Spades+ Reviews

by Don't Want To Out In A Name

I’ve tried the single and multiplayer games multiple times. On single player, the AI is terrible. It constantly leads with this app that more often than not results in the opponent “running this app” and eliminating my ability to cut. Why is it programmed to lead with this app EVERY TIME if all the AI has are low level this app or only a couple? Also, when the opponent goes nil... the AI partner never tries to set them. There have been a few times that I’ve set it up to where the opponent has to play a high card in a suit just to have the AI cut the book.

I’ve played this app a long time. There are few people that I know that make nil such a big part of the rules. Where are the blind 6, 10 for 200, 4 book minimum bid, and jokers as wild cards options? Those are bigger displays of skills than the nil... which is just trying to go lower than the cards played.

On multiplayer, not sure what you can do but it’s annoying to play with folks that stall/take too long to play. Either be in a position to devote your attention to playing or don’t play.

by Vintagehussie

I’ve been playing on Spades since 2017. I play the rated version with real people and up until the last year or so, everything has been fine. But over the past year, they way the multiplayer is set up has become increasingly frustrating.

You get punished for the dumbest things. Like I get being “punished” for quitting a game that you’re losing but at the same time there are people that will purposely make bad plays, but I get punished for not sticking around when they are clearly sabotaging the game. And the more you “quit” the more the algorithm will purposely match you with lower rated players as “punishment.” but what about punishing the other end? People will literally bid 0 and purposely win books to make you lose 100 points and nothing happens to them.

My rating was in the 2000s and I quit 1 game because a lower rated player that was my partner just went off the rails making purposely dumb plays and now my rating has dropped to the 1600s and can’t get back up because I keep getting matched with partners that have THE lowest ratings. It literally makes no sense. And I can’t even delete my profile and start over. Like literally WHO CARES IF SOMEONE QUITS THE GAME?! I find myself HOPING that my partners will quit, because the AI partner is better than a real person.

by Dr Frightner13

Here is the problem with Spades when u play for ranking u get paired with a terrible player they bid 9 and get 4 then leave the game. I stick out the game and I lose points. I also hate that it’s easy to get a nil hand some games are over in two rounds because a player can get two nils. Spades should not give so many points for a nil in a game to 250. It’s fine if it’s a friendly game to 500 but I game to 250 nil should be worth half the points if the ai gifts one team a win the other team shouldn’t lose points because no play they could have made will help them. The ap should also allow you the ability to tell they system if you never want to be paired with that partner again at games end. Last the ai is messed up you could be winning big and the ai will step in and help the losing side does this all the time. If I play with the computer because my partner left I should not lose points most of the time the computer is dumber than some of the players on here. The ai is seriously flawed

by Goldenpony

This game would be 5 stars if they would fix the poor sport quitters that leave every game!! 9 out of 10 games today had a player leave cos they got set! Usually in the first hand and the AI bots have crappy abilities to play as a team player. A lot of times the other player quits too because the game plays much worse once you have to depend on the boy to think as a team player! They need to double the penalty points on the quitters that leave a game early and that team loses, and double the points on the winner that wins with a bot partner….ALL quitters should be penalized and lose major points even if their team wins and the losing person that finishes shouldn’t lose anything and if the quitters team wins they should still lose not just get a zero!! Suspend these quitters ability to play again for an hour after they quit, first offense, 2 hours second, and 24 for 3rd! Block for a week if they repeat offend multiple times after warnings! They have RUINED this game!! It’s not fair to people that play out the game….win or lose!

by AmityOrca

I have played countless games, as I enjoy this app, so if you are entertained this could work for you. But the intelligence of the other players is poor, especially when I bid nil. I have countless times where my partner plays a high spade to win a trick that was not needed and is then left with a low spade (or no spade) to cover me. In addition, I am fully convinced that the program just wants the game to continue on to show more ads. The computer will often bid nil when it has over 400 points, and it is way to easy to bust that nil than earlier bid nils. My partner will often bid just enough to get us to 490 so the bags add up and potentially lose the game (but get another 2-3 hands of ads to watch). I don’t even worry if I get down by 400 points, as I believe the program wants to prolong the ads. I have come back several times from that far down (especially after my unintelligent partner can’t properly cover a blind nil), it’s all fun but I can’t play this any longer knowing that it’s just manipulating for increased ads.

