Spades was invented in the USA in the 1930s and is played quite widely in that country. Until recently it has been little known elsewhere, except in a few places where American troops were stationed, for example in parts of Germany. However, since the mid 1990s Spades has become popular internationally because of its easy availablity in online card rooms on the Internet. The introduction of of online play and tournaments has also led to some standardisation of the rules, and this page has been revised so that the main description conforms to the standard. After the main description, there is a collection of numerous variations, which are still common in face to face social games.

Website: http://www.pagat.com/boston/spades.html/