Table Talk 101
Learn the table. Play your game.
Quick lessons for starting tables, learning spades, and playing smarter. Each one is a short video with the written steps beside it, so you can watch, read, or do both.
32 lessons · about twelve seconds each · captions on every video
Reference
Every house rule, explained
One section per rule the app can set: score limit, bags, nil, blind nil, Boston, board, jokers, deuces, the first bid, team bidding and renege calling, with the options, the default and the presets that change it.
Part 1 · How to Use the App
Start a table, fill it, run it back
The host's minute: create, invite by link or QR, seat your people, and start the next game without a new link.
010:11How to Use the App
Start a Table
Bring your people to a private Spades table with rules everyone can see.
020:11How to Use the App
Invite Players
An invitation link takes your friends to the same table without another round of planning.
030:13How to Use the App
Join a Table
Your invitation is your way into the table. Joining works in a browser without a download.
040:14How to Use the App
Set House Rules
Agreeing on house rules before the deal gives everyone the same version of the game.
050:11How to Use the App
Use QR Invites
When everyone is in the same room, the QR invitation gets them to your table.
060:13How to Use the App
Run It Back
Run It Back keeps the same crew together for another game after the result.
220:12How to Use the App
Short a Player?
An empty seat does not have to stop a practice game while you wait for your friends.
250:11How to Use the App · Table culture
Table Talk reactions
Table Talk is the reaction tray at the table: quick emojis and phrases every seat sees the moment you send them.
260:15How to Use the App · Table culture
Pick a table theme
Four tables ship with the game, Backyard, Family Reunion, Barbershop and Rooftop, and Surprise me picks one for you.
270:11How to Use the App · Table culture
Awards and Crew records
Every finished game hands out awards, and signed-in players build a Crew record with each partner: games, wins and win rate, with your own people.
280:13How to Use the App · Table culture
Your profile and avatar
The You tab holds your display name, your avatar and the rules and theme your next table opens on.
290:12How to Use the App · Table culture
When someone steps away
A phone dies or somebody walks off. The table nudges, then covers the turn, and the seat is still theirs when they come back.
300:11How to Use the App · Table culture
I got next
A fifth person can open the link, watch the table, and take the next open seat without anyone passing a phone around.
310:10How to Use the App · Table culture
The table playlist
Paste a playlist link from Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music or Tidal and the table carries it. Everyone taps through to their own app.
320:11How to Use the App · Table culture
Sign in, or play as a guest
The host signs in. Everybody they invite can play as a guest with a name and nothing else.
Part 2 · How to Play Spades
The game, one rule at a time
Books, bids, bags, nil, blind nil, board and reneging. Every rule the way your table argues about it.
070:14How to Play Spades
What Is Spades?
Spades is a partnership card game: estimate the books you can win, then play to make that promise.
080:12How to Play Spades
What Is a Book?
A book is one trick: each of the four players contributes a card, and one player wins the group.
090:12How to Play Spades
What Is Bidding?
A regular bid is your estimate of how many books your hand can win.
100:13How to Play Spades
What Are Bags?
Bags are books above your team’s regular bid when the bag rule is enabled.
110:12How to Play Spades
What Is Nil?
Nil is a promise to win zero books for the entire hand, not just the opening tricks.
120:13How to Play Spades
What Is Blind Nil?
Blind nil makes the zero-book commitment before you see your cards.
130:13How to Play Spades
What Does “Board” Mean?
Board is the minimum combined regular team bid required by some tables.
140:13How to Play Spades
What Is Reneging?
Reneging means failing to follow the suit led when you still hold a card of that suit.
Part 3 · Tips & Tricks
Play smarter
Counting, cutting, covering a nil and setting the other team. The habits that win hands.
150:12Tips & Tricks
Don’t Overbid Just Because You Have Spades
A hand full of spades can still be short of the books you promised.
160:13Tips & Tricks
Protect Your Partner’s Nil
When your partner bids nil, protect their zero-book goal while still making your own plan.
170:13Tips & Tricks
Count Spades
Counting spades helps you estimate how many spades remain outside your hand.
180:14Tips & Tricks
Don’t Cut Too Early
Saving a spade can help later when your partner is already winning this book.
190:12Tips & Tricks
Watch What Your Partner Throws Away
Visible discards tell you which suits a player can no longer follow.
200:13Tips & Tricks
Know When to Set the Other Team
Setting the other team means keeping them below the books they bid.
210:12Tips & Tricks
Read the Scoreboard
The scoreboard explains the result of a hand and helps you plan the next bid.
230:12Tips & Tricks · Table culture
“One More Game”
“Last game” can have a surprisingly flexible definition after a loss.
240:10Tips & Tricks · Table culture
“That’s Not How We Play”
Different houses carry different Spades traditions. Agreeing makes the game easier to enjoy.