com

As always, have fun and maybe I'll run into you on WON someday (see

above for links). My WON name is Alerial.

VI. ----- License / Source Code -----

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or

modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License

as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2

of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,

but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of

MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the

GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License

along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software

Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.

A web link to the full text of the license, source code, and other

documentation about this software may be found at:

http://www.jump.net/~syenne/pilot