Origin	United States
Alternative name(s)	Call Bridge
Type	Trick-taking
Players	4 (standard)[1][2]
Skill(s) required	Card counting, Tactics
Cards	52
Deck	French
Play	Clockwise
Card rank (highest to lowest)	A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Playing time	20 min.[citation needed]
Random chance	Moderate
Related games
Bid Whist, Contract Bridge, Tarneeb

Spades is a trick-taking card game devised in the United States in the 1930s. It can be played as either a partnership or solo/"cutthroat" game. The object is to take at least the number of tricks that were bid before play of the hand began.^[3] In partnership Spades, the bids and tricks taken are combined for a partnership. Spades is a descendant of the Whist family of card games, which also includes Bridge, Hearts, and Oh, Hell. Its major difference as compared to other Whist variants is that, instead of trump being decided by the highest bidder or at random, the Spade suit is always trump, hence the name.^[4]

History[link]

Spades was devised in the United States in the late 1930s and became popular in the 1940s.^[5][6] It is unclear which game it is most directly descended from, but it is known that Spades is a member of the Whist family and is a simplification of Contract Bridge such that a skilled Spades player can learn Bridge relatively quickly (the major additional rules being dynamic trump, the auction, dummy play, and rubber scoring).

The game's rise to popularity in the U.S. came during World War II, when it was introduced by soldiers from its birthplace in Cincinnati, Ohio^[6] to various military stations around the world. The game's popularity in the armed forces stems from its simplicity compared to Bridge and Euchre and the fact that it can be more easily interrupted than Poker, all of which were also popular military card games. After the war, veterans brought the game back home to the U.S., where due to the GI Bill it spread to and became popular among college students as well as in home games. It also remained widely popular in countries in which U.S. troops were stationed, both in WWII and later deployments.

General overview[link]

Number of players

Two or more; the game is most commonly played with four players in pairs ("Partnership spades")^[5][7]

The deck

Standard 52-card deck. Spades may also be played with one or two Jokers or with predetermined cards removed. With playing with six or more players, a second deck is often used.

Rank of suit

Spades is always trump. Other suits have no intrinsic value during play, but a card of the suit led in the current trick will beat a card of any other suit except a Spade. If a tiebreaker is needed in a draw for deal, the most common suit order from low to high is ♣ ♦ ♥ ♠.

Rank of cards

Highest to lowest: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.^[8]

Object of the game

To score points (generally 500). Points are accrued by winning at least the number of tricks bid in each hand, and are lost by failing to take at least that many, or in some cases by taking too many.

Gameplay[link]

The Deal[link]

The first dealer is chosen by a draw for high card, and thereafter the deal passes to the dealer's left after each hand. The dealer shuffles, and the player to the right is given the opportunity to "cut" the cards to prevent the dealer stacking the deck. The entire deck is then dealt face-down one card at a time in clockwise order (with four players, each player should receive 13 cards).^[5] The players then pick up their cards and arrange them as desired (the most common arrangement is by suit, then rank).

Misdeal

A misdeal is a deal in which all players have not received the same number of cards. A misdeal may be discovered immediately by counting the cards after they are dealt, or it may be discovered during play of a hand. If a hand is misdealt, the hand is considered void and the deal passes to the next player. Sometimes a misdeal is also called if a player is dealt a "deficient" hand, such as one that contains one or no Spades or no face cards (players should agree beforehand on what constitutes a "deficient hand"). A player wishing to declare a misdeal due to a deficient hand must throw down his hand face-up, so other players may verify, and declare "misdeal" before he or his team has bid.^[5] Declaring a misdeal on a deficient hand is optional; a player may try to bid "nil" if dealt such a hand.

Bidding[link]

Each player decides how many tricks they will be able to take. The player to the left of the dealer starts the bidding and, in a clockwise direction, each player states how many tricks they expect to win. There is only one round of bidding. Every player must make a bid. As Spades are always trump, no trump suit is named during bidding as with some other variants.

A common variant borrowed from the related game Oh, hell is that the sum of all bids must not equal the number of tricks to be played. This ensures that at least one player or team will be set or "bagged" (forced to take an overtrick). Another game variation allows each player to optionally increase their bid by one point after all players have bid but before game play starts. A reduction in bid, once bids are made, is never allowed.

Nil

A player that has already looked at their cards can bid Nil. The object of the bidder is to take no tricks during the hand. The player's partner may make a normal bid and then help them by attempting to take tricks the Nil bidder would otherwise take. In solo/cutthroat spades, successful Nil bids are rare since there is no partner to help by taking the bidder's higher cards. If the Nil bidder takes no tricks, he receives the Nil bonus; if unsuccessful, the player or team subtracts that bonus.^[5] More than one player (opponents or teammates in partners) may bid Nil on a deal.

Double Nil

Both players in a partnership bid Nil and if successful, the team's Nil bonuses are doubled. If either player or both players fail(s) to make theirs Nil bid, there is no penalty.

If a partnership does not meet its bid, it scores −10 points for each bid not made. When playing in partnerships, the players may either bid individually (the bids are then summed), giving no information other than their bid to their partner, or they may discuss their hands, without mentioning specific cards, and make a single partnership bid. The bids are recorded by a designated scorer, and if passing will not occur, play of the hand commences.

Blind Bidding[link]

Virtually all games include a variant that may happen during bidding; one or more players, having not yet looked at their cards, may choose to bid on the number of tricks they will take. When bidding "blind", the player's bid, if made exactly by that player, is rewarded with bonus points, while failing to make the bid results in the bonus being subtracted from the player's or team's score. Blind bidding is capped at a bid of seven. Thus, bidding a blind 8 or higher is contrary to standard game play, and is not allowed. Quite commonly, blind bids are allowed only if the bidding team is at least 100 points behind.

Blind Nil

The most common blind bid, the player bids that they will not take a single trick during play of the hand. Bidding nil offers an additional bonus on top of the blind bid. A failed nil bid, similar to a failed blind, results in the bonus being deducted from the score.

Double Blind Nil

It is possible for both players of a partnership to bid Blind Nil. If this is done successfully, the team wins the game outright or takes double the combined bonus. If either or both players take tricks, however, there is no penalty.

Passing[link]

Passing, or the exchanging of cards between players, is optional and rare in Spades.^[8] However, one more common exception relates to Nil bids, which are generally considered difficult to make, especially when the bid was blindly made. To offset this difficulty slightly, a partnership in which one player has bid Nil or Blind Nil can choose to pass 2 cards between players; the most common arrangement is one card for regular nil and two cards for blind nil. When passing, the partners agree on a number of cards to pass, then select that number of cards and place them face down in front of their partner. Neither partner should look at the cards passed to them before they have passed their own cards. In passing this way, the idea is for the partner who bid Nil to offload their highest trumps or other face cards in return for low cards from their partner, which both decreases the likelihood that the nil bidder can be forced to take a trick, and increases the likelihood that his partner will be able to "cover", or overplay high cards the nil bidder still holds that would otherwise take a trick. The number of cards passed should be determined before the game begins so that each team can use this as they bid.

Passing does not have to be limited to this one case; players may agree that a certain number of cards may, or must, be passed either between partners or to the opponent on each players' left or right, before or after making a bid. Passing between opponents is borrowed from Hearts and generally allows players to attempt to "shorten" or "void" a suit, or get rid of "dangerous" cards such as upper pip cards or low face cards, which may win a trick the player didn't bid to take. Passing between partners in situations other than Nil bids is rare, as the players would have little or no information about cards their partner would want or that opponents wouldn't.

Game play[link]

South leads J♦ and no-one else can follow suit. West sloughs a Heart, North attempts to trump with 10♠ and East takes the trick with K♠.

Each hand consists of a number of tricks or "books" (the 4-handed game contains 13 tricks using all 52 cards). The player on the dealer's left makes the opening lead by playing a single card of their choice.^[8] Players in clockwise fashion then play a card of their choice; they must follow suit, if they can, otherwise they may play any card, including a trump Spade.^[7] Once a card has left the hand of a player, it stands and cannot be retrieved unless the player who threw the card makes an effort to correct his mistake before the next player lays down a card.

A common variant rule, borrowed from Hearts, is that a player may not lead Spades until a Spade has been played to trump another trick.^[4][8] This prevents a player who is "long" in Spades (having a large number of them) from leading Spades one after the other at the beginning of the hand to deplete them and thus prevent other players using them as trumps. The act of playing the first Spade in a hand is known as "breaking Spades".

