PogoTips.com - Spades

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Spades


Game awards	Fists of Spades Rank 10 - 500 spades Moon Doggie Rank 20 - 1,000 spades Trump Treat Rank 30 - 2,750 spades Pizza Pooch Rank 40 - 9,000 spades Spots and Spades Rank 50 - 20,000 spades

Challenge badges	Spades Sunrise (10/8/03) Win three 500 point games Made for Spades (6/9/04) Win three 250 point rated games Breakin' Spades (9/29/04) Win five 500 point games Supersonic Spades (2/16/05) Win eight 250 point games Tricks 'n Trumps (5/4/05) Win two 1,000 point games House of Cards (1/4/06) Win two 250 point rated games Breakin' Spades II (4/19/06) Work with your partner to win 400 tricks Spades TV (7/26/06) Work with your partner to win 1,500 points Spades Spaniel (5/9/07) Win 14 hands Spades Superstar (5/14/08) Win three 1,000 point games

Premium badges	Dogs Playing Spades (animated) Now That's a Challenge! book Win 12 games Pizza Mutt (animated) Card Masters book Win 3,000 tokens (not including spins)
Mix & Match	Fleas Playing Spades EXPIRED Mix & Match (thru 11/14/07) Work with your partner to win 2,000 points Kaleidoscope EXPIRED (animated) Mix & Match (thru 2/12/08) Work with your partner to win 200 tricks Strong Arm Mix & Match (thru 5/12/09) Win one 500-point rated game Parachutin' Pooch Mix & Match (thru 8/11/09) Win 1,000 points in 4 hours or less

Badge tips

Be aware of the four hour time limit for Parachutin' Pooch!

Be sure to set table options for the proper number of game points needed for badges requiring games of specific points!

Be sure to set table options to Rated game for badges requiring rated! Rated games require four human players - they can't be played with Pogobots.

Game win badges can be done relatively painlessly with friends or cooperative players. If you trade off wins for Rated game badges, your ratings will come out pretty close to where they started.

For cooperative teams taking turns winning tricks or games, one person on the designated losing team should bid Nil and then be sure to take one trick.

"Work with your partner" in badge descriptions just means tricks, points or tokens earned jointly by you & your partner.

For win games, tokens, points or tokens badges, refer to Game tips.

Game tips

ALWAYS read a game's How to Play, and also check for a Hints or Tips tab and/or Tutorial. They do help!

Overbooks (winning more tricks than a team's combined bids) add a few extra points each, but if a team reaches ten overbooks they'll get a major deduction.

It's relatively easy to win Nil bids especially when playing with Pogobots. Depending on table options, a Nil bidder's partner usually has to bid & win 4 tricks. Trade off your highest spade and/or Aces when bidding Nil, then play the rest of your spades and high cards when you can do so safely without winning the trick.

Never bid Nil if you have the Ace of Spades as it will win whatever trick it's played in.

Depending on table options, overbooks usually don't count against a team when one player bids Nil. However, some players deselect this option so be careful and check options carefully.

If your team is down by over 100 points, you're given the option to bid Nil/Blind, which is almost always possible since you're allowed to pass off two cards to your partner.

If neither person on a team bids nil, it's generally safest to just bid as many tricks as you are fairly confident you can win based on your hand. Each person should then be sure to win as many tricks as they've bid, but be aware if your partner doesn't seem to be doing well: you may need to take up the slack.

More to come!

More about Spades

Spades has a LOT of option settings. If you join a game with people you don't know, be sure to check the table options carefully so you know what the rules are.

Spades has a lot of serious players. Many enjoy playing with new people and helping them learn the game, but some dont. If you're new to the game, let tablemates (and especially your partner) know and make sure they don't mind.

Some Spades partners will use instant messages to let each other know what cards they have or need. This is considered cheating by Pogo rules, but it's not reportable as it can't be proven. At best it's unethical, but there's no need to raise a stink and name the players in the lobby. If you feel your opponents are secretly communicating, simply finish the game, leave the table and find another.

Game play is similar to Euchre, Hearts, Pinochle and Bridge. Each game has unique differences as far as high/low cards, bidding and scoring, but all are 4-player games consisting of 4-card rounds ("tricks") with a designated high "trump" suit for each round. If you can play any of these games you can easily learn the others, with the possible exception of Bridge due to its complex bidding system.

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