How bags work
In partnership Spades, add the two numeric bids to find the team contract. If you bid 3 and your partner bids 4, the team needs 7 tricks. Taking 9 makes the contract and adds 2 overtricks, called bags: 70 contract points + 2 = 72 points.
This guide uses the common 52-card scoring system: +1 point per bag and −100 for every 10 bags. Your table may use different thresholds or nil rules. The Spades scoring guide covers contracts and nil separately.
What happens at 10 bags?
Bags accumulate across hands. When you reach 10, deduct 100 points and subtract 10 from the bag count. Keep any excess: 9 old bags plus 3 new bags leaves 2 bags after the penalty. The counter does not automatically return to zero.
| Previous bags | Bid / tricks | Hand points | Bags left |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 7 / 7 | +70 | 0 |
| 0 | 7 / 9 | +72 | 2 |
| 9 | 7 / 8 | 71 − 100 = −29 | 0 |
| 9 | 7 / 10 | 73 − 100 = −27 | 2 |
| 9 | 7 / 6 | −70 | 9 |
Missing a numeric contract adds no overtricks. It still loses the full contract value, so avoiding a bag by deliberately missing the contract can be more expensive. Compare the complete scores.
Spades score calculator
Calculate one team’s hand: 10 points per bid trick, 1 per bag and −100 for each 10 bags. Numeric contracts only; nil and blind nil bonuses or penalties are separate.
Contract made: +70. Overtricks: +2. Bag penalty: 0.
How to avoid unnecessary bags
First make your contract. After that, consider discarding a dangerous high card when you are void in the led suit, or playing below a winner already on the table. You must still follow suit whenever you can.
A low card does not guarantee losing: it can win if the others play lower or cannot follow. Nor should you always refuse an extra trick. Taking one may set the opponents or secure the match even after a bag penalty. Use the running score, remaining cards and both contracts to decide.
Estimate your bid honestly. Deliberately underbidding creates bags, but bidding an unsupported extra trick just because you have nine bags risks a set. The bidding guide explains how to count likely winners without double-counting them.
A legal discard example
Four tricks remain. Your hand is ♠ A 6, ♥ 3, ♣ K. Your team has made its contract, and your partner leads ♦ A. You have no diamonds.
You can discard ♣ K under your partner’s diamond ace to remove a possible future winner. Another player could still trump, so the partner’s trick is not guaranteed until everyone has played.
Playing ♠ A is different: it is the highest trump in a standard deck and wins this trick. You cannot throw it away underneath a side-suit ace. The ♥ 3 and ♠ 6 are not guaranteed losers either; their outcome depends on the remaining cards.
Quick answers
Do bags carry into the next hand?
Yes. Carry them forward until a penalty removes 10; any remainder stays.
Does the tenth bag cost 100 points or 99?
The penalty itself is −100. That overtrick also earns +1 under this scoring rule, so its net contribution is −99 compared with taking no additional trick, before other effects on the hand.
Do failed nil tricks count as bags?
That depends on the table. Some rules count them as bags separately; others allow them toward the partner’s contract. Check the nil rule before using a numeric-contract calculation.
Rules reference: Bicycle’s Spades rules. For a compact table reference, open the Spades cheat sheet.