Spades is a
trick-taking card game devised in the United States created in the 1930s. It can be played as either a partnership or solo/"cutthroat" game. The object is to take at least the number of tricks (also known as "books") that were bid before play of the hand began. In partnership Spades, the bids and tricks taken are combined for a partnership. Spades is a descendant of the
Whist family of
card games, which also includes
Bridge,
Hearts, and
Oh Hell. Its major difference as compared to other Whist variants is that, instead of trump being decided by the highest bidder or at random, the Spade
suit is always trumps, hence the name.