Another common variant rule, also borrowed from Hearts, is that a player cannot lead Spades in the first trick.

The trick is won or taken by the player who played the highest value card; if one or more trumps were played the highest trump card wins, otherwise the highest card of the suit led wins.^[7] The player who wins the trick gathers the cards up into a face-down arrangement that allows players to count the number of tricks taken. The contents of each trick can not be viewed after this point, except to determine whether a player reneged (played an off-suit card including trumps when they could have and thus should have followed suit). The number of tricks a player has won cannot be disguised,^[4] if asked each player must count out their tricks until everyone has agreed on their "trick count". The player who wins any given trick leads the next. Play continues until all players have exhausted their hands, which should occur on the same (last) trick. Otherwise, it is a misdeal.

The Rest Are Mine (TRAM)[link]

A common play among more experienced or skilled players is for a player who realizes that they cannot help but win all remaining tricks to simply lay down their hand and declare "the rest are mine" or similar. This is known as "TRAMing", and can help speed play of the game. An obvious situation in which a player could "TRAM" is if, with three tricks left to play, the leading player sees that they hold the AKQ♠. No matter which card they play, no other player will be able to beat that card (as the player holds the only cards that can), and the same will be true for the next two tricks. Usually, situations in which TRAMing are appropriate are less clear-cut, and involve keeping track of the cards that have been played to determine whether any player could beat a particular card.

A player who TRAMs when it is possible for another player to win at least one trick is penalized either by having to play the remainder of the hand with their cards exposed, by forfeiting all remaining tricks (at the discretion of the player who would otherwise take the trick, to prevent intentional false TRAMing that would give the player an advantage), or by forfeiting their bid (the hand will be scored as if that player failed to make their bid regardless of the number of tricks they take). It is always acceptable for players to play the remainder of tricks normally even if they are positive they will take all remaining tricks.

Scoring[link]

Once the final trick is played, the hand is then scored. Many variants for scoring exist; what follows is the basic method.

Contract score[link]

Once a hand is completed, the players count the number of tricks they took and, in the case of partnerships or teams, the members' trick counts are summed to form a team count.

Each player's or team's trick count is then compared to their contract. If the player or team made at least the number of tricks bid, 10 points for each bid trick are awarded (a bid of 5 would earn 50 points if made). If a team did not make their contract, they were "set", and 10 points for each bid trick are deducted from the team's score (a bid of six when the team only made 5 loses 60 points).

If a player/team took more tricks than they bid, a single point is scored for each overtrick, called an "overtrick", "bag" or "sandbag" (a bid of 5 tricks with 6 tricks taken results in a score of 51 points).^[8]

Bonuses or penalties[link]

To this contract score, players add bonuses earned and subtract penalties assessed based on whether the player successfully did or failed to do any of the more specific things they said they would in the bidding phase. Many variants exist that award or penalize according to certain behaviors; they are covered below. For the basic Nil and blind bids, points are awarded as follows:^[7][8]

Though some variant bonuses or penalties are based on the contract score, normally a bonus or penalty does not affect and is not affected by any other bonus or penalty, or the contract score. As a result, a partnership can have a net positive score even if they failed to make their contract. For instance, if one player successfully made a Nil bid, but their partner bid 5 tricks and only took 4 tricks, the partnership still gets the bonus which is represented as −50 points + 100 points = 50 points. Conversely, a partnership can have a net negative score in much the same way; if a player failed a nil bid but the partnership bid and took 5 tricks, the net score is −50 points.

Sandbags and bagging out[link]

An extremely common feature is designed to penalize players for underestimating the number of tricks they will take, while at the same time not removing the possible strategy of intentionally taking overtricks, or "bags", in order to "set" the other team. This is accomplished by keeping track of bags in the ones place on the scorecard, and assessing a 100 point penalty when 10 bags are accumulated and the ones place rolls over.^[8]

For example, if a team's bid is 5 tricks and they take 8 tricks, the score for the hand is 53 points. If the team's total score before this hand had a first digit of 7 or more, for instance 108, the team has "bagged out" or been "sandbagged"; the hand's score is added to the total and then 100 points are deducted. In the example, the score would be 61 points after the penalty. The 10 bags could be considered to make the penalty 90 points. Anything over 10 sandbags is retained in the first digit and count towards future overtricks; a player or team can bag out multiple times in a game.

Keeping score[link]

One of the players is the scorer and has written the bids down, so that during the play and for the scoring afterward, this information will be available to all the players. When a hand is over, the scores should be recorded next to the bids. Alternatively, the scorer can turn the bid into the contract score by writing in the number of bags (zero if there were none) behind the bid, and a minus sign before it if the team was set, then add bonuses and subtract penalties beneath. A running score should be kept so that players can readily see each other's total points.

Winning[link]

The most common condition is the first to reach 500 points, or forcing the opposing team to drop to −200 points. Alternatively, the game could be played for a fixed number of hands or a fixed time limit; with four players, eight hands can generally be played in about an hour. If there is a tie, then all players participate in (at least) one more round of play until a winner is decided. Sandbags, while dangerous, also count as single points, so a team may win a game (i.e.: 507–503) through the judicious taking of overtricks.^[8]

Game variations[link]

As with any widely played game of such a flexible nature, Spades has many variations, ranging from significant changes in gameplay to small tweaks that suit individual or household preference.

Deal variations[link]

Face-up deal

In this variant, the dealer can lay out up to four cards per player face up as long as the same number is revealed for each player. Revealing the cards can also set up the psychological warfare of bidding and later playing, referred to as power checks, but face-up deals are sometimes done by dealers who set the deck to determine if the cut has disrupted their preparations. When a face-up deal is made, Blind Nil can still be bid if the player has not viewed any face-down cards.

Kitty

In games with players where the cards cannot be dealt evenly, there is a variation in which no cards are removed from the deck, but instead a kitty composed of the leftover cards (or one trick's worth of cards plus the leftovers) is placed at center. Whoever is dealt the 2♣, or alternatively, the player with the highest bid (tie-breaker being first to make that bid), picks up the kitty before bidding begins, integrates it into their hand and then discards the same amount of cards. If a round of cards in addition to the leftovers is placed in the kitty, the discard by the player who picked up the kitty counts as a trick. This introduces more uncertainty in bids because usually the person with the kitty tries to void one suit and trump earlier in the game.

Deuce Starts

Regardless of which player has dealt, the player with the 2♣ leads it to begin the game, similar to Hearts.

Bidding variations[link]

Board

Each team is required to make a minimum required bid of four tricks. When bidding Nil, the player's teammates must bid a minimum of four tricks or bid Double Nil or Triple Nil with three teammates. When playing solo, you can bid Nil or board. You can never bid anything between Nil or board. A variation to this play involves setting the minimum bid to whatever number the players agree on.

Partnership bidding

This variant allows partners to "talk" during the bidding round and bid as a partnership rather than individuals. The partnership that did not deal makes their bid first, and the opposing partnership may use this information to craft their bid, although the total number of tricks bid by both teams does not need to equal 13. The minimum bid is "Board" or 4 tricks, and there is no Nil bidding. Players are allowed to discuss how many tricks they think they can take with each other, but any discussion that identifies specific cards or strength of a particular suit constitutes "cross-boarding" and results in a misdeal, for which the penalty can range from the deal passing to the left to adding a predetermined number of "bags" to the offending partnership to a score penalty of up to 100 points.

The only exception to this rule is the Ace Check rule. If a player holds 3 or more Aces in his hand, that player may use the phrase Ace Check during the bidding round. The partner then discloses whether or not they have an Ace. If the initiating partner can now determine that all 4 Aces are held within the partnership, he or she may pass a card face down to his or her partner. Doing so creates a special contract where if the partnership retains all 4 Aces after all cards are played for the hand, they receive a 100 point bonus. If not, they receive a 100 point penalty. The Ace Check variant is optional to Partnership Bidding, and is generally only used in combination with "Deuces High" or similar Trump Variants where the Ace of Spades is more difficult to retain since other cards in the deck are assigned a higher rank.

Auction Spades

This variant combines Spades gameplay with the auction-based bidding of Contract Bridge. Each player must bid a minimum of 1 trick; by making the bid, they are committing their partnership to take the minimum 6 tricks plus the number bid. Subsequent bidders must raise the bid or pass; once they pass, they cannot bid further. Once all other players have passed, the winning partnership (declarers) must take a number of tricks equal to the winning bid plus 6 (so a winning bid of 2 commits the declarers to winning 8 tricks), while the defenders attempt to set them. If the declarers make contract, they get 10 points per bid trick; if they are set they get nothing. The defenders get 10 points per overtrick made by, or undertrick missed by, the declarers (if the declarers bid 2 and only make 6 tricks, the declarers get nothing and defenders get 20 points; if the declarers make 10 tricks, the declarers get 80 points but the defenders get 20 for the 2 unbid overtricks). Thus, the defenders have a choice of tactics; they can either set the declarers so they get no points, or may "bag" the declarers by forcing them to take overtricks so both sides get points.

