Trick-Taking Card Games You Should Try After Spades
If you’ve spent any real time playing Spades, you’ve developed a set of skills that most people don’t even realize they have. You can count cards mid-hand, read your partner’s leads, manage a trump suit, and make judgment calls about when to push and when to hold back. Those skills aren’t unique to Spades — they’re the foundation of an entire family of card games called trick-taking games.
Spades is one of the most popular trick-taking games in the world, and for good reason. But if you’re looking to expand your card game horizons, there’s a rich world of games out there that will feel familiar in some ways and completely fresh in others. Here are seven trick-taking games worth exploring once you’re comfortable at the Spades table.
Hearts
Players: 4 | Deck: Standard 52-card
If Spades is about winning the right tricks, Hearts is about avoiding the wrong ones. There are no partnerships in Hearts — it’s every player for themselves. The goal is to end the game with the fewest points, and you earn points by taking tricks that contain hearts (1 point each) or the dreaded Q♠ (13 points).
The twist that makes Hearts so compelling is the passing phase. Before each hand, you pass three cards to another player. Suddenly, you’re not just thinking about your own hand — you’re trying to dump dangerous cards like the A♠ or K♠ onto someone else while protecting yourself from getting stuck with the queen.
Skill crossover from Spades: Your card-counting ability transfers directly. If you can track how many spades have been played in a Spades game, you can track hearts just as easily. The difference is the mindset — you’re playing defense almost the entire time.
Who it’s for: Players who enjoy the strategic tension of Spades but want a game where you don’t need a reliable partner. Hearts is excellent when you have exactly four players and want a competitive, everyone-for-themselves experience.
Euchre
Players: 4 (2 partnerships) | Deck: 24 cards (9 through Ace)
Euchre is the fast food of trick-taking games — and I mean that as a compliment. It uses a stripped-down deck of just 24 cards, hands are only 5 tricks long, and a full game can be over in 15 minutes. It’s wildly popular in the American Midwest and parts of Canada, and once you try it, you’ll understand why.
The trump suit is determined each hand through a quick bidding process, and here’s the quirk: the Jack of the trump suit (the “Right Bower”) is the highest card in the game, and the Jack of the same-color suit (the “Left Bower”) becomes the second-highest trump. So if hearts are trump, J♥ is the strongest card, followed by J♦. It takes a hand or two to get used to, but it adds a fun wrinkle.
Skill crossover from Spades: Trump management is central to both games. If you know when to lead trump and when to hold it in Spades, you’ll pick up Euchre’s strategy quickly. The shorter hand size means decisions are more concentrated — every card matters.
Who it’s for: Anyone who loves Spades but sometimes wants a quicker, more casual game. Euchre is perfect for game nights where you want to play several rounds without a huge time commitment.
Bridge
Players: 4 (2 partnerships) | Deck: Standard 52-card
Bridge is the granddaddy of partnership trick-taking games. If Spades is a well-crafted sedan, Bridge is a Formula 1 car — more complex, more demanding, and capable of incredible depth. The core mechanic is the same (win tricks, follow suit, trump wins), but Bridge adds a sophisticated bidding system that serves as a coded conversation between partners.
In the bidding phase, you and your partner communicate information about your hands through a structured language of bids. A bid of “1♠” doesn’t just mean you want spades to be trump — it tells your partner you have at least 12 points and 5+ spades. The bidding conventions go deep, and learning them is a journey unto itself.
After bidding, one player becomes the “declarer” and their partner’s hand is laid face-up on the table as the “dummy.” The declarer plays both hands. It’s a completely different dynamic from Spades, where everyone plays their own cards.
Skill crossover from Spades: Partnership communication, card counting, and trick estimation all carry over. If you bid accurately in Spades, you have the instincts for Bridge — you just need to learn the language.
Who it’s for: Players who love the strategic depth of Spades and want something they can study and improve at for years. Bridge has a steeper learning curve, but the ceiling is almost unlimited.
Pinochle
Players: 4 (2 partnerships, though 3-player variants exist) | Deck: 48 cards (two copies of 9 through Ace)
Pinochle is a hybrid — part trick-taking game, part melding game. You score points in two ways: by forming specific card combinations in your hand (melds) before play begins, and then by winning tricks that contain point cards during play. It’s like if Spades and Rummy had a child.