by ButterlySheFlies

I downloaded Spades less than 24 hours ago and will be uninstalling. My partner and I were winning and there was a racist jerk on the team who became upset he was losing. He than began to tabletalk actually telling his partner what to play and harassing me. I clicked on his profile trying to report the issue and/or block the player and there was not an option to do either. I emailed the developer detailing the experience and suggesting the option be added to Spades to report, block players etc. I received a response from the developer whose name is Jason. His response consisted of thanking me for emailing about the AI of the game and that he was sorry I had a bad experience with the "AI". My email had nothing at all to do with the AI of Spades . It seems like he just clicked a random auto response and used it to reply to me without even taking the time to read the actual email I sent. I know that developers cannot control actions of other players but they do have control of the level of appreciation(or lack thereof) that they show their supporters. This has been a terrible experience and I refuse to support an app(rather free or not) whose developers show no appreciation or concern for their users.

by Jazhannah

Spades has gone bad. First, they’ve severely cut what one wins in solo - a quarter of the winnings go to no one. It’s almost impossible to play to win decent winnings in solo mode now. But the huge issue, that I think they should be sued for: I noticed that it would freeze years ago, but one could close it and open it back up to your game and keep going. That alone would often cause me to lose the game, but at least I got to play it. Now, it happens 3 out of every 5 games I try to play. And I can’t get the game back. Often, just towards the end. I play high point games - so the games are longer. For years, if you let Spades know: they send you the same reply - it’s something to do with your internet, or your computer: I can say unequivocally now - they are lying. And it means I’ve lost a lost of money in the course of several years, believing them and continuing to be their customer. So they are royally screwing their longtime customers. Someone should do a class action lawsuit against them - I’m sure so many people would get on board that Spades would be taken down and they won’t be able to scam more customers.

by TylerWest

I don't play multiplayer. I just play the computer. And I'm a bit thrown at how well the opponent AI plays yet my partner is a complete moron. If I set my partner to conservative it regularly underbids and we accumulate bags quickly. If I set my partner to normal it regularly overbids and can't catch its bid. In either case when our bid is met it won't throw off to force the other team to catch bags. The worst is it's behavior when I bid nil. I just played a game where I bid blind nil in a desperate attempt to win the game and I watched the cards very carefully. We were just a few tricks into the hand when my partner led with a 7 of diamonds and set me as I had an 8 as my lowest. I had already played a lower diamond in response to my opponent and my partner covered it. If my partner had no other diamonds it should have played a higher card in another suit (which it had). But just a few tricks later it played both a 10 and Jack of diamonds. If I played like that in real games I would never find a partner that would want to play with me. It's still the best one out there so far but it doesn't set a very high bar.

by CoolRobG87

From what I’ve seen this is the best this app app as far as visually and game play but there are just some really bad ones out there.
What kills me about Spades is there is no real accountability for players conduct. Most people are good but there are some that are just terrible and if you quit you get punished like children. You should be able to have a “friends list” and be able to play with or against those friends. You should be able to choose who you want to play with or against by looking at stats such as how many quits they have and their ranking. Also the ranked game has only one type of game, first to 250 and no double nils, you can’t freely chat, only has stupid phrases to choose from that don’t make sense.
MSN Zone website did it best. Unfortunately that is no longer around, but please find out what they did and try to duplicate. Spades would be so much better.
I’ll be back in 24 hours after my punishment is over because I quit after my opponent kept bidding 13 and wasting my time, once again.