Notrump bids

This variant's name is misleading as it is not the same as the equivalent bid in Contract Bridge; Spades are still trumps, but a player who bids some number of tricks with "no trump" promises not to win any tricks with spades, except when spades are led. A player may only bid "No Trump" if that player holds at least one spade in their hand, and their partner agrees to let them bid NT. A player who successfully makes a No Trump bid counts each trick taken by that player as double (normally 20 points).^[5]

10-for-200

Also known as Bidding A Flight or Wheels. Bidding 10-for-200 commits a side to win at least 10 tricks; if successful, the team scores 200 points. If the side wins fewer than 10 tricks, they lose 200 points.^[5][8] Some play a lost bid only loses 100, not 200. In some variations, to make a 10-for-200 bid, the side must win exactly 10 tricks. If a team pulls more than 10 the extra tricks are still bags or "ob's" Some play that any bid of 10 is automatically a 10-for-200 bid. In some places the 10-for-200 bid is called 10-for-2, which is written on the score sheet as 10-4-2. Another way of writing the 200 score is with the two zeros linked together at the top; this is called Wheels, as the zeroes are supposed to look like train wheels. Making this bid is also significant in that the other team is automatically set if Nils are not allowed, since they would not even make Board, thus the winning team will be ahead by at least 240 points (200 for the score + 40 point penalty of the other team).

Big & Little Moe

A series of bids where the partnership states their intention to take, respectively, eight or six tricks consecutively. Any capture of a trick by opponents "resets" the count. A partnership bidding Big Moe and capturing eight tricks in a row gains 300 points; one bidding Little Moe and capturing six tricks in a row gains 150 points. Bags or overtricks, if applicable, are not counted.

Bemo

A specialization of Big & Little Moe bidding, bidding Little Bemo commits the team to win all of the first six tricks. It is additional to the normal bid; the team scores an extra bonus of 60 if successful and loses 60 if not. Big Bemo similarly commits the team that bids it to win the first nine tricks; they score a 90 point bonus if successful and lose 90 if not.^[5]

Blind 6

This must be declared by a side before either partner looks at their cards. It scores 120 points if the side takes exactly 6 tricks. If they take some other number of tricks they lose 120. It is also commonly played that the side must win at least six tricks and overtricks are not counted, or that failing to make six tricks only loses 60.^[5]

Trailing Blind Bids

Only a player or partnership that is 100 points behind the leader may make blind bids of any kind, and they are scored at 20 points per bid trick, with no overtricks scored. Failing a blind contract is penalized at the normal 10 points per trick bid. Played with or without Jokers.

No Nines, No Blinds

A variation of partnership bidding - neither blind bids nor a cumulative bid of 9 is allowed. This can make the game more competitive since a partnership with a strong hand has to either bid an 8 or 10-for-200, risking "overbidding" their hand and teams cannot catch up through Trailing Blind Bids.

Boston

Also known as Shooting The Moon or Slamming. Related to but opposite of a Double Nil bid. If a team bids to take all the tricks in a hand and does so, that team wins the game outright regardless of the score before the hand. A team cannot bid to Shoot The Moon if the other team bids Double Nil, and vice versa.^[5]

Boston On Fire

Also known as Blind Moon or a Grand Slam. This is a blind bid to take all tricks in a hand, made before either partner has looked at their cards. Again, the first team to bid either Double Blind Nil or Blind Moon has precedence.^[5]

Lexington

Similar to Boston but 12 tricks are made. Variations include automatically scoring 240 points regardless the bid.

Half Tricks

In this variation, the first partner of a team to bid may, if he chooses, bid tricks in increment of one-half instead of one, i.e. "I bid three-and-one-half". His partner is then required to bid such that the team bid rounds out to a whole number, i.e. "I'll bid two-and-one-half" for a team bid of six tricks. This gives some information between partners; a player is bidding that they will take three tricks and might take a fourth. Their partner can then use this fact in determining the other half of the partnership's bid.

Suicide

Played by four players, playing as partners. Each player must bid either Nil or at least four tricks. The second player to bid in each partnership may either bid the opposite, i.e., Nil if partner bid four or more, or may bid what their partner bid, thus forcing their partner to take the opposite bid.

Another version of Suicide is played by four players, playing as partners. The bidding is the same as normal, except that one person in each team is forced to bid nil, so if the leading partner does not bid nil they must do so. This limits the hands which the first and second person want to bid a non-Nil amount, as if they do not have the ace of spades, they cannot place it and therefore risk having it in their partner's hand.

Whiz

In this variant, each player must bid the exact number of spades in their hand or go Nil. There is no minimum amount for teams to bid. Blind bidding is not allowed, however bags are counted as usual.

Mirrors

Related to Whiz, Each player must bid the number of spades in their hand. Players do not have the option to go Nil unless they have no Spades and must bid Nil if this is the case. Bags are counted as normal.

Trump variations[link]

Breaking Spades

Borrowed from Hearts, a player may not lead a Spade until a Spade has been played as a trump card (when a non-Spade was led), unless he or she has only Spades.

Deuces High

All 2s count as the highest spades. The order becomes, highest to lowest : 2♠, 2♦, 2♣, 2♥, then all the rest of the spades, Ace through 3. There is another variation, when playing with the Jokers, that the 2♦ and the 2♠ are high trumps, then Ace, King, etc. When the deck being used does not contain Jokers, or contains Jokers of the same size, the 2♥ becomes the Big Joker and the 2♣ becomes the Little Joker. There is a variation where the Aces can be called high (value of 14) or low (value of 1).^{[citation needed]}

Jokers High aka Easy Spades

Both Jokers are positioned as the highest Spades. So instead of just 13 spades, there are now 15 spades. This in effect takes the Queens out of question, meaning one need not bother to question whether the queen will win a trick, it will most likely not. With more spades and removing the question from the queens makes this variation an easier game to play. If both jokers are played in one trick, the Big Joker beats the Little Joker. A related variation is Joker-Joker-Deuce-Ace in which the ranking is Big Joker, Little Joker, 2♠ and A♠. With 3 players, the Jokers are added and no cards are removed; with 4 players, the 2♣ and either 2♥ or 2♦ are taken out, or, similar to their use in Euchre, can replace the J♠ and J♣.

Jokers High Alternate

Similar to Jokers High above, if the Big Joker is led, opponents must play their highest spade in that trick. If the Big Joker is played during a hand, opponents are not forced to play their highest spade. This variation makes bidding more complex, as one cannot count on their highest spade as winning a trick, Big Joker excepted. This variation is commonly played with all 54 cards, using the Kitty dealing variation above.

Jokers High First Played Wins

Both Jokers are used and count as the highest Spade. If both jokers are played in one trick, the one played first takes the trick.

Bauer Trumps

Adapted from 500 and Euchre, highest trump is the J♠, known as the right bauer. Second highest trump is J♣, being the same color and known as the Left Bauer. The rest of the cards follow normal order. Alternatively, and similar to the above, both Jacks can be replaced with two Jokers, making them more distinctive.

Differentiated Trump Values

Suits are given special trump value, with Spades being the highest trump. General order is ♠, ♣, ♦, and ♥. When played this way, there is no off-suit; the suit is either more or less valuable than the led suit, and if more valuable it trumps any card played in that suit.

Gameplay variations[link]

Cancellation Spades

3 teams of 2 players play with 2 decks minus both 2♥. The 2♦ is the highest spade followed by the 2♣ and Ace♠. They must follow the spades suit rules. If identical cards are played in a round, they cancel and cannot take the trick. Tricks won by no one are "dead" and discarded. Successful nil bids score 50. Double nil scores 200. No blind bid bonuses. Missed bids cost 10 points for each trick short—getting 3 of 5 means −20 points. Tricks taken by a nil do not count towards a non-nil bid and are penalized 10 points each. Extra tricks get 1 point—no penalties for sandbags. Game is six hands with each player dealing once. Optionally, 8 players can share two full decks with nils worth 30 and double nils worth 100.