The double deck creates interesting situations. You might hold both A♠ cards, or find yourself in a trick where two identical cards compete. Common melds include a “marriage” (K♥ Q♥ of the same suit), a “pinochle” (J♦ Q♠), and a “run” (A K Q J 10 of trump). After melding, the trick-taking phase plays out much like Spades.
Skill crossover from Spades: The trick-taking phase will feel very natural. Bidding in Pinochle requires estimating both your meld points and your trick-taking potential, which is a step beyond Spades bidding but uses the same fundamental skill.
Who it’s for: Players who enjoy Spades but want a game with more scoring dimensions. If you like the idea of points coming from multiple sources — not just tricks — Pinochle adds that layer of complexity.
Whist
Players: 4 (2 partnerships) | Deck: Standard 52-card
Whist is Spades’ direct ancestor. It was the dominant trick-taking game in English-speaking countries for centuries before Bridge and Spades evolved from it. The rules are beautifully simple: deal 13 cards to each player, turn up the last card dealt to determine trump, and play 13 tricks. No bidding. No nil. Just pure trick-taking.
A typical hand might see you leading A♣ K♣ to establish your long club suit, then switching to a short suit hoping your partner can trump in. The strategy is entirely in the play of the cards — there’s no bidding phase to set expectations.
Skill crossover from Spades: Almost everything. Card play technique, partnership signaling through which cards you choose to play, suit management — it all applies. Whist strips away the bidding layer and lets you focus purely on card play.
Who it’s for: Players who want a cleaner, simpler trick-taking experience. Whist is wonderful for teaching new players the fundamentals of trick-taking before introducing them to Spades’ bidding system.
Oh Hell
Players: 3-7 | Deck: Standard 52-card
Oh Hell (also called “Oh Pshaw,” “Blackout,” or a dozen other names depending on where you grew up) is a trick-taking game built around one beautiful idea: you must bid exactly how many tricks you’ll take. Not more. Not less. Exactly.
Hand sizes change each round — you might play a hand of 7 cards, then 6, then 5, all the way down to 1 and back up again. Trump is determined by flipping a card from the remaining deck. The scoring rewards precision: you get points for hitting your bid exactly and nothing (or a penalty) for missing it in either direction.
The catch that makes it sing: the dealer bids last, and the total bids cannot equal the number of tricks available. Someone is guaranteed to be wrong every hand.
Skill crossover from Spades: Bid accuracy is the entire game here, and that’s a skill you’ve been honing in Spades every time you look at your hand and estimate your tricks. The variable hand sizes keep you on your toes — evaluating a 3-card hand is a very different puzzle than evaluating a 12-card hand.
Who it’s for: Groups of varying sizes who want a trick-taking game that doesn’t require exactly four players. Oh Hell scales beautifully and rewards the same kind of precise hand evaluation that makes a great Spades player.
Pitch
Players: 4 (2 partnerships, though variants exist for 2-6) | Deck: Standard 52-card
Pitch is a point-trick game, meaning not all tricks are created equal. There are specific point cards you’re trying to capture: typically High (highest trump played), Low (lowest trump played), Jack (the jack of trump), and Game (determined by face-value points in your tricks). The winning bidder chooses trump by “pitching” — leading the first trick with a card of their chosen trump suit.
A hand of Pitch plays out quickly, but the strategy runs deep. If you bid and win, you know trump will be favorable to your hand. You might pitch A♦ to set diamonds as trump, then follow with K♦ Q♦ to sweep the early tricks while your opponents scramble to find their footing.
Skill crossover from Spades: Trump suit management and the risk-reward calculus of bidding carry over directly. Pitch adds the dimension of choosing your trump suit, which is a skill you’ll develop quickly if you already understand how trump strength works in Spades.
Who it’s for: Players who enjoy the trump dynamics of Spades and want a game where the trump suit changes every hand. Pitch is common in rural America and has a dedicated following — once people learn it, they tend to stick with it.
Finding your next game
The beauty of trick-taking games is that the core skills are transferable. Once you understand the rhythm of following suit, managing trump, and counting what’s been played, you can pick up any of these games in a round or two. The differences are in the details — and those details are what make each game worth playing.
Start with whatever sounds most appealing. If you want something quick, try Euchre. If you want something deep, look at Bridge. If you want something that flips Spades on its head, play Hearts. Every one of these games will make you a better card player, and they’ll all make you a better Spades player too.
Want to practice? Cut lets you play Spades with friends right in iMessage.