by Easkamm

the game itself is great and addicting but it gets very aggravating because the partners in solo mode are absolute idiots. I bid nil and invariable my partner leads a two or four. the opponents bid nil, and my partner plays his highest cards. he plays a higher card or overtrumps my tricks when he plays last and then we don't make our bid because he has used up his good cards to take tricks I would have won. he always plays his highest trump the first chance he gets, even when he is the last player and a low trump would win the trick. doesn't matter if you configure your partner conservative, regular, or aggressive--they don't know how to play the game!
UPDATE: This game gets NO stars! Rather than improving the AI partners, they get worse and worse. They have no idea how to bid--often bid 1 with 2-3 aces--and seem to think the goal of the game is to get as many bags as possible. They wait until the other team makes it's bid, then grab as many extra tricks as possible. Can't make it through a whole game without losing at least 100 points for 10 bags. I'm so aggravated by the poor play, Spades will be uninstalled as soon as this review appears.

by AdMan_eleventy7

If you know anything about this app, at all… think about what would have you screaming across the table at your partner. In this game your partner will do ALL of that stuff! All of it… they didn’t miss a thing. Unpredictable bidding… check. Saving your opponents nil hands? Check! Overbooking like crazy to set you back, sometimes three times in a game… YUP! Not protecting you on a nil hand… oh yeah! Throwing this app to pull all yours so you can’t make bid… of course!

Sometimes he underbids by seven books!! Then on the next hand he can’t make his three. My partner in this game has wasted all his this app catching hands, got my nil set, AND got us set back for overbooks all in one hand. All of that stuff… I could write off to terrible programming except your opponents make mistakes like that once in a blue moon.

Lastly, it is readily apparent that your opponents know what you have in your hand. As an illustration, I bid a nil and have one ace in my hand that’s protected by at least two low cards. The guy to my left leads that suit and takes the book twice in a row and throws his last card of that suit to pull my ace… but the guy on my right is out and doesn’t drop a spade even though my partner is winning the book, and they’re in a pinch to make bid? Sure…

I keep looking for another spade game. The commercials are nonstop too… don’t waste your time.

by TTYLlol69

Great user interface, easy to use, fun. The one thing that would take Spades from good to great is if you got more points for winning than negative points for losing. There are some instances on rated games where I’ll end up winning a hand and go up 8-10 points and then lose the next hand and go down 8-10 points (or sometimes more than if I won). I understand it’s based on the rankings of the other players in the game but just as a general rule of thumb I think your consequence for losing should never be equal to or greater than the reward for winning. Creates a feeling that you aren’t going anywhere in your rank. My style of scoring system still creates groups of more skilled players towards the top end, but it should make it a little easier to get out of the 1700s/1800s.

PLEASE FIX THE POINT VALUES FOR WINNING AND LOSING. I went up 8 for winning and then went down 10 for losing the next game when my partner LEFT. You should ALWAYS go up more for winning than for losing, regardless of the rating of the other players. You should go up 7-10 points if you win (based on the rating of who you beat) and go back 3-6 points for losing (based on the rating of who you lost to). Very frustrating, have been stuck in the 1700’s for months because of bad partner play. One step forward, two steps back.

by Hill3000

I have gotten used to the way the computer parter plays regular hands. Not how I would, but I accept that a computer might not see the game as me.

But some of the way it plays when I have bid nil is inexcusable. When cutting a suit, it inexplicably cuts with its highest or 2nd highest spade, and no human would do something that dumb. That should be an easy fix. If I bid nil, cutting a different suit with the lowest spade is a no brainer. I cannot stress how many times I have lost because the computer partner has wasted a King of this app cutting hearts and now can’t cover my highest spade because it only has a low spade.