Passing Cards

Each team passes one card with their partner each hand. This rule is normally applied only to Nil bids and it is most frequently used to allow players to exchange two cards if a Blind Nil bid is made.

First Trick Clubs

This rule is borrowed from a common variation of Hearts rules. Whoever possesses the lowest Club, usually 2♣, 3♣ (if deuces are high), must open the play. Other players can play any card except Spades on the first trick, unless the player has nothing but Spades (rare, as the player would have to have been dealt every Spade in the deck).

First Trick Lowest Club

This rule is an elaboration of the preceding First Trick Clubs rule. Whoever possesses the lowest Club, usually 2♣, 3♣ (if a three-hand game), must open the play. Each player must then play their lowest club to the first trick. Play proceeds normally from the second trick.

Speed-Spades a.k.a. Philadelphia a.k.a. Quakers

The players agree to play each trick within a certain time frame, with each player required to make a play on a one- or two- second count. This is a game of pressure designed to induce mistakes, to increase the pace of a slow game, or both. Often the players will shout "Speed Spades!" as the start of each trick.

Play To Beat a.k.a. Must Trump

A Pinochle-based variant, if a player cannot follow suit but can beat a Spade played as trump (when a Spade was not led), he must play the "overtrump". Sometimes this rule extends this to even having to beat a player’s partner, but this generally only applies to beating the other team’s trump. If a player is caught breaking this rule, all points won by the team that broke the rule during the round are awarded to the opposing team.

End Winning Streak

If one player wins last three tricks of the round, it is worth either 3 points or 30. Some varieties include awarding points for winning the last four or five tricks with same point gauge. If this rule is enforced, and an opposing team ends a possible streak by taking the last trick, the points may be awarded to that team instead of the team who had the streak.

Dix

If the 9♠ wins a trick, it is worth 1 point. If the 9 wins a trick with at least one other Spade in play, worth 5 points. If the 9 wins a Spade-led trick, it is worth 10 points. This is borrowed from Pinochle where in the melding phase, a 9 of trumps is worth 10 points.

Last Trick Ace Victory

Bonus points (1 or 10) are awarded for winning the last round with any Ace. 20 points for winning with the Ace of Spades.

Last Trick Ace On Nil

Bonus points, usually one-fifth of agreed nil value, are awarded for making a nil bid and playing an ace on the last trick.

Last Trick Deuce Victory

Bonus points (30) are awarded for winning the last round with a non-trump two.

Last Trick High Spade Victory

A player who takes the very last trick with a high Spade (9♠ or above), and with that trick exactly makes their bid, receives a 10 point bonus. There is no bonus if the player bags or is short.

Nil In The Dark

A player who bids Nil In The Dark shuffles their cards and puts them face down in front of them in a stack. When it is their play, they take the top card and throw it into the pile. The scoring counts the same as Blind Nil. A player may also go Blind Nil In The Dark where they never even look at their cards. This is scored the same as double blind. Nil In The Dark is usually only bid if they have no trump cards.

Scoring variations[link]

No Overs

One game variation does not count overtricks. In this case the player or team receives only 10 points for each trick that was bid and no points for overtricks. This changes the bidding strategy; it is only possible to lose points by being "set" on a bid, as there is no penalty for "bagging out", so players will attempt to "set" the leading player or team in order to gain ground. Similarly, players or teams will bid lower to avoid being set as there is no penalty for taking too many overtricks.

Double Over, Double Back

Instead of, or perhaps in addition to, penalizing players who "bag out", a common variant is for players or teams who take at least double the number of bid tricks will be penalized by subtracting double the value of their contract. A team who bids 2 tricks and takes 4 tricks or more will lose 40 points. This is often combined with the "No Overs" scoring style to discourage small bids.

Oh Hell Variation

Like Oh Hell, partnerships must take exactly the number of tricks bid. If they have overtricks, the team is penalized and the contract is broken. Some play where if the team bids 5 tricks and wins exactly 5 tricks, the contract is honored no matter which player made how many tricks, while others force each player to exactly meet their contract.

Quicksand

A variation of penalizing overtricks, a team who exactly makes their contract gets full value. Overtricks subtract 10 points each from that value, and teams who do not make their contract subtract 10 points for each missed trick. For instance, consider a bid of 7 tricks. If the team made exactly 7 tricks, they would earn the full 70 points. If they only took 5 tricks, they would lose 20 points. If the team made 9 tricks, they would earn the 70 points, −20 points for the two overtricks, resulting in a score of 50 points.

Broken Contract Gives Points To Opposing Team

This is an additional variant taken from Bridge and used with an auction-style bidding. If the declarer (the player or partner with the winning bid) fails to meet the contract, the defending pair receives 10 points for each undertrick (the number of tricks by which declarer fell short of the goal). Instead of the declaring team losing points, they should receive zero.

Deficient Ends The Game

If one team's cumulative score is less than the negative of the winning score, that team has lost. For example, if before the game, the winning score is set at 500 points, then either team that manages to net a score of −500 points or below automatically loses.

Highlander Scoring

The points awarded function slightly differently than in conventional Spades. Highlander Scoring merges partnership playing with individual team effort. Sandbagging does not apply with this type of game play, although sandbagging could be included. Each partner makes a bid of the tricks they think they can win. Each partner must win the total they individually bid; if not, that player's bid value is deducted from the team's score even if their partner took enough trick to make up the difference. :For example, if Tom bids 5 tricks and wins 4 tricks, and Harry (his partner) bids 3 tricks and wins 4 tricks, 80 points is deducted from the partnership's total score even though the team won their promised 8 tricks, because Tom did not make his bid. However, Harry is awarded five points per overtrick, so they are −75 points instead of −80 points. If the contract is broken and no overtricks were taken, the team is down the full amount of the bid. If both made their contract and have won overtricks, they are awarded five extra points per overtrick. Team that wins seven or more tricks per round is given 10 points the first time, 20 points the second, and each time thereafter the points increase by 10. This encourages race-style play where players set out to take as many tricks as they can as long as they do not steal tricks their partner needs.

Individual Team Players

If both teammates get their exact individual bid, they are given a bonus equal to half the total bid (rounded down to the nearest 10 to avoid interference with bags). For example, Tom bids 3 tricks, Harry bids 4 tricks. If Tom wins 3 tricks and Harry wins 4 tricks, 30 bonus points are awarded to that team (added to the 70 points for contract for a total of 100 points on the hand).

Sandbags 0-Till-10

Some players use the last digit of the score to count sandbags, but do not regard that digit as being part of the score. For example, as score of 54 points translates to 50 recordable points with 4 sandbags. In this manner, sandbags are in effect worth nothing until a player accumulates 10 of them, at which point they trigger a 100 point deduction. Bags are thus kept separate from the score and cannot be used as a tiebreaker.

Sandbag Cancellation

Some people play that there is a special card which cancels one bag on that hand for the side that takes it in their tricks. If the side which wins the special card makes no overtricks, or loses their bid, the special card has no effect. The special card may be either a fixed card or may be determined afresh by cutting a card before each deal.

Sandbags Negative Value

Tricks in excess of the contract (overtricks or sandbags) may be worth −1 point each rather than +1 point. In this case the penalty for accumulating 10 overtricks generally does not apply.

Seven Tricks Or Higher!

For successful bids of seven or more, players get an extra 10 points for each trick bid above six. So, if 7 tricks are bid by a player and that contract is made exactly, 80 bonus points are awarded. 8 tricks award 100 points, 9 tricks award 120 points, etc. This method of scoring rewards players who are more daring.

Seven Tricks Or Higher! Part Deux

Team that bids and then wins 7 tricks per round is given 10 points the first time, 20 points the second, and each time thereafter the points increase by 10 points. Overtricks do not count.

Win The Last Trick!

Taken from Bela and Pinochle, the winner of last trick wins 10 bonus points. Generally this variation is not recommended if one is playing with bonus tricks.

Leading with the Ace of spades

Depending on the region in which the game is played this is permitted.

Number of players[link]

Traditionally Spades is played with four players in two partnerships. However, there are variations that allow for greater or fewer players. Partnerships are optional even with four players. All other rules should be agreed upon beforehand by the players.

Solo Spades

Solo Spades is like regular Spades, just without the partnership. This is also known as "Cut Throat Spades".

