Difference Between Rummy and Spades Card Games?

Are you visiting your grandparents this weekend? Or are they coming over to your place instead? No matter who visits who, we are sure you would want to flaunt your custom-made card deck and play several rounds of card games. 

There are many card games that can keep you engaged for hours at a time. However, real cash rummy and spades have gained a huge popularity among players from across the world. Both the games are fun-filled and provide quality entertainment to the players. When played for stakes, they keep you on the edge of your seat, bringing an adrenaline rush to your mind.

However, many people often get confused between these two games. While you need to match and arrange cards when playing rummy online, spades involve trick-taking. The former is more skill-based, while the latter depends on luck. In this blog post, we have explained a few points of difference between the two games. Go through each of them one-by-one to decide which game is right for you.

• Number of players and card decks used

Rummy: Rummy, especially Indian rummy, is played by two to six players at a time. The number of card decks employed in a game are either one or two, depending on the number of players. Each player is dealt 13 cards, one at a time.

Spades: In spades, usually four players (in two partnerships) play a game. A standard deck of 52 cards is used, and just like rummy, each player gets 13 cards in hand.

• Ranking of cards and point value

Rummy: The ranking of cards from lowest to highest is as follows:

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A

The points carried by each card is as follows:

Face cards (Ks, Qs, & Js) and aces (A): 10 points each

Number cards: Same as the face value

Jokers: Zero points.

Spades: The ranking of cards from lowest to highest is 2 through A. In spades, the suits are also ranked, with spades being the trump suit. Although the other suits have no value during the play, a card of a suit led can beat any card of other suits, except spade. In case of tie-breaker, the suits ranked from low to high are: ♣ ♦ ♥ ♠.

When a partnership wins the bid, they get 10 points for the trick.

• Use of jokers

Rummy: Joker is a game-changing card in Indian rummy. There are two types of jokers: printed joker and wild joker. Printed jokers are available in a card deck, whereas wild jokers are randomly decided upon at the beginning of the game. 

Jokers are used to replace any missing card in a sequence or a set. So if you have multiple jokers in hand, you have better chances of winning the game. It also helps reduce your overall penalty score, in case one of your opponents declares before you, since the card carries zero points.

Spades: Jokers are not employed in a game of spades. However, there are few versions of this game played around the world where one or two jokers are used.

• Objective of the game

Rummy: The main goal of this game is to sort and arrange all 13 cards into different required combinations, such as sequences or sequences and sets, while complying with the basic rummy rules. The player who makes a valid declaration before anyone else at the table wins the game. 

Spades: The objective of this game is to accumulate a total of 500 points. The points are collected by winning the least number of bids by each partnership and lost by failing to win the trick or by taking too many bids.

Rummy: There is no bidding in rummy. When the game begins, each player gets 13 cards and they work on creating different required combinations.

Spades: In spades, bidding means guessing the number of tricks you can take. Before the game begins, each player guesses how many tricks they will take in each round. 

Then, the participants add the total number of bids, which becomes the final number to get a positive score. The person to the left of the dealer makes his first bid and it continues in a clockwise direction. 

A player is allowed to bid between 0 to 13. However, please note that it is difficult to take even half of the tricks. If you bid a zero, it will be a nil bid. This also means that a player does not want to win any tricks. You get a bonus for a nil bid and a penalty if you get any one trick.

Rummy: When the cards are dealt to each player, the remaining cards form two decks, the closed and open piles, which are kept at the center of the table. These two decks are later used for drawing and discarding cards to create different arrangements. Players can discard jokers but cannot pick this card from the open pile. 

As soon as the cards are arranged, the player discards the 14th card into the finish slot and declares/her his hand. If the declaration is valid, he/she wins the game and gets zero points. The losing player gets points on the basis of the ungrouped cards in their hands. 

Spades: Post bidding, the player to the left of the dealer plays a card from any suit, except for spade. Then each player reveals their card or trick to everyone. The card must be from the same suit as played by the very first player. If not, players can play any card from another suit. 

If a player plays a card from spade, that card trumps all other cards except for a higher spade card. That means, if you play an ace of hearts and the other player plays 2 of spades, the latter would win the trick. If no spades are played, the highest card of that suit wins the trick. The winner of each trick proceeds to the next round.

Both rummy and spades are popular among card game lovers. We hope this blog post clears the difference between the two games for you. And by now, you may know which game deems fit for you. Perhaps you can teach your grandparents how to play both the games and have a great time with them!

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