OTHER VARIATIONS
Here are some further variants, mostly contributed by Theodore Haws. Ben Miller provided the information on No Trump and Double Nil.
VARIATIONS IN THE CARDS AND THEIR RANKING
In some versions of Spades, some or all of the four twos are elevated to the top of the spade suit, are ranked in some specified order, and are considered to be spades. The rest of the cards rank as in normal.
Spades can also be played the casino with a 54 card pack-the standard pack of 52 plus 2 distinguishable jokers. In this case the two jokers are ele-vated to be the top two cards of the spade suit, with a particular order of the jokers specified. If jokers are used, then there will be two cards left over at the end of the deal, and these are given to the dealer. Having looked at all 15 cards, the dealer discards any two cards face down. Some play such that the two extra cards are given to the holder of the two of clubs rather than the dealer. Some play that the discard takes place after the bidding.
VARIATIONS IN THE BIDDING
Some play that each team must bid a minimum of 4 tricks. If a player bids nil, the player's partner must bid at least 4.
Some play such that after each partnership has agreed its initial bid, each side, beginning with the side that made the first bid, is then given the opportunity to increase its bid.
Some play that the bids of the two sides must not add up to exactly 13 tricks. This makes it impossible for both teams to win their bid exactly.
ROUND- THE-TABLE BIDDING
This is an alternative to partnership bidding.
Beginning with some specified player (either the dealer or the player to dealer's left), and proceeding clockwise, each player states a number (talk about "halves" or "maybes" is permitted) of tricks. When the second player of each partnership bids, the final bid for that partnership is decided. A player who wanted to bid nil would do so at his or her turn to bid.
In round-the-table bidding, some people play that no one can bid I-so for example if the first player of a partnership says "x" tricks, the final contract must be either x, or else at least x+2. There is also a vari¬ation where a bid of "zero" must be construed as a bid of nil.
In round-the-table bidding, some people allow a second round of bidding, in which each side may increase its bid. In this second round, the bidding proceeds exactly as in partnership bidding, beginning with the same side as the player who began the round-the-clock bidding sequence.
A variation found in any form of round-the-clock bidding is that no table talk is permitted. A player may only state a number.
SPECIAL ACTIONS/BIDS
There is great variety in the special bids or actions a player may be allowed to make during his turn to bid. Some of the possibilities are listed below.
MISDEAL
This may be called by any player whose hand satisfies certain conditions. Regarding of this article "The criteria for a misdeal differ-some possibilities are: 0 or 1 spade, 7 -card or longer suit, no face cards. If a misdeal is called by any player, the cards are thrown in and a new hand is dealt by the same dealer."
Generally a misdeal may only be called before a partner has disclosed any information about his hand, but some people play that the partner may be consulted in the following limited manner: A player may ask: "Should I call a misdeal?" His partner may reply yes or no but may not disclose any other information about his hand. The reply is not binding.
NIL/BLIND NIL
These have already been described; nil is sometimes known as naught. They are sometimes valued at 100 and 200 points rather than 50 and 100. Sometimes the penalty for losing blind nil is only half the score for winning it (i.e. + 100/-50 or +200/-100). If winning a blind nil is worth 200, then you are only allowed to bid it when your side is at least 200 points behind. Some play that when nil is played the bidder must exchange one card with partner; others do not allow passing of cards even in a blind nil. Another possible variation is that if you bid blind nil you pass one card to your partner and can specify one suit that you would like passed back; partner takes this into consideration when returning a card but is not forced to pass the suit you asked for. Some play that there is no penalty for sandbags when playing blind nil.
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