Two Players

In this variation, the cards are not dealt at the beginning of the game. Instead, the deck is placed face down and the players take turns drawing two cards with each turn. Once drawn, players must choose one card of the pair to discard and one to keep. This continues until the deck is exhausted after which, each player will possess 13 cards. The game then proceeds normally. :A variation of this deal is to decide whether or not to keep the first card drawn. If the player decides to keep the first card, the second card may be looked at, but must be discarded. If the player decides to discard the first card, the second card must be kept. This variation introduces a greater degree of chance into the game. To add an even greater degree of chance, forbid viewing of the second card if the first card is kept. This gives both players less certainty as to which cards their opponent is holding.

Three Players

There are no partnerships; players play for themselves. A standard 52 card deck is used, and each player is dealt 17 cards with a predetermined card thrown out (usually the 2♣) or the last undealt card thrown out. Some play with the Big and Little Joker included as the highest trumps, with each person getting 18 cards.

Five Players

There are no partnerships; players play for themselves. 2♦ and 2♥ are removed from the deck and each player is dealt 10 cards. Alternatively, if three Jokers are available, they may be added as either highest trump or as junk cards, thus dealing each player 11 cards each.

Six Players

This can be played either solo, three partnerships, or two teams of three. Two standard 52 card decks are combined, with both 2♣ discarded (102 cards, 17 each), two cards discarded (or kept as a kitty), or all four Jokers added (108 cards, 18 each). Prior to the beginning of play, players agree on the protocol when identical cards are played. Some play that the first such played card wins the trick while others play that the last played card wins the trick. Alternatively, 6-handed play can be done with a 48 card deck, having removed all the 2s. It can also be done with a 52 card deck plus two Jokers, similar to three-handed but with half the cards per player.

Seven Or More Players

Beyond six players, the game becomes either very complex, or hard to maintain with multiple decks. An additional side effect of an increased number of players is a short game, as the number of cards held by each player is reduced and high trump is more and more likely to take the trick. Seven players should normally be split into groups of four and three, eight players into two groups of four players, nine players into either groups of four and five players, or three groups of three players.

Reneging[link]

A partnership reneges on their contract if they violate the rules of play; most often this happens when a player plays off-suit when they could have, and therefore should have, followed suit. The penalty for reneging varies; in most cases it nullifies that team's contract (the team cannot make their contract and their score is reduced by 10 points for each bid trick), while sometimes reneging results in a three-trick penalty, meaning the team may still make contract but must take three additional tricks to do so. It does not matter if the player reneges on purpose. The bags still count against the opposing team, and will go against their points. On the other-hand if a team calls reneg and that team cannot prove or call out the hand that was a potential reneg, then the team that called out the false accusation is penalized the three-trick penalty.

Terminology[link]

• Trick - A unit of play in which each player lays one card from their hand, and is "taken" or won usually by the player who laid down the highest value card.
• Book - in Spades, this is synonymous with "trick"; however other trick-taking games have a different definition.
• Hand - A series of tricks in which all cards dealt to each player are played.
• Bid - The number of tricks each player will take during a hand, announced by each player in term before a hand begins. The bid is the sum of each team members single bid and is used to determine the total "team bid." The bid equals the total number of tricks the team must win, or risk being set (falling short of the bid) or taking sandbags, or bags (taking more tricks than were bid).
• Partnership - A pair of players when playing with an even number; their bids and taken tricks are summed.
• Team - largely synonymous with "partnership", but when playing with six or more a team can comprise more than two players.
• Contract - The result of a player's or partnership's bids for the hand; they are required to take at least that number of tricks during play of the hand.
• Set - To be unable to take the number of tricks required by a contract, usually because the opposing players have taken enough tricks that there are fewer remaining tricks than are needed.
• Undertrick - A trick that a partnership needed in order to make contract, but didn't take. The term is used more in scoring than in play; a pair who bid 6 but only took five has an undertrick, while a specific trick in play that the partners need to take from a tactical standpoint is simply a "must-have" or "must-win".
• Bag - an "overtrick"; a trick taken by a player or partnership when their contract has already been met. The importance of bags or overtricks varies depending on house rules; generally, taking too many overtricks incurs a penalty, but the taking of some overtricks can be good strategy.
• (To) Follow Suit - to play a card of the same suit as the first card played to a trick. As in many trick-taking games, Spades players are required to follow suit if they are able.
• Void - To not have any card in a particular suit or suits, or to intentionally exhaust them from one's hand. A player must be void in at least one suit in order to play Spades as trump, and therefore will try to void their hand of a suit in which they hold few cards.
• Trump - a suit or other subset of cards in the deck that is of higher value than all others. Most games in the Whist family use a trump suit; in Spades, it is always the Spade suit. The term also refers to the playing of a trump card.^[4]
• Slough (Sluff) - to play a card that is not a trump card but of different suit than the first suit played, therefore discarding that card. Sloughing is normally used to get rid of a card that may otherwise take a trick the player does not wish to take. It can also be used to void other suits allowing play of trump cards in tricks where that suit is led.
• Honor Cards - Refers to the top four or five cards in each suit, A, K, Q, J and 10.
• Nil - A Bid to win no tricks at all in any hand. A special bid for which there is usually a bonus if the nil is achieved and a penalty if it is defeated by forcing the one who bid Nil to take a trick in any given hand.
• Renege - When a player can follow suit but does not, it is considered cheating and is often penalized with three books awarded to the opposing team.

Computer Spades Games[link]

A number of free and low-cost games are available which allow an individual to play Spades against a computer, mostly for smart phones and tablets. These can be found by searching the app sources for such devices. A few Spades games are also available for desktop computers. Most of the computer games play partnership Spades where a computer player is your partner against two computer opponents. A few games support solo/cutthroat play.

Some web sites offer Spades play online, against either computer or live opponents. Some sites offer tournament play with prizes. The current online Spades sites can be found by searching for "play spades online".

Similar Games[link]

There are a few varieties of Spades. One of the most popular versions is Tarneeb, played mostly in the Middle East. The main alteration between the two is that Tarneeb uses all four suits, not just Spades, therefore the game may be considered a variation of Whist. Tarneeb, (Arabic: طرنيب)‎ means "trump".^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

• Ace of Spades
• Bid Whist
• Vint
• Setback (card game)

References[link]

External links[link]

• McLeod, John, ed., Spades

The term black people is used in some socially-based systems of racial classification for humans of a dark-skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups represented in a particular social context. Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class and socio-economic status also play a role, so that relatively dark-skinned people can be classified as white if they fulfill other social criteria of "whiteness" and relatively light-skinned people can be classified as black if they fulfill the social criteria for "blackness" in a particular setting.^[1]

As a biological phenotype being "black" is often associated with the very dark skin colors of some people who are classified as "black". But, particularly in the United States, the racial or ethnic classification also refers to people with all possible kinds of skin pigmentation from the darkest through to the very lightest skin colors, including albinos, if they are believed by others to have African ancestry, or to exhibit cultural traits associated with being "African-American". As a result, in the United States the term "black people" is not an indicator of skin color but of socially based racial classification.^[2]

Some definitions of the term include only people of relatively recent Sub-Saharan African descent (see African diaspora). Among the members of this group, dark skin is most often accompanied by the expression of natural afro-hair texture. Other definitions of the term "black people" extend to other populations characterized by dark skin, sometimes including people indigenous to Oceania.^[3][4]

Physiological traits[link]

Dark skin[link]

Map of indigenous skin color distribution in the world based on Von Luschan's chromatic scale.

The evolution of dark skin is linked intrinsically to the loss of body hair in humans. By 1.2 million years ago, all people having descendants today had the same receptor protein of today's Africans; their skin was dark, and the intense sun lowered the chance of survival of those with lighter skin that resulted from mutational variation in the receptor protein.^[5] This is significantly earlier than the speciation of Homo sapiens from Homo erectus some 250,000 years ago.

Skin cancer as a result of ultraviolet light radiation causing mutations in the skin is less common among people with dark skin than it is among those with light skin.^[6][7] Dark skin prevents an essential B vitamin, folate, from being destroyed. In the absence of modern medicine and diet, a person with dark skin in the tropics would live longer, be healthier and more likely to reproduce than a person with light skin. As evidence of this expectation of adverse effects of light skin in the tropics, White South Africans ^[8] and white Australians have some of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world.^[9]

Conversely, as dark skin prevents sunlight from penetrating the skin, it hinders the production of vitamin D₃. When humans migrated to less sun-intensive regions in the north, low vitamin D₃ levels became a problem, and humans with lighter skin were more successful in reproducing. White people of Europe, who have low levels of melanin, naturally have an almost colorless skin pigmentation, especially when untanned. This low level of pigmentation allows the blood vessels to become visible, which gives the characteristic pale pink color of white people. The loss of melanin in white people is thought to have been caused by a mutation in one letter out of 3.1 billion letters of DNA.^[10]

The genetic mutations leading to light skin, though different among East Asians and Europeans,^[11] suggest the two groups experienced a similar selective pressure due to settlement in northern latitudes.^[12]

Black skin pigmentation has been linked to a number of other properties, including tactile characteristics, and slower and less pronounced development of wrinkles.^[13]

Hair[link]

The texture of hair in people of Sub-Saharan African ancestry is noticeably different from that of European and Asian populations. Herodotus described the peoples of Libya (the "western Ethiopians") as woolly-haired.

