Spades is a plain-trick game in which spades are always trumps. After the main description, there is a collection of numerous variations, which are still common in face to face social games. The introduction of of on-line play and tournaments has also led to some standardisation of the rules, and this page has been revised so that the main description conforms to the standard. However, since the mid 1990's Spades has become popular internationally because of its easy availability in on-line card rooms on the Internet. Until recently it has been little known elsewhere, except in a few places where American troops were stationed, for example in parts of Germany.
Spades was invented in the USA in the 1930's and is played quite widely in that country.