Spades

I like to play spades, but the game makes far too many mistakes. I will give two examples. --------If I bid nil, my supposed partner will often lead a low card and then later in the hand play a higher card IN THE SAME SUIT that I could have ducked earlier in the hand. -------------when we are trying to take as many tricks as we can, my partner will, as an example, play a king of Spades on our opponents' ace of Spaces lead. At first I felt sorry for him, thinking he had a singleton king, until I started watching him more carefully and found that he had had lower Spades in that hand that he could have sloughed on the ace, thereby losing us a trick unnecessarily. I have uninstalled this game from my computer and will never recommend it to anyone. BTW, I was playing the hard level, having switched from easy level after one or two games.

I enjoy playing the game of Spades. I do feel this is one of the best ones in the store; yet, it is not without flaws. The first to mention is the fact that your designated partner is not responsive to you being the partner. It will cut you and play over your cards, risking potential books that can be made. Also, bidding Nil could be more responsive to play by all players. There should be a way to view or check score status during play, not only after completion of a hand. Is there a way to do card swap, if you bid Nil? Make all players responsive to the cards as they are played. They should not allow a book to be made if it can be won. Gorgeous cards! Large and nice layout of the board.

Caution to the serious player. This program is not very sophisticated. The difficult mode is nothing more than the program having your partner, named Adam, play so poorly at times that it makes it difficult for you to win. It also must be mentioned that poor play happens with the opposing team as well. Overall you will find yourself winning at a much greater rate than what is realistic. You will also note general patterns of play that repeat themselves over and over suggesting that the program will itself decide which cards are held by the other hands as the game is in progress and will ultimately decide when you win and when you lose at times. If not kept in perspective you will find yourself frustrated and even angry. But if you get a little creative it is still possible to have fun with this game.