Such "afro-hair" texture is denser than its straight counterparts. Due to this, it is often referred to as "coily", "thick", "nappy", "bushy", or "woolly". For several reasons, possibly including its relatively flat cross section (among other factors^[14]), this hair type conveys a dry or matte appearance.^[15][16] Its unique shape renders it prone to breakage when combed or brushed.^[16]

The specific characteristics of the natural afro-hair form are unique among all mammals.^{[clarification needed][dubious – discuss][17]} The texture likely predates the evolution of dark skin. It evolved when, as pre-human australopithecines lost most of their fur to enable perspiration, the need to protect the newly exposed pale skin underneath this body hair was crucial (see^[18] in light of Rogers and others., 2004 and Harding and others., 2000). The trait ceased to be essential to survival at the equator upon the evolution of hairless dark skin. Yet it has continued to be expressed vestigially among most Melanesians, Andaman Islanders, and sub-Saharan Africans.

Sub-Saharan Africa[link]

A black woman and her albino son from Tanzania

Sub-Saharan Africa is a common, if imprecise term that encompasses African countries located south of the Sahara Desert. It is commonly used to differentiate the region culturally, ecologically, politically and, more controversially, racially, from North Africa, which has historically been considered part of the Mediterranean sphere and whose residents are primarily of Arab ethnicity.

Because the indigenous people of this region are primarily dark-skinned, it is alternatively called "Black Africa".^[19] However the terminology Black Africa and Sub-Sahara Africa is considered by some as a pejorative term and a vestige of colonialism, which divided Africa into European terms of homogeneity.^[20] Some criticize the use of the term, because, as it has become in many quarters synonymous with Black Africa, people may not realize that there are also indigenous black populations in North Africa. In addition, the Sahara cuts across countries such as Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and Chad, leaving some parts of them in North Africa and some in sub-Saharan Africa.

Some black Africans prefer to be culturally distinguished from those who live in the north of the continent.^[21]

Cultural ideas of a black race[link]

South Africa[link]

A Khoisan man, an ethnic group in South Africa.

In South Africa during the apartheid era, the population was classified into four main racial groups: Black, White, Asian (mostly Indian), and Coloured. The Coloured group included people of mixed Bantu, Khoisan, and European descent (with some Malay ancestry, especially in the Western Cape). The Coloured definition occupied an intermediary position between the Black and White definitions in South Africa.

The apartheid bureaucracy devised complex (and often arbitrary) criteria in the Population Registration Act to determine who belonged in which group. Minor officials administered tests to enforce the classifications. When it was unclear from a person's physical appearance whether a person was to be considered Colored or Black, the "pencil test" was employed. This involved inserting a pencil in a person's hair to determine if the hair was kinky enough for the pencil to get stuck.^[22]

During the apartheid era, those classed as "Coloured" were oppressed and discriminated against. But, they had limited rights and overall had slightly better socioeconomic conditions than those classed as "Black".

In the post-apartheid era, the ANC government's laws in support of their affirmative action policies define "Black" people to include "Africans", "Coloureds" and "Asians". Their affirmative action policies have also favored "Africans" over "Coloureds". Some South Africans categorized as "African Black" openly state that "Coloureds" did not suffer as much as they did during apartheid. The popular saying by "Coloured" South Africans to illustrate their dilemma is:

We were not white enough under apartheid, and we are not black enough under the ANC (African National Congress)

In 2008, the High Court in South Africa ruled that Chinese South Africans who were residents during the apartheid era (and their descendents) are to be reclassified as "Black people" solely for the purposes of accessing affirmative action benefits, because they were also "disadvantaged" by racial discrimination. Chinese people who arrived in the country after the end of apartheid do not qualify.^[23]

Other than by appearance, "Coloureds" can usually be distinguished from "Blacks" by language. Most speak Afrikaans or English as a first language, as opposed to Bantu languages such as Zulu or Xhosa. They also tend to have more European-sounding names than Bantu names.^[24]

In the Middle East[link]

Near East and North Africa[link]

Black African and Near Eastern peoples have interacted since prehistoric times.^[25][26] Some historians estimate that as many as 14 million black slaves were transported across the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and Sahara Desert in the Arab slave trade from 650 to 1900 CE.^[27][28] The Moroccan Sultan Moulay Ismail "the Bloodthirsty" (1672–1727) raised a corps of 150,000 black slaves, called his Black Guard, who coerced the country into submission.^[29][30]

13th century slave market in Yemen. Yemen officially abolished slavery in 1962.^[31]

In more recent times, about 1000 CE, interactions between black people and Arabs resulted in the incorporation of extensive Arabic vocabulary into Swahili, which became a useful lingua franca for merchants. Some of this linguistic exchange occurred as part of the slave trade; the history of Islam and slavery shows that the major juristic schools traditionally accepted the institution of slavery.^[32] As a result, Arab influence spread along the east coast of Africa and to some extent into the interior (see Swahili people). Timbuktu was a trading outpost that linked West Africa with Berber, Arab, and Jewish traders throughout the Arab World. As a result of these interactions, some female-mediated gene flow into the Middle East from Sub-Saharan Africa can be observed in certain populations.^[33]

According to Dr. Carlos Moore, resident scholar at Brazil's University of the state of Bahia, Afro-multiracials in the Arab world self-identify in ways that resemble Latin America. He claims that black-looking Arabs, much like black-looking Latin Americans, consider themselves white because they have some distant white ancestry.^[34]

Soldiers of the Free Arabian Legion in Greece, September 1943.

Moore also claims that a film about Egyptian President Anwar Sadat had to be canceled when Sadat discovered that an African-American had been cast to play him. In fact, the 1983 television movie Sadat, starring Louis Gossett, Jr., was not canceled. The Egyptian government refused to let the drama air in Egypt, partially on the grounds of the casting of Gossett.^[35]

Sadat's mother was a dark-skinned Sudanese woman and his father was a lighter-skinned Egyptian. In response to an advertisement for an acting position he remarked, "I am not white but I am not exactly black either. My blackness is tending to reddish".^[36]

Fathia Nkrumah was another Egyptian with ties to Black Africa. She was the late wife of Ghanaian revolutionary Kwame Nkrumah, whose marriage was seen as helping plant the seeds of cooperation between Egypt and other African countries as they struggled for independence from European colonization. This helped advance the formation of the African Union.^[37]

Bashi-bazouk of the Ottoman Empire by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1869

Because of the patriarchal nature of Arab society, Arab men enslaved more black women than men, and used more black female slaves than males. The men interpreted the Qur'an to permit sexual relations between a male master and his female slave outside of marriage,^[38][39] leading to many mixed-race children. When an enslaved woman became pregnant with her Arab master's child, she became umm walad or “mother of a child”, a status that granted her privileged rights. The child was allowed to prosper from the wealth of the father and was given rights of inheritance.^[40] Because the society was patrilineal, the children took their fathers' status at birth and were born free. Some succeeded their fathers as rulers, as was the case with Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur, who ruled Morocco from 1578 to 1608. His mother was a Fulani concubine of his father.

Such tolerance, however, was not extended to wholly black persons, even when technically "free." Arabs commonly believed that blacks were slaves.^[41] The term "abd", (Arabic: عبد‎,) "slave," remains a common term for black people in the Middle East, and, depending on the context, usually though not always derogatory.^[42]

Turkey[link]

Beginning several centuries ago, a number of sub-Saharan Africans were brought by slave traders during the Ottoman Empire to plantations between Antalya and Istanbul in modern-day Turkey.^[43] Some of their descendants remain, mixed with the rest of the population in these areas, and many migrated to larger cities. Some came from the island of Crete following the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923.^[44]

Israel[link]

An African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem child in Dimona.