Another glitch is that when the computer partner bids nil, if it goes too long, it will randomly throw out a spade and cut a suit for no reason. It will have other non this app that it could have played instead but for some odd reason, it decides to play a spade and ends up taking a book. Maybe the algorithm says it’s likely I can cover, but that is not always the case and there’s NO REASON to gamble playing a spade when you bid a nil hand, unless you have no choice. To be fair, I have won many games because the computer opponent sometimes does this. But this glitch should be fixed.

by Joshwins8

I love the game play on Spades. I don’t pay to play free games on my phone, so I understand that seeing ads will be part of my experience. Unfortunately, they play ads in between hands (during rated games) that either can’t be exited or take so long to play that you get booted from the game. This is unbelievably frustrating. On average, I get booted once every 15 games or so. After working my way up over 2300 rating, it has become unacceptable to get booted from important games.
I will also say the amount of angry players that act like they’ve never busted or got a bag in their life is ridiculous. There should be a 100 point rating deduction for players that: 1. Bid nil and lead with an ace 2. Bid nil with the ace of this app or 3. Intentionally overbid by four or more books than you get. Salty players should be penalized.
If not for these two issues, it would be an easy five star rating. Not sure how much longer I will play this game without correcting them.

by Notinoressedagain

The AI partner is more of a liability than it’s worth. As soon as a player breaks this app, the AI empties all the this app in its hand, wiping out any advantage you might have had on a broken suit. For example: I have the 10, 5, 6, and 3 of this app, and only one heart. Once I play the heart, and break this app, instead of feeding out hearts to take advantage of it, my “partner” will start throwing all its high this app, wiping me out, and often losing itself by playing a king before the ace has been revealed. In a normal game, I might be able to pick up a couple of tricks before the other players break. One time, this exact scenario happened and I assumed the AI had also run out of the suit. Nope. Once all the this app were exhausted, out pops a 5 of hearts. The opposing AIs seem to understand this premise just fine. I’ve learned to cut my bid as a result. The AI is also streaky in its bidding, going through stretches where it will do things like bid 3 or 4 and get zero, with nothing in its hand to justify the bid. Other times it will rake in hand bags in bunches. Restarting Spades is the quickest way to get it back on track.

by Lovespite

Overall the game play is fine and it does what it is supposed to. There are no lags. I like to play solo (AI version). So this review is based on that. I have the free version and honestly couldn’t find a paid version, if that would make a difference. The biggest, most frustrating part of the game is your team player. It is like you are playing alone but have to also suffer poor decisions of partner. Here are some examples.

1. Going nil: I went nil. Yes it was a stretch, but it was just a game. My partner also went nil. So that means there is no way we could cover for each other.
2. Covering Partner: In real play, a partner would cover their teammate if it were a possible move. I went Nil. A suit was called that I had to play and it was only a mid range number. My partner, who was NOT going nil, threw a card less than mine so I won the trick cost our team 100 points. Turns out, they had the Ace of that suit.
I could go on with examples like this where having a partner was worse than being a single player. Even if I could sort of get the first scenario, the second made no sense. If it was smart enough to know it didn’t have to over play because the partner had it, it should be smart enough to know the bid was nil and it shouldn’t use that tactic. Every time I play I get frustrated for those reasons. I got over the fact you couldn’t count on the partner. But final straw was when it bid nil when I already had.

by OhNoBama

This is a okay game with some serious issues. Here’s a list of a few 1- players are not well ranked and are often poor partners who make big mistakes that costs you. 2- players are allowed to drop out of the game after they screwed it up without penalty or consequence. 3- when players drop out of game bot takes over and their play is often as bad as beginners which again costs you. Very frustrating!!! 4- periodically the game locks up and you are booted or entire game is lost. 5- players who bail out of a game prematurely should be penalized for that action, regardless of whether the team wins or loses the game. Especially if they don’t make their bid or take a point on a Nill bid. There partner shouldn’t be left holding their trash bag. 6- some players are so slow in playing their cards. I understand once in awhile people get distracted but not every turn. It makes the game unenjoyable for other players. 7- often you can bid your hand perfectly but your partner over bids or doesn’t make their bids which resulted in you losing the game even when you play was spot on. Credit should be given for well played hands regardless of your partners poor play.

by Hevwk6932

I downloaded Spades because I wanted to learn how to play this app, and I didn’t want to have to sit and watch people play it and explain everything to me. After a couple of weeks, I learned all the basics and started to pick up some strategies, handily destroying the easy and medium AI’s. Wanting more of a challenge, I switched the difficulty to hard AI. That’s when the cracks started to show. Hard AI doesn’t change up any of its strategies as the other two difficulties, instead it just cheats and knows all of the cards in everyone’s hands. It will bid blind zero when it knows it’s hand is unbeatable, always winning. Also, if you bid zero, it will make every player lead the one suit that will trip you up. Even YOUR partner will lead a card that every other AI can get under except you, like it’s 3 against 1 instead of 2v2. At first I thought it was just really bad luck, but after having so many zero bids scrapped due to a partner throwing under me, or maybe just being short suited and that suit never being played, it’s pretty obvious that “hard” mode is just the AI looking at your hand while you can’t see theirs.

It’s a great app for picking up this app, but play with real people when you want a challenge.

I played online a little with this game, but most of the time the other players would just stop playing halfway through a game, and then you’d be playing AI’s again.

by Treblecliffton

Edit: 7/1/20 Developers did respond to my review and thanks for taking the time to do that. One easy fix you could do that would greatly benefit everyone who plays in rated multiplayer is eliminating the 13 bid.

Original review below with grammatical corrections.

This is a decent app for this app, and I appreciate the clean aesthetic without a lot of extra clutter on the screen BUT players will bid 13 if you make a mistake, or abandon the game, and even though they penalize the player who leaves, you still lose points on your rating when you lose. I’ve seen players completely sabotage games out of spite if they get set or get a book when the bid nil. It looks like you can’t get above 1700 points without spending money on more coins or the game will give you hands that are guaranteed to lose unless someone on the other team makes a serious mistake. And if your partner leaves and you decide to play with the pc partner, the ai will sabotage you too - by overbidding/underbidding. I recently had “shark” as a partner in multiplayer when it bid nil and proceeded to cut with a spade to win a book in a game I could’ve won. They need to fix that ASAP. It’s not fair to be punished for staying in the game when your partner quits or losing points because they left or sabotaged your game.

by Notsoimpressedagain

The AI partner is more of a liability than it’s worth. As soon as a player breaks this app, the AI empties all the this app in its hand, wiping out any advantage you might have had on a broken suit. For example: I have the 10, 5, 6, and 3 of this app, and only one heart. Once I play the heart, and break this app, instead of feeding out hearts to take advantage of it, my “partner” will start throwing all its high this app, wiping me out, and often losing itself by playing a king before the ace has been revealed. In a normal game, I might be able to pick up a couple of tricks before the other players break. One time, this exact scenario happened and I assumed the AI had also run out of the suit. Nope. Once all the this app were exhausted, out pops a 5 of hearts. The opposing AIs seem to understand this premise just fine. I’ve learned to cut my bid as a result. The AI is also streaky in its bidding, going through stretches where it will do things like bid 3 or 4 and get zero, with nothing in its hand to justify the bid. Other times it will rake in hand bags in bunches. Restarting Spades is the quickest way to get it back on track.

by Sweet Little Lady N Texas

I really like your game but i almost deleted it after playing quite a bit for some time. The computer team was able to go Nello almost every hand. When my computer partner went Nello, he usually got a book.
After i reached a higher level this decreased but there are games that one of the computer team goes Nello most hands douing the game.
I have used this to increase my skills in going Nello. But, quite often i am prevented from going Nello due to having one or two aces and am left with going with betting one or to books.
Also my computer partner will recognize when i have the trump card but when it comes to the high cards, especially this app, he will trump me and we lose a book. This has caused us to not meet our bid several tomes.
You have made a much better games than others have and i than you. Dad

by Noni Muse

I really enjoy this game but the ads have to be x’d out of during each hand and if you don’t do it quickly enough you get booted from the game. Also the ads keep freezing and sometimes the x never shows up and you get booted. Wish there was a rated game that you can play blind nil. Also in unrated there used to be an option to boot players in your room which worked well. You aren’t forced to play with someone with an offensive name or someone who is rude or spam and keeps following you into games. Lastly there should be an option where you can pre select your card so that it automatically plays on your turn and each player’s last card automatically plays. It would make the game move faster and also a lot of players don’t play the last round and you’re stuck waiting until they get booted. Otherwise it’s my favorite version of this app out there the games are just enough points. The customizable features make the game fun too