About 150,000 black people live in Israel, amounting to just over 2% of the nation's population. The vast majority of these, some 120,000, are Beta Israel,^[45] most of whom came during the 1980s and 1990s from Ethiopia.^[46] In addition, Israel is home to over 5,000 members of the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem movement, who reside mainly in a distinct neighborhood in the Negev town of Dimona. Unknown numbers of black converts to Judaism reside in Israel, most of them converts from the UK, Canada, and the United States. Thousands of mixed-race individuals with non-black Jewish relatives also live in Israel.

In the Americas[link]

Approximately 12 million Africans were shipped to the Americas during the Atlantic slave trade from 1492 to 1888. Today their descendants number approximately 150 million,^[47] most of whom live in the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America. Most notably Brazil has the largest population in the world, aside from Nigeria, of individuals of at least partial African descent. Many have a multiracial background of African, Amerindian, European and Asian ancestry. The various regions developed complex social conventions with which their multi-ethnic populations were classified.

United States[link]

Harriet Tubman, an African-American abolitionist and conductor of the Underground Railroad.

In the first 200 years that black people were in the United States, they commonly referred to themselves as Africans. In Africa, people primarily identified themselves by ethnic group (closely allied to language) and not by skin color. Individuals would be Ashanti, Igbo, Bakongo or Wolof. But when Africans were brought to the Americas, they were forced to give up their ethnic affiliations when they were combined with other groups from Africa. In areas of the Upper South, different ethnic groups were brought together. This is significant as Africans came from a vast geographic region, the West African coastline stretching from Senegal to Angola and in some cases from the south east coast such as Mozambique. A new identity and culture was born that incorporated elements of the various ethnic groups and of European cultural heritage, resulting in fusions such as the Black church and Black English. This new identity was based on African ancestry and slave status rather than any one ethnic group.^[48]

In March 1807, Britain, which largely controlled the Atlantic, declared the trans-atlantic slave trade illegal, as did the United States. (The latter prohibition took effect January 1, 1808, the earliest date on which Congress had the power to do so under Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution.)

By that time, the majority of black people were U.S.-born, so use of the term "African" became problematic. Though initially a source of pride, many blacks feared the use of African as an identity would be a hindrance to their fight for full citizenship in the US. They also felt that it would give ammunition to those who were advocating repatriating black people back to Africa. In 1835 black leaders called upon black Americans to remove the title of "African" from their institutions and replace it with "Negro" or "Colored American". A few institutions chose to keep their historic names, such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church. "Negro" and "colored" remained the popular terms until the late 1960s.^[49]

The term black was used throughout but not frequently as it carried a certain stigma. In his 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech,^[50] Martin Luther King, Jr. uses the terms negro fifteen times and black four times. Each time he uses black it is in parallel construction with white, for example, "black men and white men".^[51]

With the successes of the civil rights movement, a new term was needed to break from the past and help shed the reminders of legalized discrimination. In place of Negro, activists promoted the use of black as standing for racial pride, militancy and power. Some of the turning points included the use of the term "Black Power" by Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael) and the release of James Brown's song "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud".

African-American Michael Jordan, considered by many the greatest basketball player in history.

In 1988 Jesse Jackson urged Americans to use the term African American because the term has a historical cultural base. Since then African-American and black have essentially a coequal status. Controversy continues over which term is more appropriate. Some such as Maulana Karenga and Owen Alik Shahadah argue African-American is more appropriate because it accurately articulates geography and historical origin.^[48] Others have argued that "black" is a better term because "African" suggests foreignness, despite the long presence of black people in the US.^[52] Still others believe the term black is inaccurate because African Americans have a variety of skin tones.^{[citation needed]} Surveys show that the majority of black Americans have no preference for "African American" or "Black,"^[53] although they have a slight preference for "black" in personal settings and "African-American" in more formal settings.^[54] Increases in the number of immigrants to the United States from Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America have brought up questions about who uses the term African-American. The more recent African immigrants may sometimes view themselves, and be viewed, as culturally distinct from native-born people who are descendants of African slaves.^[55]

The U.S. census race definitions says a black is a person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as "Black, African Am., or Negro," or who provide written entries such as African-American, Afro-American, Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian. However, the Census Bureau notes that these classifications are socio-political constructs and should not be interpreted as scientific or anthropological.^[56]

A black Gl and a Chinese soldier place the flag of their ally on the front of their jeep, truck convoy on the Stilwell Road, Burma, 1945

A considerable portion of the U.S. population identified as black also has some Native American or European ancestry. For instance, genetic studies of African-American people show an ancestry that is on average 17–18% European.^[57]

One-drop rule[link]

Since the late nineteenth century, the South used a colloquial term, the one-drop rule, to classify as black a person of any known African ancestry. This practice of hypodescent was not put into law until the early twentieth century.^[58] Legally the definition varied from state to state, and was more flexible in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries before the American Civil War. For instance, Thomas Jefferson held persons who were legally white (less than 25% Black) according to Virginia law at the time, but, because they were born to slave mothers, they were born into slavery, according to the principle of partus sequitur ventrem, which Virginia adopted into law in 1662.

Outside of the US, some other countries have adopted the one-drop rule, but the definition of who is black and the extent to which the one-drop "rule" applies varies greatly from country to country.

The one-drop rule may have originated as a means of increasing the number of black slaves^[59] and been maintained as an attempt to keep the white race pure.^[60] One of the results of the one-drop rule was uniting the African-American community.^[58] Some of the most prominent civil-rights activists were multiracial, and advocated equality for all.^{[citation needed]}

Blackness[link]

Barack Obama, the first black president of the United States, was throughout his campaign criticized as being either "too black" or "not black enough".^[61][62][63]

The concept of blackness in the United States has been described^{[by whom?]} as the degree to which one associates themselves with mainstream African-American culture and values. To a certain extent, this concept is not so much about race but more about culture and behavior. Blackness can be contrasted with "acting white," where black Americans are said to behave with assumed characteristics of stereotypical white Americans, with regard to fashion, dialect, taste in music,^[64] and possibly, from the perspective of a significant number of black youth, academic achievement.^[65]

The notion of blackness can also be extended to non-black people. Toni Morrison once described Bill Clinton as the first black president,^[66] because of his warm relations with African Americans, his poor upbringing and also because he is a jazz musician. Christopher Hitchens was offended by the notion of Clinton as the first black president noting "we can still define blackness by the following symptoms: alcoholic mothers, under-the-bridge habits...the tendency to sexual predation and shameless perjury about the same". Some black activists were also offended, claiming Clinton used his knowledge of black culture to exploit black people like no other president before^[67] for political gain, while not serving black interests. They note his lack of action during the Rwanda genocide^[68] and his welfare reform which some claim led to the worst child poverty since the 1960s^[69] along with the fact that the number of black people in jail increased during his administration.^[70]

The question of blackness also arose in Democrat Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Commentators have questioned whether Obama, who was elected the first black President of the United States, is black enough, as his mother was white American, and his father was a black Kenyan immigrant.^[61][63] Obama refers to himself interchangeably as black and African-American.^[71] "Is Barack Obama the first black President of the United States?"^[72]

Brazil[link]

The topic of race in Brazil is a complex and diverse one.^{[citation needed]} A Brazilian child was never automatically identified with the racial type of one or both parents, nor were there only two categories to choose from. Between a pure black and a very light mulatto over a dozen racial categories would be recognized in conformity with the combinations of hair color, hair texture, eye color, and skin color. These types grade into each other like the colors of the spectrum, and no one category stands significantly isolated from the rest. That is, race referred to appearance, not heredity.^[73]

Jongo, a Brazilian dance of African origin, c. 1822

There is some disagreement among scholars over the effects of social status on racial classifications in Brazil. It is generally believed that upward mobility and education results in reclassification of individuals into lighter skinned categories. The popular claim is that in Brazil poor whites are considered black and wealthy blacks are considered white. Some scholars disagree arguing that whitening of one's social status may be open to people of mixed race, but a typically black person will consistently be identified as black regardless of wealth or social status.^[74][75] Multiracial persons can even reappreciate their African heritage and start to declare themselves as black persons with increasings of social status and education.

Statistics[link]

From the year 1500 to 1850 an estimated 3.5 million Africans were forcibly shipped to Brazil.^[74] It is estimated that more than half of the Brazilian population is at least in part descendants of these Africans. Brazil has the largest population of Afro-descendants outside of Africa. In contrast to the US there were no segregation or anti-miscegenation laws in Brazil and as a result intermarriage has affected a large majority of the Brazilian population. Even much of the white/Asian population has either African or Amerindian blood. According to the last census of the twentieth century 54% identified themselves as white, 6.2% identified themselves as black and 39.5% identified themselves as Pardo (brown) — a broad multiracial category.^[77]

A philosophy of whitening emerged in Brazil in the nineteenth century. Until recently the government did not keep data on race. However, statisticians estimate that in 1835 half the population was black, one fifth was Pardo (brown) and one fourth white. By 2000 the black population had fallen to only 6.2% and the Pardo had increased to 40% and white to 55%. Essentially most of the black population was absorbed into the multiracial category by intermixing.^[73] A recent study found that at least 29% of the middle class white Brazilian population had some recent African ancestry.^[78]

Race relations in Brazil[link]

Afro-Brazilian women during a Candomblé ceremony.

Because of the ideology of miscegenation, Brazil has avoided the polarization of society into black and white. The bitter and sometimes violent racial tensions that divide the US are notably absent in Brazil. According to the census, 6.7% of Brazilians said they were black, compared with 6.2% in 2000, and 43.1% said they were mixed race, up from 38.5%. According to Brazil's minister for racial equality, Elio Ferreira de Araujo, attributed the change to growing pride among his country's black and indigenous communities.^[79]

However, the philosophy of the racial democracy in Brazil has drawn criticism from some quarters. Brazil has one of the largest gaps in income distribution in the world. The richest 10% of the population earn 28 times the average income of the bottom 40%. The richest 10 percent is almost exclusively white. One-third of the population lives under the poverty line, with blacks and other non-whites accounting for 70 percent of the poor.^[80]

Fruit sellers in Rio de Janeiro c. 1820

In the US, black people earn 75% of what white people earn.^[81] In Brazil, non-whites earn less than 50% of what whites earn. Some have posited that Brazil does in fact practice the one-drop rule when social economic factors are considered. This is because the gap in income between blacks and other non-whites is relatively small compared to the large gap between whites and non-whites. Other factors such as illiteracy and education level show the same patterns.^[82] Unlike in the US where African Americans were united in the civil-rights struggle, in Brazil the philosophy of whitening has helped divide blacks from other non-whites and prevented a more active civil rights movement.

Though Brazilians of African heritage make up a large percentage ^[83] the population there are very few black politicians. The city of Salvador, Bahia, for instance, is 80% Afro-Brazilian but has never had a black mayor. Critics indicate that US cities that have a black majority, such as Detroit and New Orleans, have never had white mayors since first electing black mayors in the 1970s.^[79][84]

Black people in Brazil c. 1821

Non-white people also have limited media visibility. The Latin American media, in particular the Brazilian media, has been accused of hiding its Black, Indigenous, Multiracial and East Asian population. For example the telenovelas or soaps are said to be a hotbed of largely light-eyed white and light-skinned mulattoes and mestizos (often deemed as white persons in Brazil if achieving the middle class or higher social status) actors. Most rare empowered persons of color represented in Latin American media possess typically Caucasian features due to a mix of racist standards of beauty, colourism and lookism. Nevertheless, in the last years, the number of empowered afrodescendants (either economically or by other ways) increased in Brazilian media coverage. Despite Brazil also possessing criminal black man stereotypes, it is considered a huge prejudice and mostly not used in a disordered way by the media, in spite of sometimes common "humouristic" sexist jokes and LGBT stereotyping ^[85] and as such lack of politically correctness in native race issues is not a major problem (there are way more stereotypes of Asian people, Europeans or U.S. Americans, for example).

These patterns of discrimination against non-whites have led some to advocate for the use of the Portuguese term 'negro' to encompass non-whites so as to renew a black consciousness and identity, in effect an African descent rule.^[86] It generates criticism since Pardo, or Brown people, is intended to include caboclos (mestizos), assimilated Amerindians and tri-racials, not only afrodescendants — thus Brazilian of some or no recent African descent, as most White Brazilians, become 60–70% of the population, breaking the argument of possible Brazilian one-drop rule since real noticeable mulattoes, cafuzos (zambos) and black persons are a minority and the Brazilian poor represents larger percents in Brazil. As one would expect from an underdeveloped country, there are pockets of poverty in White-majority and Japanese Brazilian-majority areas, rarer in urban developments but common in rural areas. They are even more common among Mestizo-majority areas, and Amerindian communities.

In Asia and Australasia[link]

Siddi folk dancers performing at Devaliya Naka, Sasan Gir, Gujarat.

China[link]

As of August, 2008, The Migration Information Source article noted that "A Nigerian Embassy spokesman estimated that Nigerians possibly make up the largest group of Black Africans in China, with about 2,000 to 3,000 Nigerians in Guangdong in 2006. Most businessmen only stay temporarily."^[87][88]

An ethnic Ati woman of the Philippines. The Negritos were the earliest inhabitants of Southeast Asia.

India and Southeast Asia[link]

The Great Andamanese are one of five Negrito ethnic groups (Adivasi or tribal) native to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands; they are among the first inhabitants of what is now India, arriving over 70,000 years ago. They are facing extinction.^[89] The other four ethnic groups are the Jangil, Jarawa, Onge and Sentinelese. By their external physical appearance (phenotype) such people resemble Black Africans with dark skin and sometimes tightly coiled hair. There have been suggestions of a Black African origin. However, in the case of the Andamanese people, a study conducted by the NCBI indicated that the Andamanese people possessed closer affinities with the Southeast Asian population than with the Black African population.^[90]

In South India there are also several communities of Black African descent, such as the Sheedis/Siddis, specifically the Siddis of Karnataka, who descend from Black African slaves. In Pakistan, these descendants are known as the Makrani.

Other black people of Southeast Asia, collectively known as Negritos, include the Semang peoples of Malaysia, the Mani of Thailand the Aeta of Luzon and the Ati of Panay in the Philippines.^[91]

Melanesia[link]

There are several groups of dark-skinned people who live in various parts of Asia, Australia and Oceania who sometimes are referred to as black people. They include the Indigenous Australians, the Melanesians (now divided into Austronesian-speaking populations and Papuans, and including the great genetic diversity of New Guinea), the Semang people of the Malay peninsula, and indigenous first nation Fijians. They are as genetically, anthropologically and culturally related to Africans only as much as all other non-Africans are related to Africans, and because of this it has been deemed controversial to label them black people in the sense of some relation to the native African peoples and the African diaspora that is not similarly present in other Asian, Oceanic or European populations.

In Europe[link]

Portrait of a black woman, Katherine, in Antwerp, 1521, by Albrecht Dürer.

United Kingdom[link]

According to the Office for National Statistics, as of the 2001 census, there are over a million black people in the United Kingdom; 1% of the total population describe themselves as "Black Caribbean", 0.8% as "Black African", and 0.2% as "Black other".^[92] Britain encouraged the immigration of workers from the Caribbean after World War II; the first symbolic movement was those who came on the ship the Empire Windrush. The preferred official umbrella term is "black and minority ethnic" (BME), but sometimes the term "black" is used on its own, to express unified opposition to racism, as in the Southall Black Sisters, which started with a mainly British Asian constituency, and the National Black Police Association, which has a membership of "African, African-Caribbean and Asian origin".^[93]

France[link]

The pioneering Chadian-French rapper MC Solaar.

While census collection of ethnic background is illegal in France, it is estimated that there are about 2.5 – 5 million black people residing there.^[94][95]

Balkans[link]

Due to the Ottoman slave trade that had flourished in the Balkans, the coastal town of Ulcinj in Montenegro had its own black community.^[96] As a consequence of the slave trade and privateer activity, a considerable number of Ulcinj inhabitants until 1878 were black.^[97] The Ottoman Army also sent an estimated 30,000 Black African troops and cavalrymen to its expedition in Hungary during the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18.^[98]

Eastern Europe[link]

As African states became independent in the 1960s, the Soviet Union offered many of their citizens the chance to study in Russia. Over a period of 40 years, about 400,000 African students from various countries moved to Russia to pursue higher studies, including many Black Africans.^[99][100] This extended beyond the Soviet Union to many countries of the Eastern bloc.

A cultural classification of people as "black" exists in Russia. Certain groups of people who are ethnically different, and generally darker than ethnic Russians are pejoratively referred to as "blacks" (chernye), and face specific sorts of social exclusion (see Racism in Russia). Roma, Georgians, and Tatars fall into this category.^[101] Those referred to as "black" are from the former Soviet republics, predominantly peoples of the Caucasus, for example, Chechens.^[102] Although "Caucasian" is used in American English to mean "white people", in Russian – and most other varieties of English – it only refers to the Caucasus, not European people in general.

See also[link]

Footnotes[link]