by Enterprise 425

Updated review… fun game.. very competitive.. I have won and lost games.. won many in a row and lost several in a row. It can get frustrating because players who are randomly selected to be a playing partner quit for various reasons: phone battery runs out, watches advertisements too long; made a bade decision while playing (bid too high or went zero and could not achieve it). This game needs to make communication better between players and prevent players from quitting a game. Fun game. Just relax and play, learn to win and accept a loss.

Updated review: Please up date the ability to communicate to other players in the “play rated game”. Some communication Examples might be: were gonna win; don’t quit. My mistake. Oops. awesome play. Why did he/she leave?. The phone’s battery must have died. Accidentally unplugged. I have a bad hand. My hand is impressive. Good comeback. Hang in there we will comeback to win. Don’t quit. Just to name a few. I am sure others have suggested expanded communication. ————— This game is fun and competitively difficult. Fun and very competitive. Your partner, whom ever that may be, can get upset and leave in midst of game. Sometimes exiting a game early is not always the fault of a player ... sometimes it’s the phone battery’s fault.

by MikeMusho

Update: played this game for a long time, went as high as 2143 rating, played and beat players above 2600… then all of a sudden im 1590 and cant get back up no matter what… you do the math.

Computer AI logic of disseminating cards is elementary to say the least. It's at a point where you can predict the cards if you play it long enough and its always the same old boring thing. At least mix it up a little I would say.... Computer also bans players if they leave games...that being said, you can get a 24 hour ban or worst if you choose to leave games where your partners are clearly losing on purpose. Not sure whos great idea the ban thing was but its really frustrating to be forced to play with losers or face being banned... Not sure which is worst...hence I chose to delete. My suggestion? - don't even go through the trouble of downloading the game, there are plenty other spade games out there. This one is a waste of time.

by Find Another Spade Game

This game is 100% rigged. It’s overloaded with ads you will be kicked out the game because of ads people quit constantly and you never get a good game. I have yet to play one for game. The AI is always set up against you as a partner to help the other team win this game is 100% scam. Stay away . If you look at the response from the developer, they never respond to reviews like mine, but yet they will respond via bought, saying the same thing over for good ratings , the 4.8 has been 4.8 rating for mini mini years that tells you right there that the game is a false rating there’s no way this game is a 4.8. It’s all fake it’s all rig it’s all scam to make money off ads. Do not waste your time. I’m deleting Spades . This is the worse this app game I’ve even seen. So liberal it’s disgusting

by Mossbreg123

Stay away from this cheating game. Developer will comment on this post saying blah blah blah the same thing they say on everybody’s post but here’s the real thing it’s rigged. You will never get a decent game people quit AI is set up to fail. It is set up to make you lose stay away from this game. I will never download this cheating crap ever again. Straight rigged. Fake 4.8 ratings. It never moves off 4.8 over 5 years. It’s all fake and rigged !! Out of 10 games I got one good game. 1 !!! Who wants to play when the cards are rigged and ppl stall and go nil with the ace of this app. If you want the real truth about this game read the lowest stars given. Not 5 stars by robots to boost their rating. No way a 1700 plus should be playing with a 1100 , come on man you know it’s rigged. Waste of time !!!

by Paj2

Used to love Spades - played it so much I finally had to delete from my phone. Definitely WAS a five star. Then recently I weakened and downloaded again. To my great disappointment discovered developers had inserted a new in-hand ad format to supplement their existing format that displayed only after a hand was finished. With this new format a blinking shrieking obnoxious ad displayed on top of screen all through the hand you are trying to bid or play is constantly distracting you. Sometimes it’s so bad I literally start to get a headache. If the developers were secretly trying to cure my addiction it worked! I’ve moved on to other games. If I could rate this a negative five stars I would from sheer heartbreak.